00:00Grazie a tutti i nostri amici
00:32So Sandro, we're a French studio working with a Japan based company, what does that look
00:37like for development and do you have any cooler anecdotes that you'd like to share?
00:40Well obviously I would say the biggest thing is the timezone difference between France
00:44and Japan, it often meant a lot of early meeting for us and late night evenings for our colleagues.
00:50Fortunately they never held a grudge against us and whenever they came to see us they brought
00:55a lot of snack and goodies, which was like a second Christmas for the team.
01:00Speaking about food, they were always super curious to try with this and like every French
01:07food, which was also crazy.
01:09But more seriously, I would say that adjusting the processes of both teams is the biggest thing.
01:15We all have our respective backgrounds as companies, even Empire being an indie and iVob's company
01:22and Konami having been here forever and having stronger processes.
01:27It meant like learning how to adjust the way we work together.
01:32But I think in the end it made the project stronger as well.
01:36And Din, why did we choose France and specifically Paris as a setting?
01:40Was it really out of national pride as I joked in the trailer?
01:43No, not at all.
01:45No, in reality we wanted it to take place in Venice and working around the theme of the
01:52Venice Carnival.
01:54After a moment we thought it will be maybe too caricatural, maybe we wouldn't do it well.
02:02So someone had a great idea to do it in Paris and it totally makes sense because Paris is a
02:09natural theatre for a lot of Gothic architecture would fit great with the Castlevania universe.
02:18And to have this opposition between the dark castle of Dracula and the Notre Dame, it's a great theme.
02:29But maybe, maybe yes, there is also some of national pride in it.
02:33So Sandro, Din, from a level design and art perspective, how did you turn Paris into this 2D action adventure
02:40world?
02:41Well, obviously there was a huge focus on level design without forgetting art, of course.
02:47But we wanted to build the world in a way that made you feel that you were exploring a city.
02:53So it meant taking extra care on the way we created our exterior spaces, leveraging the verticality of the city,
03:03like exploring from the below the streets to the rooftops, making sure you can explore inside or outside spaces.
03:11We wanted the game to feel modern, but also like have the intricateness of the action adventure genre at the
03:22heart.
03:23Because Paris is like really a good natural scene, natural theatre for a story like Castlevania to take place.
03:30Because of the medieval history, because of the architecture, because of all the urban myths.
03:37And yeah, we have to adapt to the level design, but it was also the opportunity to make all this
03:43Gothic environment bigger than...
03:49Bigger than life.
03:50Bigger than life, exactly. Thank you.
03:52So we get inspired by all that we have, all the history and just push it, push the button and
04:01make it bigger, more fantastic, more scary, more of a Castlevaniesque city.
04:08Yeah, I think it really matches what Castlevania is about, like this sort of over the top.
04:13We wanted two players to explore a lot of vertical spaces, so it means also exaggerating them.
04:19Yeah, yeah.
04:20Being able to go from the bottom of the streets to the rooftops, crafting a lot of inside and exterior
04:26space.
04:27There is actually a really rich history in Paris with the catacombs, with tons of places that we draw inspiration
04:33from.
04:34And allow us to have this intricate, deep, layered level design which are like stand out things in the 2D
04:45action adventure genre.
04:46So it's like what we really wanted to focus on to nail the experience.
04:50And Din, what was Motion Twin's role in development?
04:53Without Motion Twin there won't be any Dead Cells and no DLC Return to Castlevania.
05:01And, of course, you know Bellman's Curse, developed by Evil Empire and Konami.
05:08And, yeah, Motion Twin was like kind of our big brother, which is sometimes nice and sometimes they lock us
05:17in the trunk of the car.
05:18So they were picky, but they were the one to whom we ask a question, crucial question when we have
05:28doubts about direction, gameplay or art.
05:31So they helped us guide our decision through the development of the game.
05:37And Taniguchi-san, can you tell us more about which entries in the Castlevania series had the most influence on
05:43Bellman's Curse?
05:45Well, it's an impact on the scenes of the Dragon Dragon's Curse.
05:49You know, this is one of the most influence, but the one of the characters' stories which were honored to
05:58be in the case.
06:00And it's one of the mostiesta interesting characters even though it is difficult to understand the story.
06:04And then there's a story that came from the characters' story.
06:09And then at all the characters' stories on the characters, you know, it's not a single character.
06:10And then three of the characters' stories on the story of the Iron Man, also, considers the character's story.
06:13And then, the character's story is the character.
06:15Well, obviously, looking at the game title, we had a lot of inspiration from both Dracula's
06:21Curse and Curse of the Darkness for Belmont's Curse story.
06:26Gameplay-wise, I would say Super Castlevania IV for the whip action, but we definitely
06:31wanted to make it less wiggly and more modern, make it really impactful for our game experience.
06:38And of course, I couldn't avoid talking about Symphony of the Night, like it was such a
06:43visual defining masterpiece.
06:46We don't want to compare to it, but it's inspired a lot of the game structure.
06:51And Taniguchi-san, how do you feel now you're about to resurrect Castlevania and Dracula himself?
06:57I'm so excited to be able to get a new movie, and I'm so excited to be able to get
07:03a new movie.
07:04I feel like I'm feeling a lot of pressure, but I'm feeling a lot of pressure on the project.
07:09I feel like I'm feeling a lot of pressure on the project, and I feel like I'm feeling
07:15strong enough to try and make it as tough as I can.
07:18I feel like I'm feeling this feeling, but I'm feeling like I'm feeling this feeling.
07:27che credo che il risultato di Drakula è una delle più importanti parti del game
07:34e noi vogliamo mettere ogni esforzamento che possiamo mettere in questo cruciale momento
07:40della storia. La gente sa che è successa, ma abbiamo dovuto trovare un modo
07:45per rendere l'unico e in modo nostro, e per dare aiutori qualcosa di inesperienza.
07:56Per il risurdo del gioco, è stato un grande honore, ma anche un po' di ansietà,
08:05perché sappiamo che è stato molto anticipato.
08:09Abbiamo visto la prima reazione del risultato,
08:13eravamo molto felice per vedere la reale emozione delle persone che ho scoperto che Castlevania è tornato.
08:21E' stato fantastico.
08:23La questione è, conoscere la storia di Evil Empire con roguelikes,
08:27non, non, non.
08:30Non, non, non.
08:32state con noi,
08:34vi abbiamo ancora più, e non ho assicurato alla vedere di più di più di morello diopenia
08:36di chiuderemo di Castelvania, Belmont's Curse.
