Klonoa Chronicles - Part 3

Klonoa Chronicles is a series of tweets by Klonoa’s original creator, Hideo Yoshizawa, that give insights into the development of the games he had a hand in making. Below is a translation along with the original Japanese text.

クロノアクロニクル第３回！ 「スプリガン」の版権で始まったプロジェクト、まずはカメラシステムが思いついたのでした。 

Klonoa Chronicles #3! The project began with a version of “Spriggan,” and the first thing that came to mind was a camera system.

アクションはチェーンをメインにして、敵にぶつけて捕まえ、左右に振りまわして叩きつけるアクションや、木の枝などに引っ掛けて移動するなど、派手な動きを考えていました。そんな中カメラシステムができてきて動かしてみると、ただ走って行くだけでもカメラがグイグイ変化してすごく面白いのです。

We were thinking of flashy actions, such as using a chain as the main action, catching an enemy by hitting it, swinging it left and right to hit it, or hooking it onto a tree branch to move. When the camera system was developed and we moved it around, it was very interesting to see how the camera would change rapidly even when the player was just running.

カメラを寄せたり引いたり、煽ったり俯瞰にしたり、斜め前を向かせたりするととても新鮮な驚きがありました。これは面白そうだ。でも見た目だけじゃなくて、カメラには意味が必要だと思いました。映画のカメラワークは必ず意味がありますからね。

It was a very fresh surprise when I pulled the camera in or out, agitated it or turned it overhead, or made it look diagonally forward. This looks interesting but it wasn’t just about looks. I thought the camera needed to have meaning. Camera work in a film always has to have a meaning, you know.

そこでカメラによって敵の位置を知らせ、危険に気付かせたりする工夫をすることにしました。例えば上から敵が岩を落としてくる時、カメラが煽りになったり、先の橋に敵が待ち受けているのをカメラを振って見せておくなどといった演出です。 これは結構イケると思いました。 つづく 

Therefore, we decided to use the camera to alert the viewer to the location of the enemy and to make the viewer aware of danger. For example, when an enemy drops a rock from above, the camera could be used as an incentive, or the camera could be waved to show that an enemy is waiting for you on the bridge ahead. I thought this was pretty cool. To be continued.