"You need to know what people find fun and interesting in life generally. And to do that, you’ve got to try a lot of things yourself."
"Also, although you should of course play games, it’s absolutely critical that you do other things too. You need to know what people find fun and interesting in life generally. And to do that, you’ve got to try a lot of things yourself. Sports, music, anything is okay, just so long as you expand your own horizons."
- Shigeru Miyamoto
10 years ago, for the 20th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., Japanese website Nintendo Online Monthly offered a new interview with Shigeru Miyamoto which has just this week been translated by Shmuplations.
In the interview, Miyamoto talks about the franchise in general, and working on it at Nintendo, but he also gives rather specific advice to those who wish to become game developers. It continues:
"I think it’s also important to have many friends, and have people you can talk with. Most people, by the time they get to college, know the kind of people they like to be with and are inclined to hang out with them all the time, but I think it’s important to actively seek people outside of your own circle and experience, so you can see more of the world. Being able to focus in and really get absorbed in the things you love is also important."
For his part, Miyamoto likes to play bluegrass music (pictured). He also says that having a diverse set of people in game development is directly helpful to the creative process:
"At meetings you get a variety of different team members assembled, and that’s very important. There will be some people there who don’t understand what’s going on, and it gives you a chance to explain things to them—and in doing so, you clarify many things for yourself. So I like to have a diverse group at meetings. And I think it’s very important to have people there who can frankly speak their minds, too."
This point was later echoed by Animal Crossing: New Leaf producer Katsuya Eguchi as the secret to that game's success. The whole Miyamoto interview is worth a read, of course, too.
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