A Meeting of the Minds: Game developers interviewed by Keiichiro Toyama

Keiichiro Toyama's the director of the original Silent Hill, Siren 1, 2 and Blood Curse, Gravity Rush 1 and 2, and currently Slitterhead. After Japan Studio was disbanded, he started up an independent game development company called Bokeh Game Studio, which for a while has been doing a series of interviews with various other game developers and industry figureheads on Youtube. I've made this list just to act as a playlist for anyone who might be interested in watching these interviews at some stage.

Links to the interviews are included in the notes for each game listed. For the sake of recognisability, each developer is represented by their most popular game on Backloggd (according to its number of plays).

11 Games

Devil May Cry 5
Devil May Cry 5
Hideaki Itsuno (director of Devil May Cry 3, 4 and 5, Dragon's Dogma, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Power Stone 1 and 2, Rival Schools: United by Fate, currently Dragon's Dogma II)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yEUS1VDwzo

Tatsuya Yoshikawa (character designer of Devil May Cry 4 and 5, Breath of Fire III and IV, Mega Man X3; also visual artist and in-game graphics designer for Mega Man X, Breath of Fire I and II, Haunting Ground, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN8e5Imsv30
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4
Shinji Mikami (director of Resident Evil 1, its remake and 4, God Hand, Vanquish, Dino Crisis, P.N.03, The Evil Within)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=212JAZqZBTs
Bloodborne
Bloodborne
Shuhei Yoshida (president of SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008-2019, now PlayStation Studios; executive producer of Crash Bandicoot 1, 2 and Warped, Ape Escape, Crash Team Racing, Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage, The Legend of Dragoon; supervisor of Bloodborne, Demon's Souls and its remake; vice president of product development for tons of first party Sony games from 2000-2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DZwdAKjs3w
Nioh
Nioh
Fumihiko Yasuda (director of Nioh 1 and 2, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge; assistant director of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2; producer of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty; level designer of Ninja Gaiden II; cinematic designer for Dead or Alive: Xtreme 2; also character supervisor for Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVt_YW6t08s
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Kazutaka Kodaka (writer, scenario planner and creator of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, 2 and V3; designer and planner of Master Detective Archives: Rain Code; general director of Danganronpa: Another Episode - Ultra Despair Girls; game director of Death Come True; creative director of World's End Club; also planner for Dragon Ball Z: Raging Blast and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, as well as sub-director of Clock Tower 3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nzd6ZESIkE
Fatal Frame
Fatal Frame
Makoto Shibata (director of every mainline Fatal Frame game, Quantum Theory, Trapt, Deception III: Dark Delusion, Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess; main planner for Kagero: Deception II; story for Nioh 1; also localisation for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVt_YW6t08s
Silent Hill
Silent Hill
Keiichiro Toyama (director of Silent Hill, Siren 1, 2 and Blood Curse, Gravity Rush 1 and 2, currently Slitterhead)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muv6DA8_gL4
Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill 2
Akira Yamaoka (composer of every Silent Hill game, No More Heroes 2, Shadows of the Damned, The Medium; also music director for Lollipop Chainsaw, Killer Is Dead, Let It Die)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6b2uR7_zSw
The Last Guardian
The Last Guardian
Kazunobo Sato (producer of The Last Guardian; lead game designer of Puppeteer; system director of Siren: Blood Curse; also character designer for Siren 1 and 2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKKRB1qVOVM
Siren
Siren
Miki Takahashi (concept artist and designer of the Shibito from Siren 1, 2 and Blood Curse)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5lpMnZHWF4
Slitterhead
Slitterhead
Tatsuya Matsushita (programmer of Slitterhead, as well as an unnamed Japan Studio project which was cancelled due to their closure)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM3M3jTEAZM

1 Comment

ProudLittleSeal

11 months ago

Sticking this in the comments as it's only somewhat related, but Fumihiko Yasuda's addition to this list reminded me - I really highly recommend the short documentary Inside Nioh 2 (available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVVK5inm5q0) for anyone who's into this type of thing. Very similar sort of vid both in terms of content and production value.
ProudLittleSeal

1 Comment

Last updated: