AM2 programmers and Team Ninja talk VF5/DOA

[Berzerk!]

A great series of articles have been translated and linked on the front page over at Virtuafighter.com including a great round table discussion in some depth the way that Team Ninja brought the VF characters over to DOA5, the use of AM2's data, and the relationship between the two games. It's a lengthy interview so here's a small section. Check out the source for more.

4Gamer: So what did the people at Sega think about that?

Katagiri: The guys at Koei-Tecmo brought the DOA5 trailer to us at Sega. It was a really great video, with two characters fighting in what seemed to be a construction site, and the stage was crumbling around them. Then just like Hayashi said, they inquired about the possibility of having the VF characters in the game. At the time I blurted out something like "They're going to be in here?", like I woke up from a dream. My first impression was that if they could do it, it'd be great, but how would it work?

Haneda: Yeah, we were really, really surprised. (laughs)

4Gamer: So were you worried about having the characters in the game?

Katagiri: As far as R&D goes there was no worries on our end. It was more like they'd pick the characters [they] wanted, then request the appropriate data, and then we'd give it to them and they'd go off and create it. So everything went swimmingly (laughs).

...

4Gamer: Ah, I see. So when did the development on this game start?

Hayashi: It was about two years ago, I think. We completed the demo reel about a year and a half ago, and then showed it to Sega 6 months after.

...

Niibori: Well, in DOA5 when we first put in Akira, you couldn't use his Yoho to combo.

Katagiri: Ahh yeah, that was the first character they showed us. We gave them the frame data, but at the time we didn't give them part of the data.

Haneda: In VF5 when something connects or is blocked, The frame on which you can move afterwards is different according to the attack. We didn't give them that data, so all that data become uniform, and that's why they couldn't use it in a combo.

4Gamer: So you mean that guest characters from VF had all of their frame data and motion data sent to Team Ninja as they were, even though Sega has full supervision over them?

Haneda: Yeah, all of it. The character models, all the frame data for every move, even how they are performed. We also sent them all of the voices, anything we could prepare.

4Gamer: So the models are completely the same in VF5 and DOA5?

Haneda: Not really, a bit of DOA flavor was added to the models. For example, Sarah's hair in VF comes out as one part, but the DOA5 model got rid of that. We actually talked about adding or removing those kind of parts. So because of that, Team Ninja was able to add bits to make them look cuter or better looking.

Source: 4Gamer.net via VirtuaFighter.com,

 

[PhoenixVFIRE]

Wow, so Dead or Alive 5 has been in the works for over 2 years? I guess it's no surprise. I'm glad everything went nicely for the Virtua Fighter guests

 

[Skilletor]

Katagiri: The guys at Koei-Tecmo brought the DOA5 trailer to us at Sega. It was a really great video, with two characters fighting in what seemed to be a construction site, and the stage was crumbling around them. Then just like Hayashi said, they inquired about the possibility of having the VF characters in the game. At the time I blurted out something like "They're going to be in here?", like I woke up from a dream. My first impression was that if they could do it, it'd be great, but how would it work?

This made me laugh.

 

[OSTCarmine]

its nice when we all get along like this... i wonder if we might get a 2d vs 3d crossover like sfxtekken as well...? anybody know if TN is partial to any 2d fighters out there? this interests me

 

[RikWeaN]

Page 2 of the interview (akai told me not to translate Page 1. ) is now online!
http://virtuafighter.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/331230

what's wrong with page 1?

Nothing wrong with page 1 of the interview. Once Reno found out that the entire interview is very long (as you can see from just his page 2 translation) and mentioned it on shoutbox, I suggested to Reno to skip the 1st page as that page is focused only on Dead or Alive.
I apologize to any Dead or Alive fan that would have liked page 1 to be translated first and was offended that I suggested to him to start translation at page 2 -_-

Well... screw DOA fans I guess. That's too bad, seemed like an interesting interview.

 

[Matt Ponton]

Well... screw DOA fans I guess. That's too bad, seemed like an interesting interview.

Eh, I imagine most of it is about Fighting Entertainment, and whatever the usual stuff Hayashi responds with in his interviews.

 

[EMPEROR_COW]

Thanks for this .. it was a great read ! It was nice to see a more in-depth view of Sega's involvement.

Also a reassuring one at that regarding the VF cast.

Great news!

 

[DrDogg]

Well... screw DOA fans I guess. That's too bad, seemed like an interesting interview.

The interview was translated for VFDC right? It makes sense that priority would go to the VF portion of the interview.

 

[RikWeaN]

Definitely, I was just voicing my disappointment. Their decision does make sense, but it would have been more professionnal to translate the whole thing as it was part of the interview. Oh well, guess I'll work out my rusty Japanese and try to read it by myself.

 

[Darrell]

Hmm. So it sounds like other than giving Sarah her old throw animations as reversals, Sarah and Akira will be pretty much identical. I wonder if they will be able to cancel their K to provoke an attack like if VF. Seems a bit unfair since the rest of the cast in DOA has to commit to an attack.

 

[Matt Ponton]

Hmm. So it sounds like other than giving Sarah her old throw animations as reversals, Sarah and Akira will be pretty much identical. I wonder if they will be able to cancel their K to provoke an attack like if VF. Seems a bit unfair since the rest of the cast in DOA has to commit to an attack.

I believe that it was mentioned in the first page that the K feint would still be in DOA5. I do not know for sure which interview that was though if not this one.

 

[DrDogg]

Hmm. So it sounds like other than giving Sarah her old throw animations as reversals, Sarah and Akira will be pretty much identical. I wonder if they will be able to cancel their K to provoke an attack like if VF. Seems a bit unfair since the rest of the cast in DOA has to commit to an attack.

You can K-cancel, but keep in mind this is not VF and using a K-cancel won't be nearly as effective. Also, the VF characters don't have the same string delay options as the DOA characters. That alone gives the DOA characters an advantage.

Also, as of E3, Akira is similar in casual play, but very different at high levels of play (in theory, as I obviously did not have enough time to get to high levels with him). I'm hoping this will change as the game gets more and more complete.

 

[EMPEROR_COW]

One integral thing they must add is the low throw.
Akira and Sarah both don't have one. I think it would be a big disadvantage without it.

 

[PhoenixVFIRE]

One integral thing they must add is the low throw.
Akira and Sarah both don't have one. I think it would be a big disadvantage without it.

I'm sure they are getting one, just like Sarah is getting counters.

 

[EMPEROR_COW]

I'm sure they are getting one, just like Sarah is getting counters.

I'd rather know than be sure.. because it really is an issue ..

 

[Allan Paris]

The VF characters are going to have every tool that the DOA characters are going to have (throws and holds). That doesn't need to be said officially and rather dumb to think they wouldn't have one. They have plenty of animations to turn something into a low throw.

 

[RoboJoe]

The VF characters are going to have every tool that the DOA characters are going to have (throws and holds). That doesn't need to be said officially and rather dumb to think they wouldn't have one. They have plenty of animations to turn something into a low throw.

I don't think it's dumb at all. Hayashi said the VF characters are intentionally made to play like their counterparts in VF5 as much as possible and Dr. Dogg mentioned VF characters can't delay their strings which is a universal doa tool, so it's not 100% unlikely that they won't have low throws. Hayashi might just expect VF characters to punish crouching/low holds with a fast mid. Of course, I wouldn't like this in doa because it's bad situation for the attacker, but I can see it happening.

As for Akira's low throw animation; please, please, don't be his from vanilla VF5.

 

[DrDogg]

The VF characters are going to have every tool that the DOA characters are going to have (throws and holds). That doesn't need to be said officially and rather dumb to think they wouldn't have one. They have plenty of animations to turn something into a low throw.

He already asked about low throws and holds and I gave him the answer. Akira has low throws and holds. All of the VF characters will have low throws and holds.

 

[Allan Paris]

Thank you, DrDogg.

 

[RoboJoe]

Well, that settles that. What is Akira's low throw animation?