Last year, NIS America and Spike Chunsoft debuted a new niche series for the PlayStation Vita in North America that centered on murder and challenged just how far people would go to save themselves over others. The delightfully demented Danganronpa meshed visual novel storytelling with intense courtroom trials akin to Ace Attorney. The game captivated those who played it enough for NIS America to publish both entries in less than a year.
Who would have thought a game that locked students away and forced them to kill each other to escape would be so gripping? Sure Battle Royale and The Hunger Games have operated on a similar premise and found success, but in a game you're actually interacting with it. Still,the shocking material, story full of twists, and memorable characters kept players hooked. We recently chatted with the mastermind behind the series, Kazutaka Kodaka. Kodaka covered a slew of topics, from his favorite characters to his goal with the gruesome execution scenes.
His Creative Process And Killing His Darlings
Kodaka thought up Danganronpa before Spike merged with Chunsoft. Spike was a much smaller company back then, but Kodaka knew if he wanted to make a splash he needed something novel. "I knew that at the beginning that I had to create something different and it would have to be unique," he says. He gave himself a few starting points. He knew he wanted to make a 3D game, didn't want to have any action gameplay, and wanted something grotesque and cruel. "I thought, 'What's the most unorthodox way to do this?'" Kodaka says. "And that's how Danganronpa came to be."
The next step was brainstorming the characters. One of his rules is to never make characters pawns; there has to be something more to them than merely serving the plot. To him, a memorable game needs memorable characters, so he starts by throwing out basic traits, which can span from their talent to a personality trait to their style. This helps shape their essence before he decides their role in the plot. But does he ever worry about running out of talents or using similar ones? "In some ways, it's inevitable that [talents] will end up being similar to one another," Kodaka says. "The way I overcome that is that the characters themselves are very different. When I come up with these ultimate abilities, I take into account the character and their design and bounce that off each other. Even though the category of what they're ultimate in might be similar, if you look at the characters themselves, it's actually quite different. The character stands completely alone and different and separate."
For instance, Kodaka notes how the first and second games already have some similar talents; Sakura is the ultimate martial artist and Peko is the ultimate swordswoman. Both these characters ended up being very different, however. Sakura is a big softie despite her tough exterior and Peko is more cold and distant, never showing her emotions. Kodaka says he loves all of characters, but his favorites are Genocide Jill (ultimate murder) and Ibuki Mioda (ultimate musician). "I really like them because they're always super amped and super energetic and I really like writing that," he says.
Kodaka spends so much time crafting his characters, but it doesn't bother him that eventually he has to kill them off. "I don't think about it too much," he says. "Some characters will kill, some will be killed, and some will receive the execution. That's part of their character and their role in the story - what they're meant to do. I think of it as that is what will make them stand out as a character. These characters were made to be killed."
Up next: Find out why he makes the executions so gruesome and what the future holds...