Hideo Kojima has shared some insight into his work philosophy when making games.
On Twitter, Kojima made note of how, in not only the gaming industry but also the film industry, different jobs are compartmentalized into different departments, so that the people working on a game or film have a key specialty that they focus on. This is not how it has always been, but this is how game and film production have leaned into today, particularly when it comes to big money productions.
Kojima, for his part, believes that he needs to specialize on every aspect of making games. This is how he does game design. Kojima then breaks down what these specialties are:
- Understanding the game
- Understanding the picture (visuals and movies)
- Understanding the sound (music and audio)
- Understanding the story (construction and story telling)
As you might have imagined, Kojima ends this by stating that all of this is hard work. Kojima’s statement seems to be at odds with how he himself has made games for years. His work on Metal Gear Solid, and other titles like Zone of The Enders and Boktai, were also big budget productions. However, this seems to have been a tension that Kojima sought to balance throughout his career. Based on his announcements for his future plans, he may continue to make games managing this tension.
Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions are working on an unnamed title for PlayStation 4 and PC. Kojima has previously defended himself from claims that he takes too long and goes over budget when making games.
