Glory of Heracles Q&A

Kazushige Nojima's latest project, Glory of Heracles, is part of a series that began back in 1987. Glory of Heracles is the fifth game in the series but the first to reach North America. The story follows a young Heracles who has washed up on shore without his memory. After bumping into other immortals, Heracles sets off toward Mount Olympus, hoping to find some answers. As a story writer, Nojima has worked on the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series, as well as contributed to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. We asked Nojima a few questions in a translated interview where he shared his thought process and what it's like to work as a writer for video games.

GameSpot: Could you tell us about your background and how you got into story writing for games?

Kazushige Nojima: Before entering the video game industry, I was one of those heavy metal music geeks [that were] ubiquitous around the world. When I turned 22 years old, I joined a video game company. It was around the time when Super Mario Bros. was released on the NES. I wasn't an avid gamer myself, but the idea of working for a video game company struck me as fun and unique.

Back then, only a handful of people worked to create video games, so the development team was constantly understaffed. I was the youngest of the members, so they assigned me to write game scenarios--because no one wanted the task. (He laughs.) Sorry, but there you have it. There is no drama or exciting story as to how I started my career as a scenario writer.

GS: Where do you get your ideas and inspiration for games?

KN: Mostly from conversations with the game development team members. During business meetings or casual chats over meals. You name it, there are always some ideas hiding in these dialogues. For example, the game director is having fight with his wife. The game planner is complaining that the neighbor's dog is barking too loud. Of course, that's not the only case. I sometimes pick up an explicit sign when I read through the planning document at the beginning of the project.

In other words, I can find ideas and inspirations in everything I see and hear.

GS: You've worked with a lot of big franchises. What kind of challenges and obstacles do you face when writing for these games?

KN: It is always challenging when a finished scenario needs to be shortened because troubles (especially work-volume related problems) that were not visible at the beginning of the project become apparent at the end. By the time these problems get noticed, I would think that my part in the project is completely done.

GS: How do you approach each new project? What are the steps that you take from beginning to end?

KN: Simply put, this is what I do: (1) I look for a clue about what type of scenario the game development team is looking for. If they have a specific vision about how they want the scenario to turn out, I hammer out the details. (2) I write a rough draft that outlines character settings, the overall plot, cinematic highlights, and the game world itself. If I have a particular idea I want to add, I lay it out so that it gets the spotlight. (3) I show the draft to the staff. (4) Based on the feedback received, I revise the draft. (5) Repeat steps 3 and 4. (6) While I'm at it, I stealthily sneak in my personal taste in girl character design or other detailed ideas.

GS: How much freedom are you given when you're coming up with the story? How much do your original ideas change by the time the game is finished?

KN: I have a great amount of freedom to write, as long as I keep in mind the development costs that are required to support the storyline in the gameplay and the elements that are specifically requested by the game development team. It is normal for the initial to concept get bigger at a later stage; however, it rarely takes a completely different turn. That could only happen at the very beginning of the project. That said, any changes in the early stage of production may not be remembered by the time the game is finished. Maybe I have simply forgotten those early changes.

GS: Could you explain whether or not the gameplay mechanics play a large role in story development?

KN: The gameplay mechanics do play a large role in story development; however, in most cases, the mechanics are not explicit in the early stage of the development. For this reason, I begin by writing a story that doesn't choose the type of gameplay mechanics. In the meantime, various elements start falling into the place, piece by piece, so I fit my storylines around them to make a nice harmony.

GS: Glory of Heracles is based in the world of Greek mythology, which means you had content to work with and pull from. How do you like using content that is already established versus creating a brand new world as you had to do in Final Fantasy?

KN: Greek myth, the morning news, my friend's unlucky story…there are no differences among them because they are filtered through me and are turned into a different story. In other words, I don't pick one over another. That said, I really enjoy the process of personalizing a widely known character like Heracles, for example.

GS: What advice do you have for aspiring story writers who want to write for video games?

KN: I believe that every writer has an idea to begin with. It is easy to start writing, but it is very hard to complete one story. My advice would be to pay every effort to thoroughly write from the beginning to an end, without skipping the middle.

GS: Thank you for your time!