Parappa creator introduces book to Japan
Will Wright wrote the foreword for the original release of game designer Raph
Koster's book, A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Now Masaya Matsuura,
creator of the PlayStation hit Parappa the Rapper, has done the same for the Japanese edition. He has some
interesting things to say about his career, and the difficulty of game design:"When it comes to the process of game creation, especially at the beginning of the process, it is difficult to share delusion of imagination with staff members. By the time they all got the idea of the image, it is already at the end of production schedule. That is why we often push ourselves to our limit and find it difficult to sustain. What’s worse is, the end results could be a total commercial disaster."
He also said, "I made a lot of 'wrong guesses' and as a result, some titles were called “Kuso-gae (shitty games)”. I'm not sure what titles he's referring to; though it might not have been Parappa, I didn't think Um Jammer Lammy was that bad! He continues, "If I wanted to clean my tarnished image, I should make efforts every day to find innovative idea that lead to 'just fun.'" Or, like Patrick Curry, Matsuura-san could try making an effort every week to find innovative ideas.
