As you might hope given the nature of video games, when a franchise starts out, the developers have a specific vision in mind. But if it’s successful and gets sequels, most times, a game can evolve to be even more than what it was initially meant to be. Staying fresh and relevant is important in an industry that’s always changing. You might know this from how games like Madden try to innovate every year, but often times it feels like you’re playing the same game every season. For the upcoming game Splatoon 3, the team had to keep things going strong given how well the previous title went and how successful it was in terms of sales.
In a special interview with Nintendo, some of the Splatoon 3 staff sat down and discussed the game in full. One of the things they were quick to note was that the game has very much “grown with the players.”
“This title is set in the chaotic city of Splatsville, a densely populated area crowded with buildings from various eras. We decided on chaos as the theme for this title because Team Chaos won the “Chaos vs. Order” Splatfest.”
That was the final Splatfest of the previous game, and followed the traditions of the game having a path to choose from at the end and the players deciding where it should go next. That also means that if this new game follows that path, we’ll have three options in the final Splatfest event–but that’ll be about 2 years down the road, so let’s not talk about that right now.
The Splatfest that changed things was, to be clear, completely intentional, and the team even noted they did have an idea for Team Order had they won and not Team Chaos. They even said they were watching the results right up until the end because they didn’t know what would happen.
Another way the game grows with its players according to the team is that while the characters we see in terms of player characters don’t age, the world around them does. In fact, they note that five years have passed between the upcoming entry and the previous one, which is why Murch went from looking like a kid to now being a fully grown teenager.
One really unique question that was answered was how the game helped set itself apart. The team noted that at first, it was just about showing off street culture and contemporary style that would invoke a feeling of rebellion. That would eventually seep into the gameplay that created this atypical shooter that we all know as Splatoon.
The team also talked about the maps of the game, the music that you’re hearing, and more. The whole interview is worth listening to, and Splatoon 3 is worth playing when it arrives on September 9, 2022.
Source: Nintendo
