"How Video Games are Made"

The Making of Dragon Quest VI

ドラゴンクエストはテレビゲーム初のロールプレイングゲーム

　コンピューターゲームは、アニメやマンガと同じように、子どもたちには欠かせないものだ。見るだけではなく、主人公の気持になって、物語といしょに歩むことができるからだ。
　子どもはたくさんの夢を持っている。その夢を大きくふくらませてくれるのがこのコンピューターゲームなのだ。
　コンピューターゲームは、シューティングゲームやアクションゲームというように、ゲーム内容によっていくつかのジャンルに分かれている。
　その中で、子どもの夢をいちばんふくらませてくれるのがロールプレイングゲームといわれるものだ。自分が主人公となってゲームの中に入り込めるから、ゲームの進行に沿って自分自身がワクワク、ドキドキする。
　テレビゲームではじめてロールプレイングが誕生したのは1986年（昭和61年）のドラゴンクエストだ。発売以来たちまち子どもの心をとらえてしまい、いよいよ６巻目のドラゴンクエスト�Yが発売されることになった。
　どんな人たちがドラゴンクエスト�Yをつくっているのだろうか。

Dragon Quest was Japan's First Role-Playing Game.

Video games*, just like animation or comics, are indispensable to children. This is because instead of just looking at images, children can become the hero and feel what he feels, unfolding the story together. Children have many dreams, which video games can greatly expand.

Video games are divided into genres such as shooting games or action games, according to their contents. Among these genres, it is said that role playing games best capture the imaginations of children. The individual can become the hero inside of a game, advancing through the quest through one's own efforts. It is exciting.

Role-playing games were born on video game systems with the release of Dragon Quest in 1986. The game instantly captured the hearts of children and is now into its sixth episode with the planned release of Dragon Quest VI.

What kind of people are putting together Dragon Quest VI?

*Note: This book uses the term "computer game" many times and "video game" twice only. However, it is clear from the text that the author uses the two terms interchangeably, without much knowledge about the distinction between them. I will therefore use the more appropriate English term "video game" for my translation.

これがシナリオだ

　シナリオは、ゲームの設計図だ。大きく分けて二つの要素からできている。マップとよばれる図とセリフだ。
　マップというのは英語で、地図という意味だ。ゲームが展開する場所を示したものを、ゲームを製作する人たちはマップと呼んでいる。
　マップをよく見ると、登場するキャラクターたちに108、109といった番号が書かれているのがわかる。シナリオに登場する、すべての人物に名前をつけるわけにはいかないので、数字をつけて管理しているんだ。こうすることで、シナリオをゲームに組み込むプログラマーの人たちも、しごとがやりやすくなるわけだ。
　画面にうつし出される人物に合わせてことばが書かれている。ことばは画面を窓わくのようにしきり、その中に表示される。最大でも左右17文字で、３行までという制約があるから、シナリオをつくる人は短いことばで意味が通じ、しかもプレイする人が納得することばをつくるのに頭をひねっているのだ。

つぎのページのシナリオの実際の画面。

　105男というところを見ると「やあ○○○○｡」と書かれている。この○の部分にゲーム開始前、プレイをする人が登録した自分の名前などが入る。ロールプレイングゲームの特長がきちんとシナリオに用意されているのがわかる。

This is the Scenario

A scenario is the plan of a game. It is roughly divided into two elements, the map and dialogue. Those who work on the game use the map to define the locations that they will develop in the game.

If you look carefully at the map, you will see numbers such as 108 and 109 written next to the characters who appear there. Since not all the characters that appear in the scenario can be named, a number has been assigned to them. This makes the job easier for the scenario writers and the programmers.

Dialogue for each character that appears is displayed on the screen. Since the dialogue has to fit inside of a window on-screen, there is a limitation of 17 characters to one line, and a maximum of three lines. This limitation causes headaches for the scenario writers. They have to make every line of dialogue clear and meaningful.

(The actual screen developed from the scenario on the following page.)

If you look at the note marked "Man 105" you will see he says, "Hey, OOOO." The name the player had given his character before the game began will be displayed instead of "OOOO." It is clear that the best features of role-playing games are exactly planned for in the scenario.

シナリオライターのしごと

　コンピューターゲームをつくるには、このシナリオが必要だ。どのような物語にするか、どのようなキャラクターを登場させるかなど、はじめにちゃんと決めておかないとゲームができないからだ。
　堀井雄二さん（40歳）は、ドラゴンクエストのゲームデザインとシナリオを担当している。このゲームをつくっている会社エニックスが主催したゲームコンテストに応募したことがきっかけで、ドラゴンクエストを製作することになった。
　堀井さんは阪神大震災で大きな被害を受けた淡路島の出身。「子どものころは近所の城跡で遊んだり、林の中を抜けると思わぬ場所に神社があってびっくりしたという体験を持っている｡」と話してくれた。
　ドラゴンクエスト�Yの舞台は、海に囲まれた島だ。町、村、お城、どうくつなどが出てくる。堀井さんが子どものころ遊んだ淡路島の思い出が反映しているのだろうか。

堀井さんの前にある厚いファイルはすべてシナリオ。

堀井さんのしごと道具。変わったハンコがある。

堀井さんが書いた一枚一枚のシナリオは、このような画面につくられていく。

The Scenario Writer's Work

This scenario is required in order to make a video game. The game cannot be made without first clearly deciding what kind of story will be told or what kinds of characters will appear.

Mr. Yuji Horii (40 years old) is in charge of the game design and scenario of Dragon Quest. Enix, the company behind Dragon Quest, held game design contests in order to sponsor winning game scenarios.

Mr. Horii is a native of Awaji-shima which suffered serious damage from the Great Hanshin Earthquake. He says, "When I was a child, I experienced surprise at discovering a shrine while finding my way out of a forest, and playing in the nearby ruins of a castle."

The setting of Dragon Quest VI is an island surrounded by the sea. Towns, villages, castles, and caves make an appearance. Do these reflect Mr. Horii's recollections of Awaji-shima where he played as a child?

The thick binders in front of Mr. Horii are the entire scenario.

Mr. Horii's work items. Those are unusual stamps

From each page of Mr. Horii's scenario come these screens.

A Day in the Life of Mr. Horii

He usually gets up at 8:00 in the morning. After spacing out for a while, he heads off to work. It is not uncommon for him to spend the night at the office as well. Horii writes the scenario by hand rather than on a word processor because, he says, it is easier to lay out many pages all over his desk and consider the scenario as a whole.

When Mr. Horii is writing a scenario, he says he thinks of the game as it would appear on the screen. When ideas don't come out, he lies down or plays games until his mood improves.

With Dragon Quest VI, the scenario has taken up 13 binders comprising about 4500 sheets of A4 paper. Various mechanisms need to be considered and hundreds of maps drawn. Since over 1000 characters also appear in the game, countless lines of dialogue have to be written.

"I like coffee-flavoured milk. I go through about one litre of it in a day at work." Mr. Horii laughs.
To produce the the energy needed to build an incredibly expansive scenario, coffee-flavoured milk is the answer.

Mr. Horii writing the scenario in his office. It is a very quiet room. At top are his writing tools and binders of completed scenario pages.

Mr. Horii's Day Off

Saturday and Sunday are his days off, when he plays loving father to his daughter Marina and son Nanpei. Sometimes he plays a Sailor Moon game with Marina.

Mr. Horii does not play his own games. When asked why, he answers, "When working on a game, I play it to death After it's released I don't play it again. If I did, I'd dread finding many things that I'd wish I'd redone."

His hobbies are collecting cameras, building model railroads, and sailing model boats. A model will not come together well unless one takes the time to complete each part. Come to think of it, making a scenario can be said to work the same way.

Mr. Horii dreamt of being a comic book writer as a child. He was always thinking about how he could entertain the reader. Carrying this way of thinking over to his way of designing games has proven very useful.

Marina takes care of a hamster small enough that it can hide in her little hands. Its name is "Mogura" (mole) because it is always burrowing.

Marina and her father each bought a pair of in-line skates. The road in front of their house is their practice course.

Explaining the Character Idea to Mr. Toriyama

In order to bring his characters to life on the screen, Mr Horii must clearly define such things as their faces, clothing, height, and age,

If he explains his idea in generalities, it will not be easily understood. Thus, Mr. Horii first draws his character along with some descriptve text, and then sends it to Mr. Akira Toriyama. It turned out helpful for Mr. Horii to have spent much of his youth drawing comics..

Mr. Horii draws his idea, and sends it to Mr. Toriyama.

Mr. Toriyama takes this memo, thinks for a while, and draws a character.

One can see Mr. Horii's character sketch (far left) becoming Mr. Toriyama's character drawing (left.)

Mr. Toriyama's Work

A draft of the character Barbara drawn by Mr. Toriyama.
The completed picture of Barbara.

Mr. Akira Toriyama (39 years old) is currently producing the "Dragon Ball" series for the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. Mr. Toriyama lives in Aichi Prefecture.

Character ideas are sent by Mr. Horii to Mr. Toriyama's workplace. The first thing he does is add his own ideas on top of Mr. Horii's. "About 70 percent of the character design comes from adding to the draft idea of a character. I draw about 5-10 sketches per character. What I pay attention to is trying to make a character that has never been seen before, while still trying to make it have a comic book-style appeal," explains Mr. Toriyama.

Only characters which resounded clearly in Mr. Horii's mind are given birth in Dragon Quest through Mr. Toriyama's pictures. By the way, how does Mr. Toriyama feel to see characters that he has drawn moving around? "I really look forward to seeing how far we can animate them on the screen," he says.

Many pens are lined up on Mr. Toriyama's work desk. This is where every character thought up by Mr. Horii is drawn one by one.

A Day in the Life of Mr. Toriyama

Mr. Toriyama works from 1:00 p.m. to around 9:00 p.m. every day. While working, he seldom plays games. Sometimes he plays "Donkey Kong Country" with his kids. He always relaxes to music from the FM radio while he does his work.

Here, wheat tea is available to drink. If Mr. Horii gets his energy from coffee-flavoured milk, could Mr. Toriyama be getting his from wheat tea?

At his workshop named Bird Studio, many things like model cars are lined up. It is from this fun working environment that wonderful characters are born.

Although Mr. Toriyama says he seldom plays games ....

Mr. Toriyama's workshop. It looks like a lot of fun. One feels that interesting characters may lie hidden here and there.

These are the Characters

Hero - A boy who lives in the village Liefcod in the valley with his younger sister.

Hassan - A wanderer who joins the army of King Laydock.

Chamorro - A boy of strong faith of the mountain-dwelling Gent people.

Barbara - A girl rumoured to be from the legendary magic city of Calbellona.

Mireille - A mystical dream fortune-teller who works at the base of Grandmarse.

Terry - a mysterious boy who is travelling around the world in order to build skill with his sword.

The Game Musician's Work

Mr. Sugiyama's desk during composition.

The evil motif might be played during such a scene.

Music is indispensable to a game. The man writing this music is Mr. Kouichi Sugiyama (64 years old). When your parents were young, a style of music called "group sounds" was popular. The composer of the hit song "Flower Necklace" and others, by the group The Tigers (to which Mr. Kenji Sawada also belonged) was Mr. Sugiyama. He has also composed themes for animations like "The Reborn Ideon" and "The Legend of Sirius."

"Producing game music is the complete opposite of producing a hit pop song. It's OK if the song has less impact, since the player has to be able to listen to the song over and over without getting tired of hearing it. If game music were to be placed in a genre, it would be related to classical music, which people have been playing for each other for hundreds of years."

Mr. Sugiyama had more to say: "One must understand the basic idea of a game first.
Otherwise, one can't imagine what kind of music to write. For example, a small hut can be built even without a plan. but it might fall down right away. If one is going to build a sturdy building, a detailed plan must be clearly laid out. Classical music is similarly carefully planned, so it can be performed even generations later.

Surrounded by audio equipment, Mr. Sugiyama sits in his studio.

A House with Many Unusual Cameras

When Mr. Sugiyama was a fifth-grader, he saw a small camera in a shop window. He begged his parents to buy the camera for him, but they wouldn't. He has been mad about cameras ever since then. After growing up, photography became his hobby, and he took photos of many things.

Mr Sugiyama judged that he would never attain a professional skill in photography, however, so he shifted his interests to collecting large numbers of cameras. Nowadays, Mr Sugiyama says the number of rare, small, and humourous cameras he has collected is "uncountable"

The day a 5th-grade Sugiyama discovered cameras.

So many cameras are arrayed in Mr Sugiyama's workplace that he could open a museum. He seems to be glad no matter which camera he takes out to show us.