GDC 08: First Look At WiiWare From Square Enix

by Emily Balistrieri on February 23, 2008 at 4:11 am

Work began on Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King back in 2006, before details on WiiWare had even been confirmed. Fumiaki Shiraishi, the lead programmer of the project, was itching to try a game on a smaller scale, and pitched the concept to Toshiro Tsuchida, who decided to produce the project.

They both appeared at GDC yesterday to give audience members an insight into how and why the development process was different from your typical Square Enix blockbuster.

The team had to find solutions that would work for the scale of the game. A smaller group of people (about 18 tops as opposed to sometimes over 200) meant that while each member had to cover a wider range of responsibilities, they could have more say in the game and gain confidence.

Since Square Enix is known for super high quality graphics, they had to think of ways to keep a signature style while coming in under the memory limit, which seems to be between 30 and 40 MB and “subject to change.” The game wasn’t originally pitched as a FFCC title, but once that was decided, they were able to borrow assets from the GameCube game to cut costs and keep that Square Enix feel. The result is a mix of new and old material that looks familiar, but not low quality or cheap.

My Life as a King takes place entirely within a town where you play as a chibi blond boy with a big crown. In a potentially interesting role reversal, your task is to build the village according to what your heroes need to keep heading into the field to fight monsters.

Notices pop up in the upper right corner of the screen to let you know during the day what your brave fighters are up to, but most of your information will come in the form of a morning report detailing how much loot they scored in which dungeon, and other highlights of the adventure.

Characters go shopping in the stores you create, and you can observe their satisfaction levels. One came out with a smiley icon over his head saying, “I bought a level 15 broadsword!” Shiraishi noted that they aimed to make it something gamers can enjoy, but also spent a lot of time on the tutorial so casual users will hopefully get into it.

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