Mega Man Creator To Young Devs: Be Daring, Be Adventurous

Keiji Inafune, creator of Mega Man and Dead Rising, hosts a class called “Inafune Academy”, where young game developers attend to learn about game design.

“I would tell these young creators don’t end up small. You’re young and starting your career. Be daring. Be adventurous. You’re allowed to make mistakes,” is the advice Kenji Inafune, creator of Mega Man and Dead Rising, has to offer fresh graduates of game design. Inafune hosts his own game development workshop, called “Inafune Academy”, where graduates from video game colleges attend to learn about game design. Speaking with Siliconera, he talked about what the key to success is for both console and mobile game developers, and offered some advice for young game designers.

For console games, Inafune says the most important thing is being able to show a brand new gaming experience. It has to be something players haven’t seen before. On the other hand, he says that people that play smartphone games tend to want to play something they’ve seen before, so creating a game that feels familiar to players is the key to success in mobile game development.

“It’s very difficult to say how things are going to change. The idea I have in mind is smartphones and the next generation of consoles should be in different spaces,” said Inafune, responding to a question about how he thinks the upcoming generation of consoles will change the gaming landscape. “Consoles should be more creative when it comes to business models. You should be able to have free to play and other models that we didn’t have before.”

For his own Comcept and Intercept studios, Inafune says he wants to try a bit of everything, from smartphone dollar apps to big budget console titles. He feels that developing for multiple platforms is the key to staying fresh. “If you keep creating on one side you might get better at that, but you may miss out by not learning about what else is out there. I hope we will be successful on all of the platforms we work on.”

Inafune ends his interview with some sage wisdom for the up-and-comers in the gaming industry. “Don’t try to be smart and end up wrapping yourself up into a small package. Break out of your shell and try to do things.” Inafune has previously expressed his distaste of the stagnancy of fresh ideas in Japanese game development, going so far as to say that the entire industry is finished.

Source & Image: Siliconera