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Hideki Kamiya's Recollections of BIOHAZARD 3 (2020)

This recollection, originally in Japanese, was published by Hideki Kamiya to Twitter on April 24, 2020.

Below is an English machine-translation of the text.



This is something I often talk about, but in BIO1, there was a limit of 8 camera angles per room, so large rooms like hallways had to be split into two, and it was difficult to avoid long shots... From BIO2 onwards, it doubled to 16 camera angles, which made things a lot easier, but it was still difficult when you consider the production and other factors.[1]

Having experienced that process myself, and realizing that BIO2 had reached the limit of what was possible on the PSX at the time, I personally lost all interest in being involved with BIO, and threw a tantrum saying I didn't want to be the director of the sequel (Ship BIO, which went through various changes and was scrapped) and stepped down.[2] So, I left Ship BIO (BIO3 at the time) to my junior, and myself and another person I called in from another department were put in charge of support. This "other person" was Kadoi[i], who had been in charge of planning for BIO1 like me, and then moved to the Rockman Dash[ii] team, and who would later become the director of BIO2 Remake.[3]

Incidentally, Kadoi (who joined the company around the same time I did), was only loaned to our project temporarily. I remember that shortly before Ship BIO was canned, he had already returned to his own department.[4]

The company made us develop Ship BIO separately from Mikami, in a different department. We were experimenting with various ideas, such as panoramic camera shots of pre-rendered backgrounds, akin to Google Street View; we also tried full-poly rooms like those in Dino Crisis, but then news broke that the PS2 was coming.[5]

So, one night at a bar, I got a sudden phone call from Mikami, who asked me if I wanted to develop a new BIO game for the PS2. I thought that I could try something different with the new hardware, so I said yes... And so, Ship BIO was discontinued, and development of BIO3 (later DMC) for the PS2 began under Mikami's direction.[6]

By the way, at the same time that the officially-numbered BIO3 (Ship BIO) was being developed, Mikami's department was working on a spin-off tentatively titled BIO1.9. Development on that game was progressing with the intention of doing things that couldn't be done in the main series, but due to company circumstances, it was suddenly given the title of BIO3. Naturally, Mikami and the whole team were confused...[7] We, who had been developing the new BIO3 for the PS2, were also wondering, "Wait, so this is BIO4 we're making now?" But compared to the BIO1.9 team, who were pulled away from the spin-off path and forced onto the main path (which caused a big commotion), I think our situation was relatively peaceful because all we had to do was change the number on the temporary title screen from 3 to 4...[8]

Mr Mikami was very much against [the spin-off becoming BIO3]... I think that's his pride, as a creator... Mr Okamoto's decision came from a business perspective, but I don't know anything about that stuff. Anyway, that's none of my business.[9]

I wonder how many times I've said this...[10] To put it simply, I was developing the new BIO3 for the PS2, which was later renamed BIO4, but as I expanded the action elements, it strayed far from the BIO style, and I felt that this wasn't BIO anymore, so it became DMC, and then BIO4 started anew with Shibata as director... That was the Hallucination BIO.[11] As I've said before, I personally liked the Hallucination BIO because it was ambitious and had a softer sense of horror, but it was eventually rejected, and Mr Mikami, who was the manager at the time, returned to the project and renewed it, which became the shoulder camera version of BIO4 (the one that's out now).[12] I think it must have left a strong impression on Mr Mikami himself, because the essence of the Hallucination BIO was carried over into Psycho Break[iii]. By the way, I should mention that Hallucination BIO was done in full-poly, like Dino Crisis.[13] So, if someone says "BIO4 has become Devil May Cry, right?", the response is "Oh, yeah...", because from the developer's perspective, there were just so many different versions of BIO4.[14]


Footnotes

  1. He's talking about Kazunori Kadoi (門井一憲).⬆️

  2. Rockman Dash - Episode 1: Adventurous Spirit of Steel (ロックマンDASH エピソード1 鋼の冒険心) is the original Japanese title for Mega Man Legends.⬆️

  3. Psycho Break (サイコブレイク) is the original Japanese title for The Evil Within.⬆️

References

  1. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253501744266350592 ⬆️

  2. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253505210565029888 ⬆️

  3. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253506241919250432 ⬆️

  4. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253507115630518273 ⬆️

  5. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253508178240659459 ⬆️

  6. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253517447962914817 ⬆️

  7. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253509553137741827 ⬆️

  8. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253509839159873536 ⬆️

  9. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253510891766611969 ⬆️

  10. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253511400263045120 ⬆️

  11. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253511874420727808 ⬆️

  12. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253513184851288065 ⬆️

  13. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253513533104353280 ⬆️

  14. https://twitter.com/HidekiKamiya_X/status/1253501744266350592 ⬆️