Sharing their designs on an internal server so that their ideas don’t overlap, Game Freak have a five-strong committee who then cast their vote as to whether they will make their way into the game. It’s an exhaustive creative process, and one that results in a far greater quantity of ideas rejected in comparison to those that are accepted.
“Since there are 20 of us and we’re working all on our own ideas, we want to make sure we’re not overlapping ideas. At Game Freak, we have an internal server where we can upload our designs and share them with everyone else on the team. This allows us to see what everyone else is working on and get ideas from each other,” Game Freak’s graphic design team lead Hironobu Yoshida explained to Gamasutra.
“It’s very difficult work every time. There are probably five to 10 times the number of ideas that are rejected as the ones that make it into the final design, so it’s a very difficult process,” he continues, discussing how such designs are passed to a committee of five people who cast the final decision as to which make it into the game.
“And they also will leave feedback on all of the designs, even the ones that are rejected, to say why they got rejected or why they didn’t choose a certain one. What that lets us do is improve for the future, so we can use that knowledge for the next series of titles.”
Game Freak discuss the creation process for new Pokémon
