Pac-Man's Toru Iwatani
The former Tecmo man explains his philosophy on how games should be made
You can do it from the beginning, that's okay - but you can also do it after the game has been released, it doesn't matter.
What you get is a developer creating a game - he thinks it's a good game, and he releases it to the public. Then a player asks why something works a certain way - so aspects of the gameplay that don't work so well are pinpointed by the gamers.
Then the game producer has to rethink an aspect of the game, because of the comments - so gradually he changes it, resulting in a product that's better for everyone. You educate each other - the producer educates the players, and vice versa.
It's like an American drama series - each week an episode airs, and afterwards the fans of the series talk on the forums, maybe saying that they don't like where the storyline is going. As far as I can tell, the writers then listen to that and adjust the stories in such a way that it stays interesting for the viewers - they use the feedback that's being given online. That's what I'm talking about - listening to your audience, mutual education.
I think companies should be more open on the design of games - it will encourage more creativity.
Actually, what I'd really like to see is just the gamers being more active themselves in the development of the games - so it's not just limited to saying they'd like to see certain things improved, but they'd come up with totally new and different ideas that they could suggest.
It doesn't really matter - it's about the interactivity between the people that play the games, and the game developer. That's the challenge - the developer doesn't have to do what's considered the best thing to do by most players, he can do the wrong thing on purpose in order to generate the feedback.
That's where the challenge is.
It's about a man and a woman... They come together, they fight - they have a big fight and split up. They realise they made a mistake, and come back together again. They get married and live happily ever after.
That's what I think the relationship between the developer and the players should be like - they quarrel, but they make it constructive for both of them.