It is no secret that Xenoblade Chronicles developer Monolith Soft. is currently developing a title for Nintendo’s forthcoming Wii U platform, and the studio has posted a three-page interview that features its core programming staff discussing its progress.
Conducted by CEO Hirohide Sugiura, Toshiaki Yajima, Katsunori Sakai and Michihiko Inaba all outlined their technical goals for the project, whilst being sure to guard its identity.
Sigiura discussed how the studio had been performing research and development on rival high-definition consoles and the progression of software for them. Yajima continued by stating that, due to this, Monolith aren’t encountering any issues with developing their first HD game and are eager to show the fruits of their labour.
He also commented on how they are now able to use physics and shaders, providing them with the potential to utilise more expressive abilities for the characters within the game.
Inaba then expressed his interest in regards to the capabilities of the Wii U’s unique controller, explaining that it would be interesting to display differing elements on both the television and secondary screen. He also said that, as this was Monolith’s first high-definition title, he hoped that the studio will make something that surprises everyone.
He wants the studio to show that Japanese developers were able to utilise the technology available to them so that they won’t lose out to those in North America.
Incidentally, there is already a design document for their Wii U project and Sakai commented that he was excited after seeing it as it would require a high level of work from their staff.
The interview was posted as a method of attracting staff applications, with Yajima commenting that they’re looking for those with specific knowledge in regards to Havok and shaders. Whereas Sakai noted that when trying to portray realistic expressions on the screen, you may need to use external programming libraries and he was looking for those interested in using such libraries for game development.
[Thanks, Andriasang]
Monolith discuss the technical goals for their Wii U project
Man, of all the Wii games coming out this year the two I’m most excited about are Xenoblade and Skyward Sword. Monolith’s game looks amazing and I hope they use that talent on their first WiiU game.
Completely agree, Xenoblade Chronicles looks fantastic and I was so pleased to hear they’d moved the release date forward!
I’m certainly excited about what they could achieve on the Wii U, and hope that we’ll be able to see something perhaps at next year’s E3 event! 🙂