Key people in TEKKEN 8 gave an interesting interview, revealing some internal info about their game.
Evo gives the fighting games community (FGC) an opportunity to peek into the development process and real ideas behind characters and mechanics. It’s possible thanks to insightful interviews with those who actually develop the games and make the decisions. IGN interviewed Katsuhiro Harada, the TEKKEN project director, and Kohei Ikeda, the development producer and game director. Michael Murray, the producer, helped with the translation and gave some extra info.
The interview touches on some important aspects that are questioned by the players, like the return of Heihachi to TEKKEN 8 and changes to game mechanics.
Interview with Harada about Heihachi in TEKKEN 8
The full video of this interview is embedded here. Below in our post, we highlight the best moments from it.
TEKKEN 8: Heihachi returns!
The announcement of Heihachi Mishima as the next TEKKEN 8 DLC character was quite unexpected. Heihachi died in the previous game, and Harada himself confirmed that. Did he lie?
The players wanted the character back despite the story conclusion in TEKKEN 7, so the developers decided to follow these expectations. Also, the decision to enrich TEKKEN 8 with Heihachi is connected to the 30th anniversary of the series — all three Mishimas should be there.
“I didn't mean to lie or anything. TEKKEN 7 is really focused on the story arc between Heihachi and his son Kazuya, and we really wanted to show that kind of a final conclusion. He seemed to die at that point, right, but then, after that happened, TEKKEN 8 was released, and we put a lot of effort into the story. The fans really seemed to be engaged with that, and as that was happening, we were kind of feeling that the players missed him as well. Obviously, we did too, so it was decided later on that we would do that. It wasn't a lie. And then also, the timing is right, since it's the 30th anniversary of the franchise. We need all three of Mishimas.”
Having TEKKEN 8 Heihachi doesn’t mean he will be the same character as in previous games. The developers add meaningful changes to the movesets, and that nicely refreshes the experience with such fighters as Eddy and Lidia.
Even if it is too early to talk about the actual Heihachi gameplay in TEKKEN 8, Kohei Ikeda still highlights some moments. He mentions the powerful play style of Heihachi and hints at the monks in the trailer.
“Like you imagine, it is a bit too early to be talking many details about this character. But to give some hints, he has a very powerful play style throughout the series, so we tried to recreate that in TEKKEN 8. The focus is on that, but also, if you saw little story hints about the monks in the footage and what he has to do with them, that maybe will dictate some of his moveset as well. There are some hints there; we hope that you look forward to hearing more about it.”
Related articles
Changes in the core system of TEKKEN 8
The interviewer from IGN asked an interesting question about the possible future changes in the common game mechanics. TEKKEN 8 is evolving throughout its lifespan, and some core systems, like Heat, have already changed — especially in Patches 1.04 and 1.05. What should players expect next?
“We've made some changes to the Heat system after release… Although the concept was clear, and we felt we achieved that: it was very fun to be on the offense and to open up your opponent to do damage, etc. … We realized that some of the elements that people liked about 3D fighting games, being able to have the defensive options of side-stepping or using that 3D environment to your advantage strategically — that was a little bit weaker perhaps than in past installments. With the update, like we were mentioning, we enhanced those features a little bit more, so we currently think that the game is in a good place. … We don't plan on making any sweeping changes to the game system itself.”
Off-the-wall and guest characters
The TEKKEN series is well-known for its weird characters, but TEKKEN 8 has only Kuma and Panda left.
The developers say that the weirdness of many fighters was rather cosmetic, as they repeated movesets of other characters. They want to have only unique archetypes in the roster.
“The thinking behind the franchise hasn't changed. It's not like we're intentionally removing those characters. But if you really take a close look at how they were back in those iterations, it was … we call them compatible characters in Japanese, which means the moveset is from another character, and just the skin is different… Making sure that each of the characters are unique… We wouldn't say they're not going to make an appearance ever again, that's just the current state.”
The fun idea of having guest characters in TEKKEN is not as simple as you might think. The process involves legal agreements with an IP owner and complex production processes, like voice acting.
“There are some things that maybe are behind the scenes that most people won't notice. There's got to be a variety of conditions… Does that IP owner want their property in our game? Then, maybe both say yeah, that's awesome, but there's timing for our franchise, when do we want that character to appear. And for them, maybe… they're like “no, we have plans, we can't have it until later…” And then, … even if that happens, which is the hard part, right, and then, if you're using a famous character that has a well-known actor attached to it, and their schedule is insane. You have to be able to find time to get them into the studio to record voice lines and things like that. There are so many obstacles that have to be overcome for that to happen. It is quite a challenge.”
The wonderful interview by IGN has more details than our highlights, so check out the full video.
For everything interesting and important about TEKKEN 8, stick around on esports.gg!
