E3 2005: Kuju Entertainment Interview
May 19, 2005Kuju Entertainment has been making games since 1989. With over 100 employees and offices in Surrey and Central London, the independent developer is one of the largest in Europe. Kuju has developed games for the PS2, Xbox, PC and GameCube, with plans for upcoming titles across all platforms. Currently though, Kuju can be found hanging around Nintendo's booth in the halls of the L.A. Convention Center promoting its latest GameCube offering, Battalion Wars. We recently sat down with executive producer Mark Washbrook and director Keisuke Terasaki to get the scoop on their latest game.
IGN: What are your roles at Juju Entertainment?
Terasaki: We're working on second party projects at NCL headquarters in Japan.
IGN: How long have you been working on Battalion Wars?
Washbrook: I think it has been about 18 months.
IGN: Can you talk a little about the universe and backstory in Battalion Wars? And What elements does it share with the Advance Wars series on the GBA? Washbrook: We've never actually named the universe. (laughs) But it's a different universe [than Advance Wars] with different characters and armies. The player plays as a commander in the Western Frontier, which supplies objectives and information to player during the game. We have a number of armies that the player encounters. Initially, the player starts off at war with the Tundra Army but later allies with them against the nemesis army of the game. There's also a storyline told through cutsecenes and missions.
IGN: What prompted the name change from Advance Wars to Battalion Wars?
Terasaki: Well, as you know, we have Advance Wars on the GBA. When it came time to name this game, Advance Wars was chosen. But it didn't represent Advance Wars on GBA, but an advanced game with a war theme. After naming it Advance Wars, however, we figured people would get confused. After some discussion, we decided to go with a different name and regard it as a different band from the Nintendo franchise.
IGN: So at no point in development was it ever intended to be a GameCube iteration of the GBA series?
Terasaki: Correct.
Washbrook: When we originally started development on the title we wanted to steer away from a photo-realistic look because there's so many games of that style. The style of gameplay we wanted to present the player would be fun and entertaining and less serious, dwelling on the [somber] aspects of war. So the cartoon style provided us with that kind of opportunity because of the ability to exaggerate.
IGN: What was your biggest design hurdle?
Washbrook: As a team we love playing strategy games like Cannon Fodder, Worms, Warcraft, Starcraft and Command and Conquer. We really wanted to create an action game with tactical elements accessible to a console gamer. Throughout the game's development it has always been difficult to balance the tactical side of the game with the action side because the two are always in conflict.
In an action game you want immediate control and you don't want prolonged conflict, but in strategy you want it at a slower pace so you have greater control and can influence the outcome. Our biggest design hurdle was balancing those two aspects through Battalion Wars' current control scheme. You'll notice the controls are much different than they were last year.
IGN: How long did it take to get the controls just right?
Washbrook: We can't count the number of control systems. We probably spent 12 months just working on the control system, changing it, modifying it and simplifying it. We did this with NCL who provided a lot of information and feedback. We also spent time on focus tests, so it's pretty close to being final now.
IGN: You mention your collaboration with Nintendo. How closely was Nintendo involved with the project?
[At this point, Terasaki and Yamada talk amongst themselves, laugh and say a bunch of stuff I don't understand. Yamada then points to Washbrook]
Washbrook: We had regular meetings with Nintendo and we'd sit in a room for several days playing the game, talk about what worked and didn't work. Nintendo has been good to discuss the gameplay with, from the AI to the control of the units, and talking about what Nintendo feels is fun. This isn't really a direct answer but it's very useful to sit down with someone with the same level of passion toward games as the team does.
Terasaki: [laughs] We've visited London 5 times in a year and a half. Each visit takes about a week and a half, so we've become very familiar with London.
IGN: What didn't make it into the E3 demo of Battalion Wars that we can expect in the retail release?
Washbrook: There's a lot that wasn't shown on the show floor; a whole set of aerial units, gunship fighters and the Strata Fortress.
IGN: So what are your favorite unit types in the game?
Terasaki: [laughs] The recon unit.
Washbrook: I like the battle station, which isn't on the show floor. It's a great, big tank with five infantry gun mountings on it.
Yamada: [laughs] Flamer.
IGN: Did you ever consider a multiplayer aspect?
Terasaki: We intended to have a multiplayer mode, but at a certain point last year we decided it would take too much time to make the multiplayer satisfactory to all gamers, so we put it aside for this project. We've had playable multiplayer modes, but after some discussion with Nintendo we decided to put it aside.
Teresaki: We've had discussions.
IGN: For both systems?
Teresaki: Yes.
IGN: Cool. Well, those were all my questions. Thanks for your time.
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