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During a recent panel at the Games Developers Conference discussing the development of the Splatoon series, Splatoon producer Hisashi Nogami showed off some early concept art for the game from its the prototype stage.
Nogami explained that the developers set out to create something brand new and that it took six months to come up with the ink-shooting concept. The original prototype featured a white block in a flat map who could shoot black or white ink:
After that, the game’s character became rabbits. Nogami explained how “Rabbits can be both black and white, making them easy to separate into teams… We also learned that rabbits are apparently very territorial creatures. We wanted to use brightly colored inks and thought they would contrast well with the neutral color of the rabbits.”
The ‘rabbit’ idea didn’t quite fit with the gameplay mechanics of shooting ink though, which led the team to eventually move on to squids (an idea that they had previously considered).
Nogami also took time during the panel to acknowledge how fans have since gone on to make some incredible fan art. “It might seem a bit strange to you, but as developers, nothing could make us happier than seeing the characters we created mean so much to people”.
While the series was initially a surprising move from Nintendo, it’s undeniable that it has been a hit for the publisher and it’s always interesting to get a peek behind the scenes at development.
Source: Kotaku
