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).
