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Utopia Ronpa - First interview to the creators

KathyNekoChan

Published: Jan 30, 2015

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basic utopia concepts creators interview ronpa utopiaronpa

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Okay so I was supposed to upload this in OCTOBER. But I've been busy, lazy, and... well, whatever. I should have uploaded this sooner, and not in... almost February. Sorry

DDD

This is an interview made for the creators of Utopia Ronpa. The original interview was made in Spanish, this is a mere translation. Fan questions are at the bottom.

Director, programmer, designer...etc:

Bullet; Red

What is the most difficult thing to do when making the game?

I suppose that from the beginning the systems were complicated. I had to create them from scratch, basing them on an idea. Also, the software that I use, RPG Maker, is tedious if scripts are not used. I suppose that after the systems, the graphics would be the most complicated thing, since Dangan games require lots of “graphics”, so to speak, the great quantity of emosets of each character is around sixteen, without taking into account the death scenes, CGs, and other menu aspects.

Why is there such many renewals of the characters since the project began?

I suppose that many people are making this question *laughs*. There had been hundreds of problems from the beginning. Since our graphist went out of the team because of some reasons that I will not say, I had to remake the graphics since the old ones were sprites taken from other people. The problem of the first renewal was that I made it very quickly. Plus, at that time I had just received my tablet, so my drawing style wasn’t the best out there. This second renewal was less difficult and the results were better. Another reason was that I still had to make emosets. My current style is better than my previous one, so if I was going to make some emosets, the change of style would be noticed. Also, there were many mistakes in the designs (shadows and colour, and lack of details). It was also made as a greeting for the 450 likes of the Facebook page.

How large is the game so far? What about the duration?

I guess that the game is larger than 150Mb, if I don’t count that I haven’t compressed the music to .ogg so they are smaller. Perhaps 100Mb, but of course, the massive quantity of pictures also influences how large is the game. There are almost 1000 pictures, and I haven’t added the emosets yet. About the duration, it will last around two hours only the prologue, also, this chapter is shorter compared to the rest.

Have you remade something, regarding what it was being announced? Will you show any renewal soon?

Almost everything *laughs* The characters have been the only thing that I’ve shown, as well as the HUDs, but also the main menu, the ID and such have been changed into something more solid and animated. The problem of this game is that it was announced at a very early stage of the development, we only had the characters planned, but that’s it. If we had introduced the game now, you would have seen only the final design of the characters and all that I mentioned before. Well, they’re sort of things that happen *laughs*. About showing another renewal, perhaps I will show soon the new main menu.

What can you tell about "Tool Shards", the engine that is being used by the game?

Technically, this system involves many others. Inside Tool Shards, we can see the Trail System, the Free Time Event System… etc. It is a system made by many others. I had shown some examples in the videos of a game named AnotherRonpa beta. I will speak more about this system in later interviews.

Is there anything new in the gameplay, considering Danganronpa?

The most visible change is the movement. Now the map can be seen in third person (2D), unlike the Dangan games, which use a first person view. The light effects and mapping are different, for example, you will see night landscapes, rainy landscapes, green areas, towns, etc. Other feature is that each of the districts will have a theme, but this is not part of gameplay, of course *laughs*. The Class Trial has new systems. We’ll speak about that in the future.

Will the game have extra content?

Sure, UtopiaRonpa will not end when you finish the last chapter. More than the story, we can find four more extras that expand the gameplay, including a surprise for those who have been following us from the very beginning, far before UtopiaRonpa. They will probably recognize that as soon as they see it.

Which characters are the most influential?

Revealing this would be a spoiler. However, each of them has an important role in the story, all of them will excel at least once.

What can you tell us about the webpage?

I hope I can update it soon. I pretend to update it later after the game is developed, since it's not my priority.

What can you tell us about the last three characters?

So far I see that people think that they're important characters, but it is wrong. For better or for worse, these characters won't do anything else apart from being ship assistants. They will not appear in the cover, neither in the trials. Their function is the same as monomachine, they'll give you items and nothing else. I enjoyed drawing these characters, I could draw crazy characters instead of "cute, beautiful, sane characters" - what I describe as "Adonis characters." I could make a mixtureof many thins and break with the stereotype of a beautiful character - see Turbo, who has a very crazy design, Japa with her "subtle" dialogues, and Chrona, with a rocket launcher on her back. Of course, I've noticedt hat people still don't accept the "ugly" designs, but I think that Utopia is a game based in the present, so we can see many people even if they're not ugly or beautiful. I'm sure that Japa, Chrona or Turbo will be liked, unless you only look at them because of their design and not because of their personality, then I can't assure anything. I'll say again that these characters are not important, they are just part of Tool Shards system.

Will you show something else about the game?

I've decided not to show anything else in a long time, because I do not want to show pieces of the game, I have to censor many things and most of the screenshots are repetitive. I do not want to show anything of district four and five, neither spoilers of the trials. Actually the images that I put of the trials didn't have a victim nor murderer, I just put a random character (in this case, Saika), but it doesn't mean that she dies in that chapter. Perhaps in January I'l show more things.

Japo-Writer-SubDirector:

Bullet; Red

Whose psychological description was the hardest to write?

Perhaps Esmeralda's. Her character is very specific, so in order to not fall into stereotypes, I had to think very well how to do it so that the final result would be an striking character.

Which concepts of the story are the most difficults to define?

The personality and the reaction of each character to the events of the game. The variety of emotions and thoughts caused by the personality of each of them are inmense, so trying to keep up with their personalities is sometimes very difficult.

How would you categorise the progress of the story?

When I'm inspired I use to make progress with the game, and that is something that has happened recently during several intervals. Some things, as large events and long scenes take a long time, so it is more difficult to finish them.

What do you think about the development of some of the characters of the story?

At first, as it is expected, they're sckeptical about what's happening around them, but after that they'll see that it is very real. Then, their real intentions will be revealed. Everything will be shown in game.

Which character is the most atractive to you?

Kakaroto (Alex) he's my platonic love, as well as the woman from the restaurant and the piggy pig from DR: AE

Turbi-Translator:

Bullet; Red

What's the most difficult thing to translate?

Since English is not my mother tongue, sometimes it's difficult to adapt it to to a more "natural sound" for the natives (Laughs). Idioms or word games are a great headache sometimes, but I do what I can. But I always have a resentment, since I'm afraid that there's a mistake in spite of having revised the text hundreds of times (laughs).

Do you consider translation as something difficult and/or tiresome?

Difficult, yes, tiresome, it depends on the content. It is difficult because, as I said, English is not my mother tongue, but also, I'm not a professional translator. I want to, but there's a lot to learn as for now *aughs*, but the best thing of UR is that it helps me to improve. So far, it hasn't been tiresome. Some dialogues make me laugh and they're enjoyable. But that depends on what they ask me to translate.

The English version will have changes in comparison to the Spanish version?

Yes. There are some things that I will have to adapt so they look natural to an English speaker. However, they're just translation tricks. The content will be the same.

Will you translate this interview?

If they ask me to, yes. (Laughs) - NOTE ON THE SAME DAY OF THE TRANSLATION: YES, I'VE BEEN LAUGHING TOO HARD ABOUT THIS. IT'S BEEN LIKE FOUR MONTHS SINCE THEY ASKED ME TO DO THIS SH-

Okay, so now we'll read some questions made by our fans through social networks ^_^
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/Utopia-…

Bullet; Red

Who had the idea of making the game? How did it happen?- by Mar Bonita

From my point of view it was something in general between us, if we don't take into account our previous designer that I won't mention to avoid enphasizing on previous problems that I think everybody knows by now. It came out from nowhere, as an attempt to recover "AnotherRonpa", after seeing its reception in Youtube. Perhaps if it wasn't because of that, Utopia Ronpa would have never been born.

As well as Chronos, I had in mind an idea of creating a Dangan Ronpa-themed game, with characters based in people we knew and friends, and thanks to him we could start the development, but we eventually had to cancel it, because of script problems and things that we didn't like. Eventually they offered me to start the game again, but with original characters (OC), which would make easier the task of writing dialogues and help with the progress of the game.

I sincerely didn't know how to reply to this. The idea was to make an "AnotherRonpa" with OCs without implications of what we could call "representations of the users from a forum", and that's how Utopia Ronpa was born: a serious version of AnotherRonpa with a more solid argument and aesthetic than the game previously mentioned.

The few ideas from Another that I had in mind were scenes and ejecutions, and not much, since it was a simple and comical project, a humble game. In Utopia, it was almost null that it had the idea of making it again, since I thought of AnotherRonpa as a cancelled game and one day they just surprised me, telling me to restart it.

Why Utopia Ronpa? :$ - by Mar Bonita

Oops! That would be an spoiler! We are certain that when you play the game you'll perfectly know what the use of the word "Utopia" means. (Laughs)

The three new characters are shop assistants? And if they're... in their stores, will they sell useful things for the game? - by Mar Bonita

Yes. The items that they sell will be useful as gifts for the Free Time Events, and there will be skills that will add extra functions in the Utopic Trials.

As well as what Japo has said, three of them will sell different items, Japa will be selling Help Items for the Utopic Trials, we'll also have Chrona, that will sell us extras for those who like artwork, fan arts made by you, sketches and such and also music. Lastly, we have Turbo, that will sell presents.

Will they reveal more characters as the time goes by? - By

I don't think there are much more to reveal, DanganRonpa was never characterized by having a massive quantity of characters, so the answer is no.

A while ago you said that Utopia Ronpa wouldn't be exactly a Danganronpa, that it wouldn't be a Mastermind, for example. In which aspects does Utopia Ronpa differ from Danganronpa? - By LegolasHojaverde Hojaverde

Mmm, if I mentioned in previous statements that there wouldn't be a mastermind, then I'm sorry, I just raised a doubt so you could imagine what could it be. As for the differences, well, the use of characters from different countries is a key difference, since in Danganronpa most of the characters are Japanese. Here we can see a wide variety of nationalities and cultures, which will allow to mix them. Another key point is the use of a city as a setting, each district is different from the previous one and you're not in the same repetitive setting as in the previously mentioned game.

The most remarkable features are those mentioned by Chronos, each character has their own nationality. This influences their hobbies, beliefs, aspects, etc. This will remark their personalities from the rest. Another feature is that the trials will have more systems than those seen in DangaRonpa, some of them being original. Also there are different districts within the game, which gives a varied and attractive setting for the players, and giving an unique touch for the game. About the "Mastermind": of course, that's something we cannot clear up. Things do not happen on their own, nor without any reason. There's something happening in the game, and that's something that you'll see only inside the game. The idea is to keep the mystery.

Also, an additional note: there are some things and systems that we haven't mentioned that differ a lot with Dangan, we'll mention them in the future.

Will the game have several endings, or even several routes? - By LegolasHojaverde Hojaverde

That question means revealing plot line issues, but since this game is a downloadable game, you'll have to find out whenver is released. If we wanted to put several endings, we would do so.

No more comments.

Can the main character socialize with other characters, establish links depending on the player's actions, in spite of what is written in the script? In Danganronpa 'it is possible', but it's just something a little bit incidental, it actually does not mind who you give presents to, or who you spend time with. Is this the same in Utopia Ronpa, presents are 'for nuthin'? (This does not mean that I didn't love them, they were cool, as well as for spending time with them and such), but... In Utopia Ronpa, have you expanded this? Do they influence in something? In what? Other endings or developments? Other dialogues? Or it is just something incidental? - by LegolasHojaverde Hojaverde

(Explodes) (Laughs) Well, RPG Maker is not such a strong software to create such system, relationships as well as in Danganronpa will make Ryoga to socialize with whoever he wants, that is, Free Time Events were created to know about the past of the characters and more about them, but in fact the real intentions are established throughout with different events. In the case that a character dies, Ryoga won't necessarily fall into depression. You know that character and their past, yes, but you haven't established a strong bond out of four casual conversations. So actually, in Utopia and in Dangan they try that the MC can socialize througout the story, and in the Free Time Events he can know more about the other characters. About the presents (laughs)... well, the presents have their functions, for example, it is not the same to give Olivia a box of cigarettes (something great to Alex) than a book. She will appreciate the book, and with that, you will increase the chances of progressing with her relationship and with her 'openness' (as to tell you more things about her). This won't influence other endings because of some issues dealing with the plot, if a certain character dies in a chapter (and of course, there wil be deaths) it wouldn't have any sense that this relationship would end up in an ending, because that character has technically died.

Will it be useful the speciality of the character that we're controlling, hacking? The specialities of each one will have protagonism in minigames, story, development... or are just mere "decorative elements" for each character's background? - By LegolasHojaverde Hojaverde

In my opinion, in a situation like this I don't think that their specialities will be very "useful." I'll explain better: for example, as you've mentioned, Ryoga is a hacker, this would be useful in district four or five (which are the more modern ones), but that does not mean that they are going to be useful throughout all the game. Also, that would mean that Miranda would be a serious threat, she's a hitwoman, she has advantage in killing, but that does not mean that she is going to use that speciality. In any case, I would add more examples, but there are some things that is better if you find them out.

Finally, I'd like to thank our background creator