Okamiden Team Struggled During Development

The developers of Okamiden encountered a number of problems, reported Gamasutra, who spoke to several key individuals on the Okamiden team. Development of the fantasy action-adventure title for the DS lasted a total of 23 months and consisted of nearly 60 crew members. Director Kuniomi Matsushita and producer Motohideo Eshiro talked extensively about the development process for the game.

According to Matsushita and Eshiro, “The head of each department held their own sense of pride and responsibility for their piece of the game. Each of the department heads was striving for perfection. Be it art, sound, or programming, this individual ‘perfection in my group’ approach affected the greater whole of the project.”

Though it would initially seem as if 60 team members would make developing a game like Okamiden a lot easier, this was obviously not the case. As mentioned above, each department head was striving for perfection, and in the process, all the departments lost touch with one another and were out of sync. This greatly affected the game’s schedule. “One by one, each of these elements began to take their toll on the schedules and eventually on the latter half of the game itself,” continued Matsushita and Eshiro. “Some of the latter half of the game had to be revised and scoped differently than initial plans.”

The biggest problem, according to the two Okamiden team members, was the lack of unity while working on the project. Matsushita and Eshiro confirmed that they had learned their lesson with Okamiden, promising to work in unison for their next game. The director and producer stated, “Next time, we will be sure to manage our schedules better and work in harmony as a collective team for the greater good of the game instead of staying overly focused on perfection in our individual departments.”

I myself have yet to play Okamiden, but I fell in love with the first game when I played it on PlayStation 2. I look forward to getting my hands on the latest in the series. Be sure to read our Okamiden review right here on GameZone for more on the game.