by Information on the new RPG “World II World” for smartphones by Aniplex and Desk works was released in conjunction with the opening of “Tokyo Game Show 2022”.
This work is for smartphones with the catchphrase “One story with two x Two stories with one.” It was developed by Desk works, the creator of RPG Time! ~Legend of Light~. This work has been in development for nine years and was released in March 2022, but information on the team’s new job was suddenly announced in August.
Since “RPG Time!” was a title that was released after a very long period, as a gamer, I was a little worried about when the new title would be released. At Tokyo Game Show 2022, I interviewed Tom Fujii, the director of this work. This time, I have asked various questions about this work, which is taking off the veil, so I would like to introduce this.
About the avant-garde visual “World II World” that splits the screen vertically
First, I will introduce an overview of “World II World.” First of all, this work has three worlds with different world views. There are two main characters in each world, a total of six main characters, and the primary purpose is to manipulate them and save the world from the fate of destruction. The player holds the smartphone vertically and adventures in each world of this work. Still, it is a strange system in which two stories progress simultaneously on two screens divided vertically.
The field of this work spreads left and right, and you can swipe the character displayed in the center-left and right to move, tap to talk with nature, and fight enemies in battle. Generally, operating one character on one screen is mainstream, but in this work, the screen is divided into upper and lower parts. In other words, there are two screens, and one character is operated per screen, which means that two characters are used simultaneously.
Although the two stories are different, they are stories that progress within the same world. Therefore, events on the upper and lower screens affect each other’s worlds.
Since it’s an RPG, battles with enemies are prepared, but this also progresses up and down in real-time. So, naturally, even if the upper screen is in action, the lower screen is in conversation when a new friend joins the lower screen, and the upper screen is a boss battle, so the player is constantly forced to multitask.
What is the device to ensure the story can be thoroughly enjoyed on two screens?
When the author was told about this work, there was a question that he might be too busy to concentrate on one side of the story. When I asked Mr. Fujii about this, he said that the number of people who watch videos while touching their smartphones or do other work while watching videos at double speed is increasing, so it is still in the testing stage. It is said that there were many reactions that “it can be done unexpectedly.” As for the story, shortening each event and reducing hints, etc., as much as possible, it is said that it is structured so that it can be understood on the spot. In addition, since you don’t have to operate the upper screen and lower screen simultaneously, you can rest one hand to concentrate on the story, and the battle has an auto mode so that you can read the report carefully. And it seems that there is a solution to this problem.
We also asked him why he decided to release “World II World” for smartphones. There are two main reasons for this: the vertical screen. Many games for smartphones that are played vertically are often operated using only part of the screen. Mr. Fujii said that he felt that this was “not enough space on the screen.” He said that he thought it would be better to make it possible to operate it on the upper screen if it was used while holding it vertically.
In addition, since the smartphone can be operated by touching anywhere on the screen, it seems that there was also a reason that the operation was not complicated, even if it was divided into two parts. For example, if the screen is divided into upper and lower screens on a home-use game machine that uses a controller, the operation with the controller can be complicated. However, the function is intuitive, such as the character moving.
The second reason seems to have been to deliver a new story every week so that people could enjoy the story. We felt smartphones were more suitable than home game consoles for our efforts to provide new content every week, so we adopted smartphones as the platform. In addition, this work is conscious of the coolness of broadcasting TV animation, and it is said that there is also a desire to enjoy the story delivered every week like an animation.
Mention interesting gacha elements!
Since it is an essential free title for smartphones, I also asked about billing elements. In this work, you can get party characters for the battle.
In the first place, as mentioned above, this work has three worlds and a total of 6 main characters, but in battle, seven people are organized and battle. Opportunities to obtain party members are also provided in the story. Still, these party characters are discharged in gacha, and using them can also advance the battle more advantageously.
Also, as mentioned above, the party can have a maximum of 7 people. However, since there are six different worlds, it seems that 42 people will be needed even if all parties use all the characters. The author was also amazed about the number here, but it is said that the number of characters at this stage is about 100 or more.
“World II World” uses a very avant-garde system. In addition to simultaneously developing the story on the top and bottom, there are various gimmicks, such as the story of the upper screen and the lower screen intersecting. Many things have not been revealed about the characters other than the six main characters, so please look forward to new information in the future. In addition, the official distributor of “Tokyo Game Show 2022”, which will be distributed from 22:00 on September 17th, will reveal a little more information about the release date of this work.
