ARCADIA #32Interview with Kenichi Takano of CaveThe 24th Story / Volume 24 "In the future, we would like to be able to publish three games within a two-year timeframe." Cave introduced us to a new way of the shooting genre with Barrage*1 of Dodonpachi. However, due to the current downwards spiral of Japan's videogame industry there was once a strong rumor that Cave was going to withdraw from the publishers' arena altogether. But fear not, shooting game fans! Cave has been progressively and steadily readying new products to publish!! ARCADIA - I know this is the same old question but first off, could you tell us about the history of the Cave company? TAKANO - I guess that many of your readers are already aware of the fact that a good number of us here at Cave previously worked for Toaplan before that company went bankrupt due to the business depression we are currently in. ARCADIA - So you set up the company considering a business for shooting games in the first place, correct? TAKANO - Yes. Personally, I grew up with shooting games. The main reason why I entered the game industry was for the purpose of creating shooting games for business use. ARCADIA - While you established Cave the shooting genre was a declining trend in the arcade industry. Considering this, did you have confidence nonetheless in your success? TAKANO - Well, at first there was the desire to brand the shooting game development taking place at Toaplan. To do so I thought it would be necessary to announce our company's specific characteristics to the world by means of promptly publishing shooting games. ARCADIA - Do you have pride and/or self-confidence in the fact that you succeeded in business whereas Toaplan did not? TAKANO - No. Rather than saying succeeded, I feel that we used the company's vision and visual identity better. ARCADIA - Did you have the intention of We are going to create new types of shooting games? *2 TAKANO - Yes, our staff felt very much like that. At the time, other companies' games were new visual-wise. But, were there any epic shooting games? Somehow I felt a degree of wrongness about that. In those days we often discussed new circuit boards and shooting games a lot so I believed, and still do, that among our staff there was the feeling of We are going to create new types of shooting games! *2 ARCADIA - Are there any other game genres that you are planning on publishing outside of shooters? TAKANO - Well . . . yes. For example, we were trying Taking a Walk with the Dog, but in the end we had to call on SEGA-san {says with a bitter smile}. However, considering our company's size it would have been very difficult to publish that product by ourselves. ARCADIA - Does that mean that if it were possible you would like to publish titles other than shooters? TAKANO - Well, yes. We have already pulled completely out of the consumer field; however, in regard to business use we are always going to meet the various requests from our clients. ARCADIA - It is no exaggeration to state that 3D circuit boards are what the mainstream games currently run on. But here, Cave-san creates 2D games. Are you thinking about creating games that utilize 3D circuit boards in the future? TAKANO - No, I am really not thinking about that. A little while ago I was debating if we should deal with 3D . . . but now I am concentrating on how we can draw the players' attention and make them play the games that are simple in creation and design. Considering network play, 3D technology is still an obstacle that needs to be overcome. So now the most important question is how can we allow users to play simple games within the network. Because of that question we placed our energy and resources towards cell phone content. ARCADIA - Well, those thoughts are certainly reflected in Arcade Alleys, right? TAKANO - First, we created Arcade Alleys to provide the place. Next, we utilized that place to expand the idea of Let's play between arcades and cell phones via a network! ARCADIA - So your main purpose now is to connect cell phones and arcades together. TAKANO - Yes. In addition, concerning the current communication situation, I think that the older titles are much more suitable in this environment versus the latest games. I would like to revive the play that existed 40 years or so ago. ARCADIA - Does your Ketsui Kizuna Jigoku network include this vision? TAKANO - Hmm . . . at this time no, not particularly. This work was born purely in the current stream. ARCADIA - Is software that is considered network material not only limited to shooters but also to . . . TAKANO - Well, yes. We are going to create both shooters and non-shooters. But in doing so I guess it is not so suitable to bring the game's characteristics of shooting, as is, to a network field. So we should consider the play element in a different light here. ARCADIA - What is your personal opinion about certain network games such as Virtua Fighter 4 and Majan Kakuto Club that the player inputs his or her personal data to the card before playing the game? TAKANO - Even though it can be called a connected forum, I think it is difficult to have a feeling of being perfectly connected on the user's side. At this moment we are not thinking about providing any software in this regard to network games such as SEGA are doing. ARCADIA - From now on, how many arcade titles do you plan on creating a year? TAKANO - In the future, we would like to be able to publish three games within a two-year timeframe. Not counting those, we would like to create one experimental work per year as well. We used to sell our games on the strength of other companies' brands, such as DoDonPachi. Hereafter, I would like to create and publish games based upon our own company's brands. ARCADIA - From now on then, Cave is going to actively sell arcade titles itself, correct? TAKANO - Yes, we will take that direction. ARCADIA - This volume [of the article] introduces your latest works. Could you give our readers a brief message? TAKANO - Our new work Ketsui Kizuna Jigoku was made just like our compiled work so far. I would like for our devoted DoDonPachi fans as well as newcomers to play this one. November 5, 2002, From The Head Office Of Cave. Gesen Yokocho (Arcade Alley) Cell phone games? Do not despise, you may be surprised. It is Cave's Gesen Yokocho that provides some formidable cell phone-only games (iApuri currently provides not only DoDonPachi but DoDonPuchi, GunBird, Strikers 1945 and Uo Poko. Next up will be Esprade). Yes, Psikyo (X-nauts) takes part in this Gesen Yokocho! There will be games released one after another from now on, you can count on it! This site is for NTT Docomo 504i use only. Not just anyone with a cell phone will be able to enter the site and play games. But, if you own a phone from the 504i series, try out those great titles! Next, Sukotora will he held using iApuri for Sukotora of GunBird. These pics are from the regular edition. Cave Home Page - http://www.cave.co.jp/ Cave, Incorporated. CREDITS Japanese translations by Yumi Makita [domo arigato gozaimasu ^_^] TRANSLATION NOTES *1 - The exact meaning of "barrage" is still under discussion.. It's the only meaning found for "danmaku". *2 - This is the best sentence that I could construct from the interview. There are no less than three ways this could be stated, each with a different meaning. Also, Takano refers to an epoch of shooting games instead of an epic. But his whole paragraph seems to stress the wishing for a grand title instead of an era of shooters so I changed it. |