[Interview] In gesprek met de producer en lead scenario writer van Silent Hope

Tijdens Gamescom konden wij in gesprek gaan met twee leden van het ontwikkelteam van de aankomende game Silent Hope. Deze game verschijnt op 3 oktober al en wij konden praten met de producer, Makoto Shioda, en lead scenario writer, Honoka Moriwak. Beide ontwikkelaars zijn al een ruime tijd actief bij Marvelous.

Silent Hope is een dungeon crawler game waarbij je als speler één van zeven helden kunt spelen. Iedere held is uniek en speelt anders. De bedoeling is om naar het diepste punt van de abyss te gaan om de wereld van stilte te redden. Voordat je het interview gaat lezen raad ik aan om de trailer alvast te bekijken om een idee te hebben van het spel.

DN: Could you quickly introduce yourself and your role at Marvelous?

MS: I’m Makoto Shioda and this is my first time as a producer. We have been working on Silent Hope for multiple years now, and before this I have been involved in most Marvelous titles. However, this was mostly as marketing.
HM: I’m Honoka Moriwak, and I’m the lead scenario writer for this project. Before this project, I have been working on games that have been commissioned by other companies I don’t want to mention.

DN: We were only able to play a small part of the game yesterday, can you tell us a bit more about the world of Silent Hope?

MS/HM: Yes, of course. The game is set in a deprived world, it is a completely silent world. There is only one sound that can be heard for the characters. That is the voice of the princess, who is anxious to meet her father. The heroes are guided by her voice to the abyss, where her father is, and the deeper you go, the more the story will unravel.

DN: You are mentioning a silent world with just the voice of the princess. So is the game completely silent for the game or is that just a storytelling part?

MS: No, the game won’t be completely silent. We made the game to be heavily influenced by the music. The music is composed in house by Marvelous and will be of great importance to the experience. Especially as it will change at every layer of the abyss.

DN: The game will have seven playable heroes. As I understand, they will all be unique with different playstyles. Can you tell me a bit more about the design process for them?

MS: So we actually put a lot of focus on creating them so differently. As we want to cater the game to all kind of gamers. There are a lot of different gamers with different playstyles and skills, so we took this into account. Some will be a bit easier to handle than others, these will be great to learn the ropes. However, all should be enjoyable to use for all players. We hope players will give them all a try.

DN: Which of the heroes are your personal favorites?

MS: Personally, I love the farmer the most. She is not only cute but, also very strong and has some interesting controls. I think her movement is a bit tricky, making it interesting to play.
HM: I am going with the wanderer. That one is the most neutral to play with. Not only is it an easy character to handle, making it a perfect fit for beginning gamers. He is also able to do the side jobs of all the other characters. Making him a perfect all-rounder.

DN: How are you planning on keeping the dungeons in the abyss feeling fresh? What obstacles did you encounter making them?

MS: What we did with the dungeons is that they change. Every time you enter the dungeon, the layout changes. This isn’t done to complicate the experience or make it harder. It is purely done to give the players a sense of exploration and make every try feel fresh.

DN: As we are running out of time this will be the final question. What will the boss fights be like?

MS: Each of the layers in the abyss will have a different boss. Each of them being completely different in how they act. In the demo here you can encounter the first boss of the game. This is a creature looking like a lobster. It represents everything the player has learned up till that point. It also has characteristics from typical boss fights.