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Katamari Damacy and Journey creators reveal new game, 'Wattam'
Did you play bizarre and charming PlayStation 2 game Katamari Damacy? If you did, you're familiar with the quirky stylings of Keita Takahashi, the game's creator. And how about Journey, the beautiful exploration game from thatgamecompany? If you did, you're familiar with Robin Hunicke, one of a small group of folks who created the gorgeous, unique experience. Now put those two artistic sensibilities together and you've got Funonema, the studio that both Hunicke and Takahashi now helm -- the duo revealed their first game today at PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas: "Wattam." What is Wattam? Your guess is as good as ours -- the brief bit shown had a personified cube trying on a variety of adorable hats. What we do know is that the game is headed to PlayStation 4 and we're willing to bet it'll be just as adorable and memorable as previous titles from Takahashi and Hunicke. We'll of course have much more from PlayStation Experience as the weekend rolls on!
Moving The Sims from PC to Wii
At GDC, Maxis Game Designer Robin Hunicke spoke about her process of transferring The Sims to the Wii. Her team was excited to be working on a Wii title because of its new controller and Nintendo's history, but Hunicke's most important lesson was to stay true to the defining elements of a franchise instead of starting over for a new console.Hunicke said, "The Wii is so cool ... oh my gosh. ... Almost everyone on my team is a Nintendo fan. Almost all game developers are Nintendo fans. ... We were really excited to build a [Wii] game." But since the team began work well before the console's launch, they only had tradeshow experiences and Nintendo ads to approach the MySims design.Hunicke noticed the clean lines, family oriented approach, and tactile aesthetics of the early Wii marketing material. She followed those elements instead of trying to build the game around flailing controller movements. Hunicke said, "We wanted to bring The Sims to the Wii in a way that we could say we were at home on the Wii."%Gallery-2064%
GDC 07: MySims goes to Wii, gets rid of pee
"OMG! The Wii is so cool," an enthusiastic female developer screams during a GDC session. That developer is Robin Hunicke, designer of the upcoming Wii-exclusive MySims. Designing the title began long before the team had a chance to get their hands on the system, so they had to rely on the "aesthetic" of Nintendo's advertising. "We wanted to bring The Sims to the Wii in a way that we could say we were at home on the Wii," she said, trying to find a unique look, style and feel for the Wii version.Converting a game for play on Wii doesn't necessarily mean changing everything. What the team focused on was how it feels to touch the characters on screen with the Wiimote: wild, flailing actions probably wouldn't be appropriate for a title such as this. One of the biggest changes that needed to be made was how the game was managed: there was a great deal of opposition to focusing on a single character (rather than a large family), and there was an even greater uproar against the loss of urination, and other micromanagement features.Streamlining The Sims process was key to moving the franchise to the Wii, and that's where the character designs came from. Although they look strangely like Mii, the look wasn't based on Nintendo's character creation system. The lead character designer, when showing off her simplified look for Wii Sims, was told: "it's perfect."See also:Joystiq: Moving The Sims from PC to WiiGallery: MySims design processGallery: MySims
