Hidetaka Miyazaki is a man who has a great degree of focus and reverence for his craft. The president and creative director at FromSoftware is known for his vast game worlds filled to the brim with rich lore. But this lore isn’t served to the player on a silver platter. One must explore his world to understand it.
This, of course, leads to a fragmented narrative delivery, which the player must piece together. This splitting of the big picture into smaller pieces of information isn’t limited to just the games. Miyazaki does the same with the people at FromSoftware, something that baffles even the members of his team!
Hidetaka Miyazaki Splits Studio Dossiers Based on Departments
Some organizations and businesses operate on a need-to-know basis. It’s a tactic also often used by government organizations that wish to keep the bigger picture hidden from the cogs in the machine. But to learn Miyazaki uses a similar tactic when developing a video game was a bit surprising.
He revealed this practice in an interview with Xataka. When asked how the director goes about selling a game idea to his team, he revealed the team never gets the full picture from the start. Miyazaki creates informational dockets based on the department. So, the art team’s document would be different from the document going to the technical specialists.
Hidetaka Miyazaki’s document is more of a guide for the team than a bible. He does not want people to follow the document word for word, as that stunts creativity and limits imagination. While Miyazaki may intend for the teams to view only their specific documents, there is some degree of note swapping happening in the background. It sounds complex, but it isn’t even the toughest part of game development for him.
During said swaps, the teams end up finding some inconsistencies between the notes. This is something Miyazaki has accounted for and says it’s “necessary for the creative process.” Despite the inconsistencies, the team trusts Miyazaki’s process.
Miyazaki’s Creative Process Would Intimidate Many Game Developers
Great creativity often comes with some idiosyncrasies that may seem frustrating. A lot of thought goes into Miyazaki’s games, and he draws on his accumulated knowledge to craft ideas that could offer a unique experience to players. Many of his ideas come from the literature he consumes, and it doesn’t seem like the creative director is going to run out of content anytime soon.
When it comes to Elden Ring, it wasn’t only Miyazaki’s ideas. FromSoftware collaborated with George R. R. Martin, allowing him to create the world’s history and mythology. The name The Lands Between was Martin’s idea and is a departure from FromSoftware’s typical naming scheme. Miyazaki agreed to the name as he felt it would encourage players to explore the world more.
The next big project from the studio, Shadow of the Erdtree, DLC for Elden Ring, is now less than two months away. It is expected to be the biggest expansion to any FromSoftware game. With an entirely new world to explore, we are sure Miyazaki’s way of working is going to yield great results.
What do you think of this unique creative process? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
