As the game’s launch inches ever closer, we got to chat once again with DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO Producer Jun Furutani, and this time, he shared some interesting insight on the development team’s design philosophy for this new Dragon Ball game.
A few months ago, we got to talk to Furutani about how the challenge of balancing DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO. Recently, I got to try the game again, and I got to have a deeper dive into the game’s various modes. As such, our latest roundtable discussion with Furutani (alongside other SEA gaming media) was centered more around their approach to designing the game, especially its Custom Battles and Episode Battle modes.
As I mentioned in my latest hands-on impressions of the game, I found that it has all the makings of being the dream Dragon Ball game for any and every fan. That’s because its various modes along with its massive roster seem to be designed to give the ultimate Dragon Ball experience.
So, it’s no surprise that Furutani and the development team’s main design philosophy aligns with my experience playing this new Dragon Ball game. He mentioned that making players feel like they are the characters is the main goal.
“One of the most important things that we were focusing on when designing the game is to make players be in the shoes of the characters or to make players feel like the characters themselves,” said Furutani. “We were always thinking from the character’s perspective as well as the situation’s perspective and making sure that this game is as realistic and true to the characters.”
This also aligns with our previous conversation with Furutani where he mentioned that the game’s balance isn’t designed to be like a competitive fighting game. Instead, their goal is to make characters feel as powerful as they are in the anime, meaning some characters are stronger and faster than others.
Being true to the characters is also reflected in the game’s Episode Battles as this mode lets players relive the anime’s iconic moments. Of course, even though being true to the anime is the goal, they added some wrinkles like unique scenarios that players can face.
Even the Custom Battle mode follows this design philosophy. In this mode, players can create their own custom scenarios with a wide range of options. For instance, they can make a battle where iconic series villains can face each other in the Cell Games Arena.
Regarding the though process behind this mode, Furutani said:
“Back when I was a child watching the anime, I let my imagination go round and round. I remember thinking of scenarios. One was how cool it would be if Goku beat Frieza, Majin Buu, and all the other enemies. I would appreciate it if players also let their imaginations go wild and choose the villains that they want to face while controlling their favorite characters.
The whole point of the custom battle is to create a situation that didn’t exist in the anime franchise or other Dragon Ball games.”
Based on my recent hands-on with the game, I can say that the Custom Battle mode is sure to delight Dragon Ball fans given the sheer number of options that they can tweak. Aside from which character are playable, these custom scenarios also allow players to edit the opening and ending cutscenes, and even add unique effects that activate when certain conditions are met.
I would even say that the options are dizzying in terms of just how many things can be added or edited. As I imagined that creating this was a major challenge, I asked about how they approached the nitty gritty of choosing which options could be tweaked in the mode.
“From a more philosophical standpoint, we wanted to make sure that every possible combination that each user can think of [can be given to them] as each user has their unique preferences,” said Furutani. “Having said that, obviously there are limitations as you can imagine when developing this game, even though we had the intention of providing all the possible combinations of cutscenes, characters, etc. So, as a result of debating, we ended up with the Custom Battle mode that the game has.”
As their goal was to make every possible combination ever despite the limitations of the game, the team had to cut back on some options. Still, even with the limitations, the Custom Battle mode should still be comprehensive enough so that players can craft their dream Dragon Ball scenario.
While there are already plenty of Dragon Ball titles, this game’s focus on giving players a true Dragon Ball experience through its various modes means Dragon Ball fans should definitely watch out when this game launches.
DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO will be released on October 11, 2024, on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.