Project Phoenix made the headlines due to the very successful start of its Kickstarter campaign and due to the stellar cast gathered by Director Hiroaki Yura to create the game, including acclaimed composer Nobuo Uematsu, but there’s still a lot we don’t know about this extremely interesting indie JRPG project.
That’s why I contacted Yura-san and arranged a chat with him, in order to ask more details about his vision for what could very well be a revolution in a genre that hasn’t exactly been explored that deeply by indie developers so far.
Luckily for us, turns out that Yura-san really had a lot to say, so take a seat, grab a cup of coffee and follow me into the world of Project Phoenix.
Giuseppe: First of all, could you introduce yourself, your project and team for our readers?
Hiroaki Yura: My name is Hiroaki Yura, I’m the creator, the director and the producer of the game Project Phoenix. It’s a JRPG with squad-based RTS combat mechanics. It’s going to be primarily for the PC, it will be ported to iOS and Android, most likely for tablets. If they don’t perform well enough, we’re going to have a different use for them. In other words, we’re not going to change the game’s mechanics to suit the tablets. The tablets will need to live up to the standard of the game.
It may be ported to the PlayStation 4 and the Vita, but this isn’t yet confirmed. Once it’ll be confirmed we’ll send you a press release. Our team is made of many people from different backgrounds, from Asia, Europe and America. I gathered the best people I could find for the job and everyone is mostly working on royalty basis. That means that they won’t get paid until we’ll start selling the game in mid 2015.
The reason why we can do this is that everyone is a respected professional in his own field of work, so we don’t require to be paid, because this is a project born of passion. However we do need funds for modeling and similar tasks for Stephen (Unger)’s team, because he needs to hire a lot of people to create characters and environments.
This is the way we’re working, and that’s why we initially asked only for $100,000 (on Kickstarter). Our game is unlikely to go over budget, because we have been very conservative with the budget, so that we will be able to deliver on our promises. I’d like to say that the schedule will be pretty much on time, but there is a chance we might end up being late, but if that was to happen it will be to make sure that the quality of the game will be up to standard.
The concept of the game will definitely not change whether we’ll have a hundred thousand dollars or five million. The only difference made by the stretch goals, besides the multiplayer, is the ability to upgrade the concept. We will have to hire a new team to create the multiplayer, because it’ll be a completely different feature compared to what we’re making now.
Besides the multiplayer everything is building up on what we have already. For example if it’s music, we’re starting with synthesized music but if we reach the 1,650,000 dollars stretch goal, we’ll have live recording. The ground work is already done. All we need is just to record. That doesn’t take too much time and all we need is the money to get started.
G: People know you primarily as a musician and orchestra director. Is this your first experience as a game director and producer? Do you feel it’s a large change in role, or it’s actually similar?
HY: Absolutely, but it’s very similar. I understand the intricacies of video game creation because of my experience as a music director. Also, I’m not a composer, I’m a violinist, and while violinists have no place in video game development, but as a music director, I direct people on what to do and how to do it. It’s not so different. In some cases it’s actually easier, because I deal with 120 musicians, while a game director has only to deal with five key men in order to execute his task. I find it much easier than directing an orchestra.
G: Considering that you’re a musician and the team includes other world class musicians like Uematsu-sensei, will music actually play a role in the story or even in the gameplay? I’m thinking about Macross for instance, or about the memorable opera scene in Final Fantasy VI.
HY: We will have a special place for music, but in the end we all agree that we’re making music for a video game–without the video game we are nothing. It’s the same thing with the illustrators and the artists–our team means nothing without the game. So we’re composing the music and creating the art for the game. They will play a large role, but not the main role.
G: What do you think about the current situation of JRPGs in the Japanese and worldwide markets? Does your decision to create Project Phoenix come from the need to fill some kind of void you perceive in the genre?
HY: Absolutely. I only make things that are missing. Currently what we are missing is what JRPG should be in the world today. Basically it comes down to the question: “What is a JRPG?” People have different answers. I’m good friend with (Hironobu) Sakaguchi-san, and I spoke to him about two weeks ago in his office. I asked him what is a JRPG to him. And for him JRPGs are about the characters and how they develop. Hiroki Hikuta, who is the composer of Secret of Mana and also a game director says the same thing.
For me it’s not just about the characters, but it’s also about the story of the characters. That’s the most important thing: the story. JRPG for me is like opera. It exists to tell a story and to give emotion, like listening to music or looking at beautiful art. You’re there to enjoy the show, the concept, the performance.
I don’t think the game mechanic is as important. Game mechanics have to be fun and fulfilling. It doesn’t need to conform to one type of gameplay like for instance turn based classic Final Fantasy-like. That’s why I went for RTS. I think it’s a very natural progression. The only reason why they did turn based back in the day was because they could do nothing else. Nowadays we can take things to real time easier.
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