When I read a good story, I often start thinking, 'Should I live my life according to what this character chooses and values?' It makes me think. I feel like I grew up to be a more mature person while thinking about character development in these fictional situations.
A great painter can paint something really complex, but they can crystallize it into something really simple.
Language is very deceiving. In certain languages, there is certain vocabulary that doesn't exist in other languages. It totally changes how people feel about things.
'Cloud' and 'Flower' are very much egocentric about my own expression. 'Flow' is more utilitarian, and 'Journey' is more about collaboration between various creative voices in the team.
A teenager can find lots of games, but that's not necessarily true for adults over 30. As you get older, you desire more intellectual, emotional experiences. If you look at film, there's many different genres. No matter how old you are, you can find the type of movie you like. That's a sign of a mature medium.
A strong story can move me to tears, and it doesn't matter whether it's a science-fiction or fantasy world. It's about what happens to a person, the choices they make. That's what's interesting.
Any established media, such as literature, music, or film, offers a wide variety of experiences touching emotions from the very primal to the deeply complex. No matter who the audience are or what kind of mood they are in, there will always be something right for them. Video games, as a fast-growing new medium, is on its way to catching up.
Our vision is for games to offer a wide variety of different experiences and attract all kinds of gamers and nongamers.
Each game we make, we like to introduce an emotion that is rarely experienced by gamers in the console game industry.
I really like 'ICO' and 'Shadow of the Colossus.'
When I was a teenager, I felt my life was constrained by rules, school, my parents. I wanted to feel like I was empowered and different; that's why superheroes, comics, manga, and video games filled my needs. When I got older, I realized power is not free; it comes with responsibility.
I always thought if I was born 2000 years earlier, I would be a monk, probably carving a monastery or some giant pantheon buildings.
I was not grown up in the U.S., nor in Japan. In order to create a video game that people around the globe can enjoy and relate to, I can't draw things deeply rooted in the local culture that I'm not familiar with. That's why we are not doing games about football or samurai.
We try really hard to avoid those conventional experiences, these adrenaline rush, anger, competition, violence. We intentionally avoid that. We try to create a game that's serene and tranquil and filled with love.
For adults to enjoy something, they need to have intellectual stimulation, something that's related to real life.
If you can imagine the delight of visiting a theme park where lasting memories are made, we envision 'Sky' will sometimes feel like that.
