Animal Crossing “Cannot be Sustained Without Change,” says Director

Animal Crossing has been a household name in the gaming industry for over two decades. There was a lull since 2012 after New Leaf came out, but Nintendo surprised the world by announcing the arrival of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

The game was an overnight success and went on to become the best-selling Switch title of all time. Animal Crossing is a very relaxing game that allows the players to create an island of their dreams. From the very first title to the latest, Nintendo has employed a range of features that have remained unparalleled.

During a recent presentation at Japan’s Computer Entertainment Developers Conference, the game’s director Aya Kyogoku discussed the history of the series and the success of New Horizons. This interview was captured by the Japanese site 4Gamer and translated by VGC.

Animal Crossing: A new phase of development

The conference mainly highlighted the changes Animal Crossing has witnessed over two decades. The toughest part has been to keep the key idea behind the game intact and supplement it with other features with enhanced visuals and other technological changes.

Aya Kyogoku said that Animal Crossing “cannot be sustained without change.” She also stated, “Protecting IP is not synonymous with protecting product specifications from manuals. Games are entertainment, so you will definitely get tired of making the same things.”

The success of New Horizons was that it exposed players to a range of new features and choices. The ability to make and spend money in-game and create unique designs radiates a feeling of being in control.

Those who have played the game would be aware of how realistic the critters and objects look. Art director Kouji Takahashi threw some light on the visuals and what went behind achieving them. Takahashi talked about the “imaginary gap” that is responsible for sparking off a player’s imagination. He said, “Because of the imaginary gap, the player tries to fill the gap by recalling information from their memory.”

Takahashi and his team have tried to maintain a favorable distance between a busy screen and an ‘imaginary gap’. If the screen was to be too busy, the players would eventually lose interest. It also has to harness the player’s creativity to create a niche in their minds or they might get bored.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has managed to pull this off. This has been corroborated by the number of units that have been sold since March which stands at 22.4 million. It is possible that more copies will be bought this holiday season since the game is certain to get a holiday update.