Cave Interview is out! [UPDATE - no need to download now!]

[Exarion]

With regards to game design itself, although 2D scrolling shooters are still the mainstream in Japan, overseas we see top-down arena shooters with multi-directional shots, or full 3D FPS and TPS games, as the mainstream, and we think it may be important to tailor our games towards that direction.

sorry I don't know business speak, I read this as "CAVE might do a FPS/TPS" and fainted

A CAVE developed FPS/TPS would most likely be Sin and Punishment 2 with more dakka, a bit more freedom, and a CAVE scoring system instead of a Treasure one. It will not be generic garbage. A CAVE arena shooter is nothing to be worried about, they know what to do there.

[Aru-san]

A CAVE arena shooter is nothing to be worried about, they know what to do there.

lol Mushihime-sama Gaiden BUG PANIC

[bcass]

A CAVE developed FPS/TPS would most likely be Sin and Punishment 2 with more dakka, a bit more freedom, and a CAVE scoring system instead of a Treasure one.

Yeah, when they mention "FPS" my guess is that they consider Rez an FPS/TPS, which is why they go on to mention that game as a popular Western style. Now, a Rez-style Cave shooter I could easily live with. I think the levels in S&P 2 are too long, so I would also like to see a more focussed/arcade-centric take on that style as well.

[ncp]

Mushihime themed FPS. Your enemies are giant bugs and your weapons are smaller bugs that shoot crazy lasers and shit. Make it happen.

[dcharlie]

well, a gaming experience like rez but with a much more complex/deep scoring system could be incredible.

Rez is such an amazing experience, gameplay isn't mindblowing, but the whole thing just sits together beautifully. Level 5 is just glorious.

[bcass]

There are some subtleties to the scoring in Rez. It's not just "shoot everything".

[dcharlie]

There are some subtleties to the scoring in Rez. It's not just "shoot everything".

yes, i am aware that it's not just "shoot everything", but there is scope to up the ante more and more - doesn't need to be over kill of course but options are there.

[gray117]

I think cave is searching out how to capitalise on their current position. Despite being relatively dominant in their direct field the arcade/shmup division has always only been a part of what they do. They're searching for revenue streams that will establish them with security... It's probably a good thing, its certainly a deserved thing.

I feel cave has definitely got a bug up their arse about being a niche developer; personally I always saw small market dominance as one of their strengths, but maybe they have an eye/ambition to take over the market shares of companies like gameloft or strike a deal with larger partners. Eitherway, region restricted, low print run games and you don't want to think of yourself as niche? ... maybe not domestically, but even then...

Hopefully, such ideas won't cloud their judgements and future investments, but it does present a little cause for concern... they seem to want to establish ips and reach out to more social/mmo routes, a mistep there can be very costly.

Of course, what if the development team is simply tired of the 'traditional' cave shmup and is looking for some new fun? ... you never know...

[Enhasa]

Sweet interview, thanks spadgy!

Cave has always done non-shmups, so trying to expand out isn't anything new. I think people just have different thresholds for niche, like everyone says Atlus or Treasure is niche but I consider them mainstream, at least in terms of mindshare. Same with Cave. Maybe if you're smaller like G.Rev you have more flexibility to create whatever weird and creative stuff you want like Senko or Strania.

Scoring in Rez is fucking awesome besides the boss milking, where it's total shit. It's so bad I couldn't take playing it for score anymore even though I really wanted to.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

In a perfect world Cave would make quality games that are targeted alittle more to western average gamer but still have that cave feel to them. And gain a reputation as a top notch developer just like Treasure has. That way more gamers would be allot more accomadating to future Cave shooters.

Worst case is that Cave more or less abbandon making shmups after several successfull non shmup releases. Still, if that was to happen it might not be all doom and gloom aslong as another developer or two would step up to fill the demand with a style of their own.

EDIT: thanks for the interview spadgy, btw how did u get the assignment? did your editor already know youre a shmup nut or did you lock him in the supply cabinet untill he gave you the gig?

[meancode]

Half of the interview is taking about iPhone games. I hope that's not what they are going to focus on in the future. Is anyone seriously interested in playing Cave games on an iPhone?

I would be but I only have a second generation iPod Touch. So yea, screw you Cave.

Nice interview!

[Taylor]

The interview was originally slated to be only with the iPhone staff, so of course it's about the iPhone.

[gray117]

The interview was originally slated to be only with the iPhone staff, so of course it's about the iPhone.

^^ So true, I think we probably have a bias which has overlooked this point somewhat. Although one interview shouldn't be weighted too much it certainly suggests a certain emphasis/motivation within cave.

Out of interest... why did develop have the interview at all? And who chose the [iphone centric] visuals?... If I remember the original posts on this subject it sounded like cave were offering the interviews on account of the iphone release, I suspect it piqued develop editor's interests on account of the iphone angle too?

[I'm not knocking the process, I'm just curious about what appears to be the motivation/perceived value - I didn't notice any western press interviews on account of their 360 ports - at least that I noticed perhaps someone can correct me? The interest appears to be in fact relational to the fetishtic value of apple/iphone...? ]

[spadgy]

Firstly, thanks to everyone for the feedback. I'm glad it seems most of you got something out of it.

Secondly, I thought I'd explain the process and pitch of this interview. In short - I got hold of a Cave email address by using my evil journalistic 'talents' - then asked my editor if I could do an interview (and argued the case of it's worth to our readers, plus its potential to attract clicks online), and he said yes. I admit part of it was just that I love Cave, and saw an opportunity that seemed personally and professionally exciting.

Of course the iPhone angle is what gave the interview topicality (topicality is always important for print), but mainly, in my email conversation with Cave, it turned out that they wanted to talk primarily about iPhone. Of course I wanted to bombard them with questions about their past and future arcade hardware, but it wasn't to relevant to Develop's target readership (apart from Taylor and gray and a few others!), and they weren't keen to discuss it. The pictures came from Cave, with no explanation of why Ikeda's wasn't to be published. Just a firm 'no'. Strangest of all, different people replied to emails using the same address, which confused the crap out of an idiot like me.

I'll have an online version of this up tomorrow on the Develop website you won't have to download or read through Issuu, and I think there just a couple of extra lines that there wasn't enough space in the mag to fit in.

One thing I can say is that the team at Cave were friendly, funny and welcoming over email; something really pleasant. There's nothing worse than making contact with somebody who you admire only to be disappointed - with Cave this was never the case!

Finally (for now), when I say seminal I'm referring to ejaculate of course

Oh - and I interviewed Tim Schafer too this month. It's initially about him speaking at the Develop event, but there's a bit on Natal/Kinect and other stuff, and he's pretty funny!

EDIT:

They're searching for revenue streams that will establish them with security... It's probably a good thing, its certainly a deserved thing.

This. Like gray says, they have to be careful here, but I feel that this could be a good thing. Initially I recoiled about their allusion to moving to other genres and such (even though there's long been a sense this was coming, but if it means more money for their future efforts with shmups, perhaps that could be great for us picky fuckers.

[cj iwakura]

Call me crazy, but I'd like to know more about their involvement with the Megaten Imagine MMO. Why did Atlus tap Cave to develop it?

[spadgy]

No need to download the issue now - you can read the interview online here. Sadly no extra content though, beyond a rather useless extra question on the end about nothing! I always ask the 'anything else?' question in case it teases out a nugget.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I can see why Cave was so secretive to protect their famous IPs/bottom line from competitors. Interesting to read that they have more plans to release more of their arcade IPs on the IPhone/iTouch platforms.

It would've nice if a nugget of info was related to their arcade PCB developement though. Oh well.

Still no word of any die-cast metal/plastic static models/toys of their famous arcade shmup IPs...some DP, DDP, DDP-DOJ or DDP-DFK fighterrcrafts released in that format would sell like hotcakes depsite the limited availability/distribution factor. Of course, there's always the independant DIY plastic model hobbyists whom create their own scratch-built Cave inspired models/dioramas.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BryanM]

So uh, we can expect a "DeathSmiles: TyrannoSatan Never Dies"? A 3d metroidvania full of lolis and dinosaur devils?

And in one of the secret endings, Boy Loli can discover what "sounding" is.

.... This may be the greatest news. It seems like it's all fitting together.

Ask me again how I feel about it in ten years.

[Obiwanshinobi]

MegaTen shooty game with Kazuma Kaneko doing the graphical design. I don't terribly need Cave to be the developer, though. That shmup in DDS2 was nothing like Cave and it was all right.

[sunburstbasser]

Yes, that's right. But that's not what seminal means. It means, according to dictionary.com:

1. pertaining to, containing, or consisting of semen.

Well, most good shmup devs do pour a lot of love into their games...

[gray117]

hmm ... you have to wonder what kind of isolated introspective life some of them lead though:

http://kotaku.com/5569329/dont-use-the- ... punishment

I suppose its possible to be so jaded you don't give a f**k what a lot of people think anymore