http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3166474
The first interview with Masaaki Kukino the producer of The King of Fighters XII:
At the annual Arcade Operators Union convention in Japan last week, everyone expected the big news to be about Street Fighter IV -- it was playable in public for the first time, with a bunch of new and returning characters -- but amazingly, the debut trailer for The King of Fighters XII was able to hold its own and stir up tons of hype due to a new look, which features high-resolution character sprites along the lines of those in recent Guilty Gear games.
During the Game Developers Conference yesterday, we were able to pull aside KOF XII producer Masaaki Kukino to get some of the backstory on how the new visuals came about.
1UP: Where did the decision for the new art style come from?
MK: We started planning the game around 2005/2006 to give ourselves time to try something new. We knew this was going to be the first time that the series would be on new-generation hardware, so we wanted to renew the old graphics and make it a high-definition game.
1UP: Did you make the shift to keep up with other games like Guilty Gear or Street Fighter with the HD Remix, or was it solely because of a hardware shift that you felt it was time for a change?
MK: We decided to make this the turning point for the new King of Fighters, and the hardware had a lot to do with that.
1UP: How much harder was it to make this game than previous King of Fighters games?
MK: A lot harder. [Laughs] We spent almost three times more time on development than we did for the last game.
1UP: And that was mostly because of the art style?
MK: That's right.
1UP: Is the development-team size bigger than it's been in the past, or is it simply a matter of them spending more man-hours?
MK: It's the same team we've had for previous games, but we've just spent more time.
1UP: Given the hardware, would you say you designed the game with a console focus in mind this time around, or are you guys still thinking about an arcade version first?
MK: We can't say much about any console plans or platforms we intend to put the game on at the moment, but we can say King of Fighters XII will be in the arcades first and new-generation consoles in the future.
1UP: Apart from the visuals, what's the focus of the game? Is there a previous King of Fighters game it's most similar to?
MK: At the moment, I can't tell you the details. What I can say is it keeps the basic 3-on-3 fighting style, but I can't really compare it to a previous game in the series. We're trying to do something new, so I think it stands on its own.
1UP: It's interesting that there are a bunch of new fighting games coming out at around the same time. You guys are doing something new, Capcom is doing something new, there's the new Soul Calibur...which game do you see as your biggest competitor?
MK: Street Fighter IV.
1UP: Are you planning to see it this week?
MK: I saw it at the AOU 2008 show.
1UP: What was your reaction?
MK: I was impressed. It's very similar to King of Fighters in that we're trying to do something new with the franchise.
1UP: The King of Fighters series has always used a lot of different artists and character designers, and for this series, you guys decided to go with Nona. Was it a hard decision to go with this art style for the first HD KOF game?
MK: It all comes back to wanting to do something new. And Nona is one of our top designers in the company, so we're confident that his artwork will receive a good response from the market.
1UP: Here's a silly question: Will there be an explanation for why Terry is back in his old clothes?
MK: Yes, yes. [Laughs]
1UP: Any final words?
MK: King of Fighters XII is the beginning of a new era of fighting games. We're trying to make it the best 2D fighting game ever.
Heu pas trop cher aussi hein merki^^'
Un Chao, c'est classe ! ^__^
