[MyIS]Zips
07-23-2008, 01:35 AM
The Director of Soulcalibur IV, Katsutoshi Sasaki, decided to bare his own soul on the <a href="http://blog.us.playstation.com/">PlayStation.Blog</a>. The topic of discussion this evening? Naturally, he talks about their decision to make Darth Vader an exclusive combatant on the PlayStation 3!
The reason we chose Darth Vader as a playable character is very simple: he is probably one of the most symbolic characters in the Star Wars universe and is also one of the most popular worldwide. Admittedly though, recreating Darth Vader for Soulcalibur IV was harder than I initially thought because there is not a lot of reference material as he was only in a few lightsaber fights in the movies.
It’s always very difficult to balance our own perception of how a character should fit in the Soulcalibur universe and their actual gameplay. If a guest character feels radically different than how we perceive them, a player will take it as a different character, and it’ll lead to disappointment.
In working with LucasArts, they said they are eagerly anticipating their characters to be recreated in the Soulcalibur universe. They allowed us to create Vader relatively-freely. The trial and error process to build Vader is definitely a fond memory for all the Soulcalibur IV animators and game designers.
Another challenge that we encountered was how to implement the “Force” from the Star Wars universe. If we were to use the Force in gameplay, we had to make it as an absolute power just like the movie. However, if we didn’t set any limitations on it, the game’s balance would have been completely off. Ultimately, we created a Force gauge to put a limit on using the power. However, we felt players would be frustrated if they couldn’t use the Force on an empty gauge, so we are allowing them to use the Force but it will be counted as a penalty against their character. I think it was good compromise and can be used as a tactic.
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If you'd like to dive deeper into Sasaki's mind and see a second clip of Vader in action, then head on over to the <a href="http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/07/22/soulcalibur-iv-bringing-darth-vader-exclusively-to-ps3/">PlayStation.Blog</a>.
The reason we chose Darth Vader as a playable character is very simple: he is probably one of the most symbolic characters in the Star Wars universe and is also one of the most popular worldwide. Admittedly though, recreating Darth Vader for Soulcalibur IV was harder than I initially thought because there is not a lot of reference material as he was only in a few lightsaber fights in the movies.
It’s always very difficult to balance our own perception of how a character should fit in the Soulcalibur universe and their actual gameplay. If a guest character feels radically different than how we perceive them, a player will take it as a different character, and it’ll lead to disappointment.
In working with LucasArts, they said they are eagerly anticipating their characters to be recreated in the Soulcalibur universe. They allowed us to create Vader relatively-freely. The trial and error process to build Vader is definitely a fond memory for all the Soulcalibur IV animators and game designers.
Another challenge that we encountered was how to implement the “Force” from the Star Wars universe. If we were to use the Force in gameplay, we had to make it as an absolute power just like the movie. However, if we didn’t set any limitations on it, the game’s balance would have been completely off. Ultimately, we created a Force gauge to put a limit on using the power. However, we felt players would be frustrated if they couldn’t use the Force on an empty gauge, so we are allowing them to use the Force but it will be counted as a penalty against their character. I think it was good compromise and can be used as a tactic.
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If you'd like to dive deeper into Sasaki's mind and see a second clip of Vader in action, then head on over to the <a href="http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/07/22/soulcalibur-iv-bringing-darth-vader-exclusively-to-ps3/">PlayStation.Blog</a>.