Tell us about the Dimengeon system and how you worked on the design. At first glance, it seems to be a great innovation for random encounters. But after looking more closely, it appears specifically useful for mobile players, who wouldn’t typically be able to engage in long or complex battles.

Nakamura: This was Sakaguchi’s idea. In FANTASIAN, if you touch a treasure chest in the distance where you can’t see the route, NavMesh will automatically take you there. We talked about how new and exciting this was, but the problem was that it became stressful when interrupted by encounters along the way. So we came up with the idea of a dimension system, where encounters are stored.

This system was initially created for field exploration. Still, it led to the exhilaration of defeating many enemies at once by curving magic trajectories in battle. It also made the humble task of leveling up more efficient. I think it’s a very unique and innovative system.

How did you ensure that the visual effects, lighting, and shadows would work with the data captured from the dioramas to maintain your artistic style?

Nakamura: The most effective way to achieve harmony centers on the texture of the characters and the atmosphere.

First of all, for the characters, we tried to create a figure-like texture that’s not entirely realistic. I adjusted this until the end to fit with the miniature, handmade feel of the diorama. The lighting was also handled with a stronger ambient to bring out this figure-like feel.

We added a customized vignette post-effect to create a natural atmosphere. Vignetting is an effect that darkens the corners of the picture, but in FANTASIAN we used it to add color to the image’s corners, as if it were a fog. It’s easier to add color in 2D than in a fog that depends on the diorama’s depth.

As FANTASIAN uses photographs, the depth of information is not perfect. That’s why we aren’t as good at depth-based post-effects like fog or depth of field (DOF).

Do you have any tips to share with Unity developers looking to create their own JRPG-style games?

Nakamura: JRPGs are simple in structure, but they tend to be significant in volume. We needed many assets, so the most important thing was to manage them effectively.

For FANTASIAN, we set up rules for naming and folder structure and then used import scripts to automate the process to a certain extent. This helped us manage the assets.

Debugging is also essential. The simplicity of the structure means that crash bugs are unlikely to occur, but bugs such as flagging errors that prevent the story from progressing are more likely. It’s a good idea to have debugging tools in place to detect and reproduce such bugs.

Lastly, we would love to know if there are any fun facts or secrets behind the game to share with fans and other developers?

Nakamura: Sakaguchi is quite flexible and open to individual ideas. Many of the storylines and characters have been changed based on the opinions of our team members. For example, we didn’t have a female character named Valrika at first, but the artist wanted to create a mature female character, so we added her in. He also agreed to make one character a triplet at the end of the game to make the battle more exciting, and even made Tan a cat lover. However, Sakaguchi was less open when it came to Ribbidon because he designed the character himself, and was very keen to keep his vision for the 3D model. Ribbidon, despite his appearance, can speak in a philosophical way. The artists and game designers had a lot of trouble with this, but it turned out great.

Sakaguchi’s production style is to play first, then make requests and adjustments. In other words, we needed to implement and then have people play. This provided us with detailed recommendations on the user experience to improve the quality of the game.

On the other hand, if the game wasn’t interesting enough, it would have needed to be redesigned and revised in a significant way. Ultimately, we chose to prioritize speed. The faster we could get the implementation done, the better we could determine what we needed to focus on for the project. 

At the same time, we didn’t make it too flexible. If you build to be flexible, you’re likely to end up with more recklessness and changes than you can handle. We always look for easier ways to achieve a similar experience.

Thank you both so much for your time and behind-the-scenes insight. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you.

Mr. Sakaguchi and Nakamura: Thank you very much.