Ghost Blows Out the Light is a very classic game in Bomi Company.

Cao Yang and the company's employees were very open about this.

Of course, the main reason is that the boss is open-minded and the employees themselves have no losses. If one product is not successful, it will continue to make the next one. If it loses, it will be the company's money.

...

Throughout the first half of 2009, the global economic recovery was also a new development opportunity for the game industry. The game company that was originally planning to lay off employees in winter suddenly discovered that the game products not only did not lose money but also made money during the financial crisis, but also increased its development efforts. Many companies launched many new products.

Some game products that have been produced have also begun to be launched one after another.

Just about a month after the launch of the Ghost Blowing Light, a dark horse-level product appeared on the AIR game platform. The name of this game is "Devil's Soul".

Others may not have much concept of the Demon Soul, but for Cao Yang, this game has a milestone significance.

Because the producer of Demon Soul was named Hidetaka Miyazaki, which was the island game producer who was later called Miyazaki Laozi.

This person has some ideas about [anti-trend] and [anti-human]. When all game manufacturers are thinking about how to make the game simpler, how to make it easier for players to understand and get started, how to lower the threshold for the game, and let more players enter this game, Hideto Miyazaki was thinking about another thing-

In his life, only gameplay and performance are considered.

He likes some metaphorical plots. Although there are many myths based on Western myths, such as the 7 days used by God to create humans, angels and demons, world trees, etc., they are basically fragmented information, which requires players to collect and organize themselves. This process is very time-consuming and energy-consuming.

But he felt that these were part of the fun.

Moreover, he prefers action games, even very hardcore, and requires you to react to the enemy's behavior in a very short period of time, otherwise you may die.

Death is a common occurrence in Miyazaki Hideto's works.

In his previous life, Cao Yang liked Miyazaki Hidetaka's games very much. Many times, Cao Yang would despise what he was doing when playing the games he made (of course, it was because the Penguin company where Cao Yang was in his previous life was also a company that had no dreams and only knew how to make money.)

In this life, the "Assassin's Soul" series, which was criticized by players the most but sold the best, actually Cao Yang borrowed from Miyazaki Hideto's design concepts and ideas.

The Assassin series is more like the future "Sekiro" produced by Hidetaka Miyazaki

Hidetaka Miyazaki probably hasn't realized this yet.

...

Speaking of which, Hideto Miyazaki is really a legendary figure.

Although Hidetaka Miyazaki later became a very legendary game producer and was quite famous. By 2021, he was already a well-known master in the industry, but he did not have the company of a game console in his childhood.

You should know that the island country already had FC game consoles in the 1970s, and many famous games have become very popular, such as Super Mary, Dragon Quest, Space Invaders, etc.

But Hidetaka Miyazaki couldn't play the game console like other children of the same age.

Because Miyazaki Hideo is forbidden from playing games at home.

So he was left with only books and took the opportunity of a few books found in the study and began to indulge in the fantasy and Gothic horror world of book.

It took a long time to almost the second year of college that Hidetaka Miyazaki played the first game in his life.

Miyazaki Hideto, who started a new life, became a prisoner of the game, and he was addicted to the game for a long time.

During this period, he played a lot of games and planted the seeds for future games.

Later, after graduating from university, Hidetaka Miyazaki was also dedicated to joining the game industry. However, in the end, due to lack of money, he chose ORACLE, a foreign IT company with the most salary after interviewing several game companies, and became a programmer in it.

Until many years later, Hideto Miyazaki played a game called "ICO".

"ICO", a game recommended by classmates during college, made Hidetaka Miyazaki's life gears rotate greatly.

This is an action adventure game released on PS2 in December 2001 and developed by Sony.

"I wouldn't let go of this person's hand, and even my soul might accidentally leave her." Just like the game's slogan, at that time, "ICO" was a rare game characterized by holding hands.

The player plays the role of a young man sent to the castle as a sacrifice. When he meets the girl Yorda, who is not able to speak, the two need to try to escape from the castle together. In the game, the design that gives people a warm and dreamy art style, and does not rely on words to experience the world view by relying on players, gave Miyazaki Hideto the idea: I also want to make one.

So he finally made up his mind to switch to the game industry.

At this time, he was already an "outsider" in his 30s.

03 Almost no game company will recruit such people.

In the Internet industry, 30-year-olds can basically be classified as elderly people. Employees over 30 years old are called old employees.

The average age of employees of the Penguin company where Cao Yang was in the previous life was 27 years old. This average age is also called a nursing company in the industry. Because among Penguin, there are a large number of people over 30 who have changed jobs from other companies. Although they have no upward channels, Penguin gives them a lot of money and the benefits are the best in the industry. Everyone works step by step. Although 996, their lives are dull and comfortable, and they do not have the passion of startups outside at all, so Penguin is called the nursing base in the Internet industry.

If you can't fight outside, then go back to the penguin, which is the best choice.

Of course, the premise is that you still have to work overtime no matter where you are.

So 30 is considered an old man, so those who have not entered the gaming industry at the age of 30 have simply lost the possibility of entering this industry, and no company would want such a person.

Grain

If you want, at most he will come over to write code, and he will not be allowed to take on any creative work.

Miyazaki Hidetaka, who took one step at a time, finally met a very few companies that could accept him: FROM SOFTWARE.

At that time, the company's president, Naoki Kamika believed that "creation needs stimulation" and believed that the company needed more diverse cognition and experience, so he admitted Miyazaki Hidetaka halfway through the interview, and did not even ask about his experience in the game industry.

In addition, FROM SOFTWARE did not start making games since its inception. From the seven years since its establishment to 1986 to 1993, they were involved in the basic system construction business of large-scale general PCs. At that time, the commercial software field of the Japanese IT industry focused on the evaluation of usage, which was equivalent to the number of codes and the highest rating.

Even if you have the idea of ​​"making better content", you will not be recognized for your technical capabilities and work quality.

So based on the idea of ​​"If you want to fight, you should work hard in a market where users can directly evaluate the works", in 1993, FROM SOFTWARE tried to learn the experience of game production from scratch when all employees were programs.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this background that this company has a more tolerant attitude towards talents who have tried from scratch.

Later, Hideto Miyazaki commented on FROM SOFTWARE: This is a company that can really play a role in the face of "making interesting games no matter what."

Since the company wants profits, it has to pursue profits. However, in the company FROM SOFTWARE, the unique gene of creators is engraved with "I can understand that I want to make money, but as a game."

It can be said that it is precisely this creative attitude that after the company switched to the game industry, facing the nodes where high-performance product development risks are increasing, and in the market's trend of starting to be user-oriented, it still chooses to "do what you want" and "providing players with the best content possible" route. This kind of thinking has gradually become their corporate culture.

Miyazaki Hidetaka joined the company in September 2004. Together with the newcomer who joined in April of the same year, he started his career in the game industry with the enemy AI responsible for producing "Armored Core: The Last Mercenary".

At that time, Hidetaka Miyazaki's salary was the same as a newcomer, which shows how enthusiastic he is for the gaming industry.

You should know that the salary of newcomers is generally very low, and it may even be less than 1/4 or 1/5 of that of older people.

And Miyazaki Hidetaka was very happy.

In addition to the creation of enemy AI, Miyazaki Hideka was also responsible for a series of tasks such as task design, game operation test, menu status bar design, etc. This game also established a basic understanding of game production for him.

The game development model in the island country is somewhat different from that in China. In fact, except for China, many game developers in other countries are [comprehensive school], which means that there is no very detailed functional division similar to domestic planning, art, programs, sound effects, etc.

Of course, there are still parts that you are good at and focus on, but it is more tolerant for game makers. Even if you write code or make art models, you can participate in the design of the product.

However, the specific island country is different from Ome. If you really want to do it, you can participate. For example, the hero of Scarecrow in LOL is a fine art that thinks this character will be very interesting, so it was designed like this.

But island countries need you to be more rigorous and the system is more rigid and strict.

The main soul of a game is the producer. Many designs and plans are formulated by the producer. After he has formulated it, the people below will fill it. If it is not recognized by the producer, then this thing cannot be implemented.

So, this is why the games we know about island countries are more famous and famous for producers, while games in Omegia are more famous for games.

The producer of the island country is equivalent to the director of the game. All outputs must meet his requirements. He also controls and takes charge of all aspects of the game.

The overall strength of game producers in the island country will be higher than that in China, and this is also the reason.

Because you not only need to know how to design games, you also need to have your own core design concepts, art and some program logic, have strong imagination, and be able to connect these things, know how to plan costs, and complete what you want at the lowest possible limit given by the company.

This is actually not easy.

...

Afterwards, Miyazaki Hidetaka started his work as the leader of the "Armor Core 4" planning team, which was greatly recognized and was promoted to supervisor halfway through development.

That is, the concept of producers of domestic game project teams, responsible for the game production of the entire project, starting from 0 to the entire game output.

The release date of "Armored Core 4" is December 2006, which is equivalent to only more than two years since Miyazaki Hidetaka joined the company and was promoted to the supervisor of the signature series. It can be said that the promotion speed is extraordinary.

Later, he also served as a supervisor in "Armor Core FA". Miyazaki Hideto himself commented on this experience as "lucky".

"If it weren't for "Armored Core 4", this wouldn't have happened," Miyazaki Hideto later admitted: "And the reason why I can accumulate a lot of experience in "Armored Core: The Last Mercenary" is because this work is closer to a sequel, and the system is very mature in all aspects."

Having said that, of course it is impossible to be supervised by luck. Shunfuku, who has participated in almost the entire series of works in "Armor Core" and was the producer in "Armor Core 5", once highly praised Hidetaka Miyazaki: "When I first worked with Miyazaki, I thought 'this guy is amazing'."

Although Miyazaki Hidetaka was immersed in the game production he had dreamed of, deep down he was always asleep in his childhood dream of fantasy RPG.

At this time, a new work that other project teams were developing encountered difficulties. When Hideto Miyazaki asked about the specific content of this game, he couldn't help but feel happy.

This new work is "Devil Souls". At that time, Bethesda's "The Elder Scrolls" was very popular. Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) also hopes to make an action RPG game that matches it and uses the fantasy world as the stage.

At this time, Ken Kajii, who had switched from Asmik Ace to Sony, happened to visit FROM SOFTWARE. Taking the opportunity of cooperation in the new work of "The King's Secret Order", SCE and FROM SOFTWARE began to cooperate.

However, the development of this new work encountered difficulties. The development team repeatedly tried to create a game similar to "The Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion". As a result, it encountered more and more problems and was unable to make a convincing prototype.

Just when the company thought the project was unsuccessful, Hideto Miyazaki learned about its existence.

At this time, although Hidetaka Miyazaki was still serving as the supervisor of "Armor Core FA", he always wanted to make a game similar to "Fighting Fantasy" that depicts dark fantasy themes. At the same time, he discovered that SCE's Ken Kajii was the producer of "Tokyo Magic Academy Sword and Wind Post" who was addicted to college in his previous years, so he resolutely applied to join the project.

So Hidetaka Miyazaki took on the role of supervisor in "Devil's Souls".

Later, there was a very, very important and very famous game work that laid the foundation for Miyazaki’s old thief’s game—

"Devil's Soul"

...
Chapter completed!