STACK #235 May 2024

GAMING INTERVIEW

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BLADE TIPS!

powerful music of Ridge Racer to the emotional impact of the NieR series, I’ve always loved his work, so I reached out to him directly and was ecstatic to hear that while it was difficult to work with him due to scheduling conflicts, he was willing to support me through the excellent people at MONACA. I’m looking forward to working directly with Mr. Okabe next time! Your studio has evolved from a very successful mobile game background. Were there any particular challenges that you faced in creating your first console experience? As you might already know, Korea has a lot of talented developers, but very few of them have worked on console games, so we had to build everything from scratch. Here are some hot Stellar Blade tips straight from the director! “This game is all about just parries and just dodges. It may seem difficult, but we have made it very easy to function through the growth of the skill tree, and the growth of equipment such as Exospines and Gears. It’s also possible to play aggressively by cutting off all skills, so please find your own style and grow.” Mobile requires a completely different approach, so we worked with people who had collaborated on previous MMORPGs, and it felt like we were completing challenges one by one. The most challenging part was developing multiple facial techniques to convey the narrative and high-quality graphics at 60fps. Other than Eve, who is your all-time favourite PlayStation heroine, and why? Oh, this is a very difficult question because there are so many... Michelle and Nina from Tekken 2 , Tifa from Final Fantasy XII , 2B from NieR: Automata , and so many more for different reasons. I think I like the idea of having an independent and strong side to them without hiding their own charms. What do you most wish for players to gain from experiencing Stellar Blade ? If you can return to the real world holding on to the same excitement and fun you had in the game, we can’t ask for much more.

Action blast Stellar Blade is now out and about and being loved the world over. STACK had a chat with the hot game’s director/art director HyungTae Kim at Shift Up about how they crafted this new PS5 gem. Words Amy Flower FIGHT! Starry, Starry,

PlayStation has a rich history of strong female lead characters. How does it feel adding another to this impressive list of heroines? Of course, we’re very honoured, and while we still need the players’ permission for such a title, we’ve done our best to develop Eve into a strong and compelling female character. How did you go about developing the rich story at the heart of Stellar Blade ? The story was a collaborative effort between myself and our scenario team. We were heavily influenced by the compelling dystopian and post-apocalyptic tropes that existed in the ’80s and ’90s, and we tried to put a modern spin on those stories and tropes. However, we tried to make sure that the story itself was compatible with the gameplay, rather than just trying to make it look good, so that the story would unfold naturally as you play. Did any existing games serve as inspiration – or challenge - for you in creating Stellar Blade ? I’m a heavy console gamer, so there are a lot of games that have inspired me. I’m particularly influenced by NieR: Automata, Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, God of War, Sekiro, Jedi: Fallen Order , etc. Also, Capcom’s P.N.03 , which came out during the GameCube era, had a lot of influence on the protagonist’s movements and physical features.

imaginary creatures is both challenging and rewarding. How much fun was it developing the baddies of the piece, the Naytiba? Creating the native creatures was no easy task. I actually even think they’re the main characters. We deliberately tried to design them to feel as weird and unpleasant as possible in relation to the scenario, and, in the process, we made three-dimensional models directly out of clay and scanned them, trying to make them feel natural and not patterned. It was a big challenge, and I’m glad it turned out well, although the artists’ fingers were working quite hard!

• Stellar Blade is out now!

Some of the amazing music in Stellar Blade was composed by legendary Japanese game and anime composer Keiichi Okabe’s MONACA production team. How did you get them involved? I’m a huge fan of Okabe-san’s work. From the Tekken series to the sophisticated and

We’re led to believe that developing

46 MAY 2024

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