PALGN: What was the inspiration behind the Eye of Judgement?
Watanbe: We already had the cybercode technology and we wanted to use that somehow.
PALGN: So was the cybercode technology developed for anything else beforehand, or has it just been used for Eye of Judgement?
Watanbe: Actually a few years ago Sony Science Lab came up with this technology and they were looking for a use for it and someone approached us and said look maybe we could use this in a game and we tried to come up with a design that would fit the technology.
PALGN: Is it going to be easy for novice user to approach or will people have to become experienced before they can appreciate the game?
Watanbe: Traditional card games have become so complicated and the rules are becoming more and more complicated that it’s very difficult for small children to calculate all of that because the battle calculations are also becoming very difficult. With the Eye of Judgement the PS3 handles all of that complicated calculation behind the battle so it’s very easy for children to pick up the game and play as well as adults. We should have a broad range of users own are able to enjoy this game and enjoy the bargaining that comes with the battles.
PALGN: It looks like an evolution of a typical board game blending interaction into a computer game. Is that the idea behind it?
Miyaki: Yes, that’s right.
PALGN: With the battle sequences is it only ever two characters that fight or can you have the whole field battling at once?
[There is a Os and Xs set on the table. Miyaki moves the pieces so that the X is my character and the Os represent the enemies. He shows that there and many patterns of characters that can perform attacks. We’ve replicated some of the patterns below]
PALGN: Are there multiple backgrounds that appear in the battle sequences? We only saw one in the demonstration.
Watanbe: There are six variations.
PALGN: Based on the card placement backgrounds?
Miyaki: Yes.
PALGN: How long has the game been in development?
Miyaki: Please don’t ask. [laughs] Three years. The graphics portion we’ve only been working on for the past year, but the previous two years were used to create the right type of card game so the paperwork, trying to come up with the right scenario for the perfect card game, that’s what took so long.
PALGN: So will it be ready for PS3 release.
Miyaki: [Laughs] Yes hopefully.
PALGN: I had another question, but I’ve forgotten what it was.
Watanbe: So have you played any card games before?
PALGN: Only very briefly, so not really.
Watanbe: I’ve never played a card game before.
PALGN: Oh really? Oh I remember the question now. In the demonstration you showed how you can interact with the characters by poking them on the status screen. Will there be any other ways you can interact with them? Can you interact with on the battle field?
Miyaki: No, not during battle.
PALGN: Thank you very much for your time.
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