Q's Yonaga: Game Evolution Comes Through Idea Refination

Author: by Staff

In the first major Western interview with Q Entertainment designer Reo Yonaga, the Lumines collaborator has said that while various developers may borrow heavily from competing designs, the result can sometimes be a net positive for the evolution of games. When speaking generally on developers like PopCap borrowing game designs (AstroPop from Magical Drop and Zuma from Puzzloop), Yonaga also pointed to PSP puzzler Puzzle Scape's own borrowing of some of Q's look and feel, and the way Capcom's Sengoku Basara (Devil Kings) evolved from Koei's formula with its Sangoku Musou (Dynasty Warriors) series. "Basara has more of an arcade feel, the action battles are better," said Yonaga, explaining that a designer simply adding another enemy to an area can "change a game immensely." He continued, noting that the release of games like Sengoku Basara and Q's own Ninety Nine Nights "help improve the entire genre," and adding, "Have you played Bladestorm? It's incredible. Totally awesome!" Yonaga posited that these incremental iterations, which could be seen as simply over-borrowing from earlier hits, ended up creating one he saw as more finely tuned: "Bladestorm is like an evolved version of Kingdom Under Fire. There was Kessen, Sangoku Musou, Kingdom Under Fire, then after that came Bladestorm, which made a big hit, so I love companies like PopCap." You can read the full interview with Q Entertainment's Reo Yonaga on his work with studio founder Tetsuya Mizuguchi and independent games (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).