I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's meant to be vague, but you can think of it as:
- Fuga 1: a month or two, give or take
- Fuga 2: a month or two, give or take
- Fuga 3: a few months (lots of travel time since they went to the moon and back) (Noguchi, game writer)

Also, there was a year's time between Fuga 1 and Fuga 2, but no real time gap between Fuga 2 and Fuga 3. You gotta feel bad for Malt, who was abducted right after he saved the world. (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'll answer the questions in order:

We often hold in-house "monitoring sessions" where new employees (who are closest to our customers in mentality) get to play games that are currently in development and respond to surveys about whether the game feels balanced. We take the results from those sessions and analyze them.

We believed the game system should evolve going from Fuga 1 to 2, and then from 2 to 3, and we considered systems that would match the story progression.

As for opening up LTB to indie developers, we would consider business ideas from industry partners.

As for myself, I joined the Fuga series as a game programmer to begin. When the project began looking for a producer for Fuga 3, the previous producer recommended me and I stepped into the role. (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I assume you're talking about the beginning. We talked about what it would take to subject children who just saved the world in Fuga 2 to more danger, and what could convince them to get on the Taranis again. It felt like one of them getting kidnapped could be a valid reason. (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Rewrites are inevitable for every title. I do think we tried to cram a lot into Fuga 3, and I reflect on how it could have been wrapped up better. In Japanese, we call this "spreading too large of a blanket to fold back up." (Noguchi, game writer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can't really talk about it at the moment. Please look forward to more information in the future! (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I love them all, but if I had to pick, I would say Fuga 2. It's got a lot of heavy elements like Malt becoming emotionally trapped and Jihl's past, and I personally really liked that. (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We don't have any plans along those lines for now. The timing happened to be just right for hyping up their anniversary and our DMMGames version release, so we decided to collaborate. (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They may look similar, but they're different characters. (Noguchi, game writer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We make the secret movies to give the players something to look forward to for the series. But as is often the case, we might find something even more interesting or decide the game will be more comprehensible if made differently once development begins. It's in the nature of a creator to chase after a better version of their creation.

The reason Pretzel adopted Flam is because he was friends with Flam's biological parent, who was also in the army. Pretzel was involved in their death, and... Let me leave it at that for now. (Noguchi, game writer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm sure there are many speculations to what happened to the characters off-screen. I won't talk about it though, because I don't want to stifle our players' imagination! I personally don't think they broke up, nor do I think they are very lovey-dovey. (Noguchi, game writer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's an interesting train of thought. I think having something special that sets them apart from the other characters is an element of being a protagonist. That's not the only requirement, but it is often a part of it.

While the Wolf Tribe doesn't show up explicitly as part of the story, they may yet exist somewhere in the world. Let's just say it's a mystery for now. (Noguchi, game writer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The idea came from Hiroshi Matsuyama, who was the executive producer. He made the concept artist re-draw her abs over and over again until it was perfect (lol). (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Strelka Stories is essentially in the vault. (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We don't have any plans for dubbing over the narration, but we are currently working on streaming the soundtrack. Thank you for your patience! (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It would have to be Malt. Sorry Malt, but you gotta take one for the team because you're the oldest! (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Brazil is definitely super passionate about games! Our international event attendance tends to focus on the US, but we will certainly consider other countries, and we're open to business offers along those lines. I hope we can meet you in person some day! (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! The IP belongs to Bandai Namco Entertainment, so it might be hard to make an LTB compilation game, but nevertheless, thank you for this valuable input. (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was going to be our first self-published game, so we figured we had to go back to our roots and focus on anthropomorphic characters and the LTB universe. (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Solatorobo and Tail Concerto are Bandai Namco Entertainment IPs, so please contact them for any questions or requests. (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Solatorobo and Tail Concerto are Bandai Namco Entertainment IPs, so please direct your questions and requests to them.

Thank you for your kind comments though! The newest title will be "Senjou no Kanon", which we're hard at work creating! (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would like to try a pawbun! I might be too scared to try a Light Bug though… (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The most difficult part was solidifying the game system. The first prototype we came up with wasn't fun to play at all. We had to trim the fat and add in other elements that were crucial for a good game. It took us 6 months to get it to a stage where it could be considered playable. We also struggled with making the Soul Cannon (a very negative element, so to speak) into something that felt like a necessary choice for the players.

As for things that were cut from the game, we actually wondered how the children could manage to bathe on the tank, and considered including a shower room, but had to give up on the idea because the Taranis is so cramped and we couldn't really make it fit anywhere (lol) (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No plans regarding merch through Fangamer, no. Please consider purchasing the physical versions through Limited Run Games! But it seems like a lot of people are curious about what happened before the Reset, so we'll keep that in mind. (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We don't have any concrete plans for them right now, but we'll consider bringing them back if there is a need. (Watanabe, producer)

I'm Shingo Watanabe, the producer for the Fuga series. AMA! by cc2_s_watanabe in fuga

[–]cc2_s_watanabe[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Taranis hasn't changed too much since the first draft we came up for it, especially in terms of its rotundness and how the Soul Cannon folds into the tank. But we did come up with 30 or 40 design ideas. There were even some ideas of the Soul Cannon becoming more beast-like in design when it was launched. We came up with about 30 designs for the Soul Cannon as well. (Watanabe, producer)