25. Oktober 2019
Octopath Traveler’s “HD-2D” art style and story make for a JRPG dream come true
Of course, the team behind the game had many challenges during development as they sought to simultaneously deliver an homage to the games of their youth while ensuring innovative mechanics for modern players. When we visited with Acquire in Japan to learn more about their initial goals for the project, it was clear that there was a thin line between old and new. “Although we wanted to create a 2D pixel game, which some people might consider a classic style, we were concerned that others might see it as just plain old and outdated,” said Masashi Takahashi, Producer, Square Enix . “So we needed to consider how we could revive the classic pixel-style game but still make it look interesting for modern players.”
When it came to inspiration, the team decided to look backwards before it looked forward. “We looked at a lot of classic games from the PlayStation one era as a reference,” said Mika Iizuka, Lead Artist, Acquire. “In those days, it was more common to use 2D characters on top of a 3D rendered background, or pre-rendered single image.”
Although it might sound simplistic, modernizing this look wouldn’t be easy and when choosing an engine for the project, Acquire’s main goals were to facilitate the fusion art style the studio had in mind while maintaining the ability for a small team to quickly iterate throughout development.
“We knew that UE4 is very good at both 3D environments and 3D graphics,” stated Takahashi . “And we concluded that the game will look new and fresh if we combine this 3D art with 2D pixels. So we came up with the concept of fusing 2D pixels together with a 3D environment in HD-2D.”
As those who’ve played the game know, Octopath Traveler’s combat is one area where the unique visual approach truly shines, but it took the team time to get there. “In the beginning, we just added normal visual effects for the combat sequences but it didn’t look good enough,” confessed Iizuka. “We weren't satisfied with what we saw so we decided to add a point light simultaneously with the visual effects. By adding a point light together with the visual effects, the light could create shadows of the characters on the environment. This way, the light and shadow visual effects would look more impressive to players.”
With a unique visual style established, the team needed to lean into Unreal Engine’s tools and workflows to efficiently achieve its goals. “Octopath Traveler was made by a relatively small team and, even during peak time, we only had six programmers,'' said Yutaka Watanabe, Lead Programmer, Acquire. “So, in order to make a robust game like Octopath Traveler with a small team, we relied heavily on UE4. UE4 helped us a lot with its tools, editors and features. Especially Blueprint and the optimization tools which were very helpful for us.”
As the teams at Acquire and Square Enix explored a new concept, established a new art style, and ultimately delivered a memorable experience, it was essential for them to keep in mind the fundamental goal of having fun while working to expand the audience to console and mobile. “We successfully materialized our visual concept,” said Keisuke Miyauchi, Director, Acquire. “After I was satisfied that we had materialized our graphic concept, I wanted to have a broader audience see this beautiful world and I wanted more people to enjoy their journey through it. As a game designer, in order to make this happen, I felt my mission was to help people enjoy this journey. The game system must support this vision and must not interfere with the fun of the journey.”
For the team at Acquire, overcoming early struggles to deliver the successful marriage of traditional JRPG mechanics with modern graphics is just the beginning of things to come. “Next year, the year after next, and beyond, we will continue to develop games with UE4, so please look forward to it,” said Takahashi. “We'll keep on fighting.”