■ A Character’s Appeal Lies in the Battle System: The Development Philosophy Prioritized by the Team
――During development so far, have there been any major disagreements within the team? This could be regarding the battle system, character performance, or even the story’s progression. When such disagreements arise, how do you conduct discussions and reach a final decision?
An: Our goal is to deliver a “new experience” to all players.
As I mentioned earlier, when creating a new world, we first establish several keywords to determine the overall direction. When opinions differ, we return to those initial goals and direction to evaluate whether the proposed ideas truly align with them.
For example, we had discussions like this when developing Pinocony. In Pinocony, there’s a mechanic where you walk on walls, right? Actually, in the early planning stages, there were various opinions within the team about how to express the world of dreams through gameplay.
Some wanted to fly freely through a dream, while others wanted to experience things that aren’t possible in reality. Still others envisioned a nightmare-like experience followed by waking up. Since everyone has their own image of what a dream is, a wide variety of ideas emerged.
The key was to choose a presentation that would allow as many players as possible to intuitively understand, “This is a dream world.” That’s why we ultimately adopted the mechanism of walking on walls. The experience of being freed from the constraints of gravity instantly evokes a dreamlike feeling the moment you see it.
Moreover, not only does it fit the game’s world, but we can also use this mechanic to further expand the scope of new gameplay.
However, we don’t believe that simply choosing one option from among many opinions is the most important thing. Rather, we believe it’s crucial to constantly question things and share opinions from different perspectives.
Within the development team, there are members who gather a variety of opinions and possibilities and explore how to combine them to create something better. Having opposing views or raising questions is by no means a bad thing. New ideas and gaming experiences can often emerge from them.
We want our team members to think about things from a broader perspective, without being limited to their own areas of expertise or personal preferences. We believe that through repeated discussions drawing on perspectives from different fields of expertise, individual abilities will improve, and we can build a healthy development environment for the entire team.
――For players who want to enjoy the game primarily through its characters and story rather than just achieving high scores in battle, could you tell us what kind of considerations you’ve incorporated into the game as a whole?
An: When we design characters, we prioritize expressing both the character’s charm and the experience of actually controlling that character as a single, cohesive whole.
A character’s appeal isn’t conveyed solely through the story, personality, or visuals. We aim to ensure players feel a consistent sense of appeal that encompasses their movements and skills during combat, as well as their relationships with other characters.
Let’s take Mitsuki Nanoka as an example.
Mitsuki Nanoka has a very cute personality, but in the story of the Senju, she learns swordsmanship and gains new experiences. However, Mitsuki Nanoka isn’t a character designed to excel in combat power, is she? So, we expressed the process of her becoming an apprentice to someone and learning swordsmanship through her character’s movements and combat skills.
In the presentation of her special moves, we’ve incorporated elements that evoke memories and experiences from her training. We also portrayed the act of learning swordsmanship itself in a way that aligns with her personality.
Nana Mutsuki tries to get other characters to teach her swordsmanship by treating them to milk tea. This behavior is also meant to convey her characteristic cuteness. In other words, even when designing combat skills, we believe it’s important not just to express raw strength, but also to convey the character’s personality and relationships with others.
We’ve also prepared related events for the story where Nanoka March learns swordsmanship. These depict not only her progress in mastering the art but also her interactions with NPCs like Scort. Rather than simply showing training for the sake of becoming stronger, we’ve designed these scenes to allow players to immerse themselves more deeply in the story through the characters’ personalities and relationships.
Furthermore, the main story isn’t the only way we portray a character’s charm. For Aventurin and Robin as well, we’ve revealed new facets of their personalities through quests and events outside the main story.
Various types of content allow us to express aspects of the characters that cannot be fully captured in the main story, such as their different sides and what they were doing behind the scenes.
To make the characters more compelling, we aim to utilize every element of the game, rather than relying solely on the main story and visuals.
――I’d like to ask about the collaboration between *Zenless Zone Zero* and *Honkai: Star Rail*. What criteria were used to select the characters appearing from each title?
*It has been announced that “Ellen Joe” and “Astra Yao” will appear in *Honkai: Star Rail*, while “Kafka” and “Robin” will appear in *Zenless Zone Zero* as part of this collaboration.
An: In turn-based RPGs and action games, even the same character is portrayed very differently. We considered how to leverage those differences to create unique and engaging experiences when these characters appear in a different game.
Kafka, who appears in *Zenless Zone Zero* from *Honkai: Star Rail*, can use guns and swords, as well as a combat style that involves manipulating threads. Since he already has a wide range of combat expressions, we believed we could convey his appeal with a fast-paced rhythm even when featuring him in an action game.
On the other hand, Robin is the Galactic Diva.
She is a character who wants to share her singing voice with various corners of the universe. Therefore, we thought that even if she appeared in a different world, she could still thrive as a captivating diva in that world.
Conversely, the same basic approach applies to characters appearing in *Collapse: Star Rail* from *Zenless Zone Zero*. We explored what kinds of interesting combat styles and gameplay we could achieve by bringing these characters—who were originally designed for action games—into a turn-based RPG.
However, please wait for future updates regarding Version 4.8 for details on specific character abilities and combat styles.
――In recent years, I’ve noticed an increasing trend toward taking about a year to thoroughly develop the main story of a single world. Will this production approach continue in the future? Or is there a possibility that you might take even longer to develop a story, or conversely, wrap it up in a shorter period?
An: We don’t necessarily believe that we have to spend a full year telling the story of a single world.
What matters is how much time is needed to properly convey that story.
The appropriate length and pacing vary depending on the story. Therefore, we do not intend to insist on depicting every world within the same timeframe. Moving forward, we will continue to determine the most appropriate schedule based on the story’s content and the world’s setting.
――I imagine “Money Wars” will undergo one of the largest updates to date. What was the guiding principle behind this large-scale overhaul?
An: We want “Money Wars” to be content that players can enjoy over the long term.
Rather than simply adding characters or tweaking certain mechanics, we’ve thoroughly reevaluated the gameplay as a whole. We’ve also established a specific theme for this new season. However, this doesn’t mean we’ll necessarily adopt the same approach for future updates.
We plan to assess how players enjoy this new season and what kind of feedback we receive before determining our future direction.
――I imagine the number of playable characters in “Money Wars” will continue to grow. However, if the total number of characters keeps increasing, won’t it become harder to randomly draw the specific character you’re looking for? Is there a possibility that you might reduce the number of available characters in the future, perhaps during major updates?
An: We are also considering the overall complexity of “Money Wars” and the mechanism by which characters appear randomly, and we are currently exploring various approaches.
For example, we could introduce existing characters in different ways when new characters are added. As for specific methods for increasing or decreasing the number of characters, that will depend on our policy for each season.
We want players to discover new team compositions and combinations. We will continue to explore the most suitable methods to achieve this.
――Does that mean that, with this update, some of the characters that have appeared randomly up until now will be removed from the pool of candidates?
An: Yes. In this update as well, there are characters that will be removed from the random appearance pool.
――As updates continue, the game’s file size is growing. While features are available to reduce storage usage—such as deleting data from previously played story chapters—it still feels like a significant burden for players using smartphones. Are you considering systems like cloud gaming or streaming in the future?
An: As you mentioned, in live-service games, content increases with each update, and as a result, the game’s file size grows larger.
We are aware of this issue.
We’ve already implemented features to reduce storage requirements, such as the ability to delete data from past content. We’re also continuously evaluating what measures will be necessary going forward.
However, regarding new delivery methods like a cloud version, we need to assess the level of demand among players. New devices are also being released one after another, so we must consider how to balance this with those developments. At this point, we are still in the process of monitoring the situation.
Therefore, we cannot yet provide any details regarding specific decisions—whether to implement something or not.
――If there is strong demand for a cloud version in Japan, would you consider it?
An: If there is strong demand from Japanese players, I believe that would serve as a basis for consideration.
――This time, Ahha is making her debut as the first playable Star God. Can we expect other Star Gods to appear as playable characters in the future?
An: It’s not a matter of whether or not to make a Star God playable; rather, we’re considering which characters to introduce based on what would be appropriate for the progression and development of the story. We hope you’ll continue to look forward to future developments.
――Thank you very much for your time today!
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