Snatcher is a cyberpunk graphic adventure title by the genius game designer Hideo Kojima. The game wasn’t well received upon its release but later became a cult classic. When he created this title, he was still a “fresh leaf” in the industry and far from his legendary status. Nevertheless, this cyberpunk adventure has recently completed 35 years, as the PC88 version was released in 1988.
The 60-year-old game designer recently took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share his experience of creating Snatcher. He shared how one of the biggest problems he encountered while developing this game was working on two models at the same time. So, Kojima’s team first finished the PC88 version and released the MSX2 version after a few weeks.
Creating two models wasn’t the only challenge for the Japanese game designer, as his team also struggled with the PC88 model. Compared to other PC-based companies, neither Kojima nor Konami had much experience developing games for this home computer. He was also part of the MSX division and had no tools to create a PC88 model. But his team still needed to develop, market, and launch an adventure game, as well as a system and tools for this platform.
Creating this “new style of game” was the most challenging part for Kojima. Konami had no prior experience with the adventure genre, as they were known for action games. Hence, they had to develop Snatcher while trying hard not to break any adventure game rules.
Adventure games typically follow a protagonist through an interactive story that is driven by exploration and puzzle-solving. However, Kojima wanted his game to transition into a keyboard shooter and avoid players receiving a creator’s flag message when players press the same command. Nevertheless, since the concept was quite new, other teams and seniors mocked Kojima for the game’s uniqueness, and even though he was used to this treatment from his time on Metal Gear, there were times when he broke down under this pressure.
The evolution of Level Editors and the role Hideo Kojima played in it
The gaming industry is ever-evolving and gives birth to many new specializations. One such specialization is Level Editors, also known as Level Designers. They are responsible for how a game feels to the users. But there was a time when there was no one called a level designer working on a video game. It wasn’t until the 1990s that the games had a level editor.
I was in my 20s at the time, so I was gung-ho. Konami was an action game company that had cut its teeth from arcade games, so no one in the company had ever made an adventure game. Therefore, we had to develop an adventure game system. Furthermore, since we were an MSX division,… https://t.co/5O2HlZl9m1
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) November 26, 2023
Previously, it was the primary game designer who also had to take up this role and design the levels of a game. Hideo Kojima is a renowned game designer. But during his early days, he also worked as a level designer for his game, as there was none at that point in time. Game designers like Kojima led to the introduction of level editors.
These genius game designers came up with unique ideas for video games. But it also meant the game’s development became more complex. It was no longer possible for a game designer to write a game while also working on the levels. So, it was possibly a signal to the industry that now they need a level editor to take some load off the developer’s shoulders.
What are Level Editors?
We just now talked so much about how game designers like Kojima impacted the evolution of Level Editors. But what exactly are Level Editors, and why are they needed in a video game’s development? A level is a space where the events of a game happen.
The ones responsible for developing these spaces are level editors. A level designer is concerned with shaping a player’s behavior. They begin by sketching their ideas on paper or in 2D drawing software. The level editors then place themselves in the players’s shoes to imagine the playing experience.
These designers must also think about the game’s logic, the flow of events, and the conditions that must be met for certain things to occur in the game. Those working in the large studios are responsible for drafting layouts, building blockouts, testing the in-game encounters, observing playtests, and balancing the map.
Hideo Kojima might have introduced the whole thing to Konami
During the early days of Hideo Kojima in Konami, he had to plan, set up, and write scripts and storyboards, then design the game, coordination, and instruction manuals. But this was not all, he would also be writing his own simple language while creating the language itself. This is still the usual job of a game designer.
Kojima also looked after flag management for pictures, animation, and sounds in the game. He claimed this was possibly the beginning of level editors. Before this, the games Konami usually created weren’t so complex that it would require a level editor. The 60-year-old game designer even claimed that he suffered from a stomach ulcer while working hard on this project.
The Japanese designer claimed he became the legendary Hideo Kojima because of this experience. So, the gaming community might not have got masterpieces like Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding if the genius designer hadn’t created Snatcher 35 years ago. Maybe the game industry wouldn’t be like this if not for designers like Kojima.
