Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai has started a new YouTube channel called “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games.” Check out the latest batch of uploaded content via the embedded video below:
Creators Change, Too [Grab Bag]
Sometimes I wonder what my past industry mentors are up to nowadays. Just because they’ve vanished from the public eye, that doesn’t mean they’re actually gone.
It’s Easier If They Already Know [Planning & Game Design]
It’d be a real inconvenience if cars drove differently every time you tried a new one. The same is true with games. It’s great to be able to make use of de facto standards, but you should also make sure players can adjust to their liking.
Making Things Look Miniature [Graphics]
In a prior episode, I spoke about the importance of achieving the proper sense of scale. Today, I’d like to take a different approach to that issue and discuss how to make things appear smaller.
Teaching Players How to Play [Design Specifics]
Games have grown more and more complex in recent years, and they rarely come with instruction manuals, making it vital that the game itself presents the player with the rules and controls.
Today, I’ll be showing some ways of teaching players how to play.
How Multiple People Work on One File [Programming & Tech]
Given how large dev teams tend to be, what do you do when multiple members make changes to a file at the same time? I used to wonder about that myself, so allow me to explain.
The Power of Suggestion [Work Ethic]
Self-suggestion can be a powerful motivator. Today, I’d like to share an anecdote of a time I found it extremely effective. It’s all about your frame of mind!
The Pros and Cons of Leaderboards [Game Essence]
Leaderboards are an indispensable part of the online play experience. But have you ever wondered what percentage of players actually appreciate them?
Strong Attack, Light Reverb [Audio]
Today, I’ll discuss things to look out for when creating sound effects.
Especially with impact sounds and explosions, I always try to explain my vision to the team. Of course, the best approach will differ from game to game.
Odds and Ends of Supervising [Graphics]
What does it mean for a director to “supervise”? In this video, I’ll give you a glimpse of some of the supervision work I do!
Each of the “pre-feedback” images you’ll see is from game content submitted as “done,” before I called for these additional adjustments.
Supervising Art Through Retouches [Graphics]
Making Sequels [Planning & Game Design]
The game industry sees plenty of sequels and extensions to existing series, especially with large-scale games made by big companies.
Of course, there’s a reason for this. When making an original title, you have to build everything from the ground up—while making a sequel lets you make use of existing systems.
Making Games as Part of a Company [Team Management]
I don’t belong to a company myself anymore, but in this video I’d like to talk about making games in-house. Consider this advice for those of you who work at game companies—or those who are hoping to.
Avoiding Comparison [Planning & Game Design]
When making creative works, it’s important to make something unique—or at least something fresh!
But what about content people have truly never seen before? It may be that humans simply can’t picture something without a reference for comparison…
The Majority Shouldn’t Always Rule [Work Ethic]
It’s easy to think an idea is a good one if the majority of people agree with it.
But when it comes to creative projects, that’s not always the case. In fact, it may just lead to mediocrity.
Billboards [Effects]
“Billboards” are flat objects that always face the camera.
It might be hard to picture what they are if you haven’t worked in game development before, so I’ll be breaking them down in today’s Effects video.
Do Graphics Impact Fun? [Graphics]
Do graphics affect how much fun a game is? I probably give the impression of a game-essence advocate, so you might expect me to answer “no” to that…
But far from it! Graphics are very important to how fun games are!
Planning Your Game’s Rewards [Planning & Game Design]
Super Smash Bros. is a game where typical rewards don’t entirely make sense, since fighters can’t level up or earn new equipment.
However, not having rewards at all wouldn’t feel very satisfying, so we did our best to compensate players in a few different ways.
The Perils of Interpolation [Animation]
The poses look great, and the timing is perfect!
And yet, the animations look slow…
That’s one of the perils of interpolation. You have to be careful to keep this useful feature from undermining your work.
Show and Tell: Some Rare Belongings [Grab Bag]
Given my history, I’ve accumuled a fair amount of game-related items over the years. Today, I’d like to share a few of the rare pieces from my collection.
(Just between us: I tried to share some even rarer ones, but that got shot down.)
More Game Essence Means Less Broad Appeal [Game Essence]
This is the 17th Game Essence video, but today, we’ll dive into a topic I mentioned back in the very first: how deepening game essence can reduce broad appeal.
What exactly does that mean?
The Original Piece is Always Right [Audio]
Arranging music is trickier than you might think—a point I’ll explain today using a true story from Smash Bros.
By the way, be ready for the Psycho Soldier theme song to get stuck in your head after watching this!
Knockback in Super Smash Bros. [Programming & Tech]
Super Smash Bros. is all about knockback, so the knockback systems are very detailed. It’s been like this since the first game.
In today’s Programming & Tech video, I’d like to take the opportunity to introduce some of those systems.
Keep Your Internal Pressure High [Work Ethic]
There’s a concept I utilize that lets me pour myself into my work and push onward with proposals!! Today, I’d like to introduce that concept!!
Official Websites [Marketing]
Social media may be more popular these days, but it’s hard to top a website as the central hub for info about a game.
Today I’ll lean on my Smash website experiences to share why I’m so particular about how information is presented.
Unexpected Results [Design Specifics]
It’s nice to release a game and be wholly satisfied in how it came out! But when you’re making games, there are some problems you just can’t do anything about.
Today, I’ll be discussing some experiences I’ve had that I’ll never forget…
Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games Introduction Video
My goal for this channel is to benefit those who make games, those who play games, and those who work in games.
I hope you’ll continue to tune in as we move forward!
About This Channel
Join me as I kick off my new channel, “Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games,” with an overview of the kinds of things I’ll be talking about.
Why am I making a channel, exactly?
You’ll find out in this video.
Source: Masahiro Sakurai
Source: Pokemon
