Feature: 'GDC: All About Ninety-Nine Nights: Next-Gen Character Design'

Today's final Gamasutra feature coverage of the 2006 Game Developers Conference takes us back to Wednesday night with "All About Ninety-Nine Nights: Next-Gen Character Design." "Before starting this project, SangYoun Lee and I agreed on two things," said Tetsuya Mizuguchi, chief creative officer and producer at Q Entertainment. "First, we should improve the quality of the action game to make it suitable for the next generation of consoles. And second,we should pursue a new kind of drama in a game by letting the player experience both sides of justice, not just one side. We decided to combine action on the battlefield with drama. If these two big things have chemical reaction on Xbox 360, we can create a completely new thing." The panel, entitled "All About Ninety-Nine Nights : Next-Gen Character Design," was held on Wednesday night of the 2006 Game Developers Conference. Q Entertainment's Mizuguchi, whose previously designed games include Rez, Space Channel 5, Meteos and Lumines, was joined by Phantagram director SangYoun Lee. Ninety-Nine Nights, an upcoming release for the Xbox 360 and the game being discussed in this panel, was co-designed by both studios, in Japan and Korea, respectively. You can read the full Gamasutra feature, including exclusive insight into Mizuguchi's inspirations behind the game's unique character perspective design (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).