Grasshopper Manufacture has announced that their gorgeous new art booklet featuring artwork from the entire span of games they’ve produced, is getting a worldwide release. The works of art range from Killer is Dead, No More Heroes, Killer7, and more.
The collection of artwork has lots of fun tidbits of knowledge from the experiences creator Goichi Suda had working on the various games. While the English version isn’t out yet, we’ve learned some very interesting things from the Japanese release, and by far the most interesting is how the iconic Killer7 was developed.
When talking about (via cj_iwakura) the game’s production, Suda recalled working under the tutelage of Shinji Mikami, and how Mikami-san essentially gave him complete freedom, as well as insane expectations, when developing the game.
“Killer7 was a game that I designed and checked practically by myself. I originally wasn’t going to do it alone, but Mikami wouldn’t hear of it,” said Goichi Suda. “That was ultra-Spartan, but I absolutely had to do it all myself.” Suda continued:
“I really liked the scenario, but I had to ask someone else to substitute for some of the work. When Mikami read it, he asked,’This isn’t your scenario, is it?’ When I said, ‘Ah, I left this to some other staff because of the workload,’ He replied, ‘No, it’s no good. Please write it all.’ Then, I supposed, if he really liked it that much, I need to meet his expectations, and wrote every last word and phrase. I don’t think I could make a game like that again.”
From then on, it seemed like Suda had complete freedom on the game.
“At that point, Mikami entrusted the making of the entire game to me. I think I was probably protected by him (even from Capcom) when the release date was pushed back,” Suda reminisced. “He provided an environment that let me create everything I wanted to create. That kind of development is really rare. I haven’t had an experience like that since, a project like Killer7 that I practically made with my own hands.”
“Truly, I feel like Mikami really protected me all the way,” Suda revealed, in closing.
You can find the Art of Grasshopper Manufacture here, on Amazon.
[Editor’s Note: It’s worth mentioning that Goichi Suda didn’t literally create the entire game by himself, however, I meant to liken him to being the auteur of the game, which is clearly the case in how Mikami pushed him to have a hand in practically all aspects of its aesthetics.]
