KATSUHIRO HARADA, DIRECTOR OF THE TEKKEN SERIES, RECEIVES THE HONORARY AWARD AT THE BIG CONFERENCE 2023
"I tried to create a video game that would capture the hearts of gamers"
Since the dawn of video gaming, fighting games have been one of the genres that have stood the test of time. And they have done so thanks to some franchises responsible for selling tens of millions of copies. The Tekken saga is one such example. Its current head, Katushiro Harada, has received the Honorary Award of the BIG Conference 2023 at Bilbao for his contribution to the history of video games. Harada not only received the award but sat down with Antonio Santo, director of the event, to talk about his career.
"As a child, when I was studying, we didn't have consoles at home, so we had to sneak into the arcades," he explained as he recalled his origins. Those escapades cost him some unpleasantness, Harada jokingly recalled. "People in charge of the parents' associations were on the lookout to see who was sneaking into the arcades. When they caught us, they made us apologize in front of the school principal and all our classmates the next day. That's when I became interested in video games: I wanted to work at a place that didn't punish me for playing video games."
Harada has devoted his entire life to developing fighting video games. He is interested in the fact that every game has a clear outcome: "There is always a winner and a loser, and both have to accept the outcome." Looking ahead, he believes it is possible to go even one step further and introduce the concept of team fights. "This way, if your team wins, it's because of you, and if they lose, it's because of your teammates," he joked.
For the Japanese creator, fighting games were not created with competitive formats or expert player niches in mind. "Skiing at the time was not a sport. It was just people sliding down a slope. Therein lies the key: we don't make games for just one type of player but for any player, whatever their level, to experience the satisfaction of winning or losing."
The BIG Conference 2023 Honorary Award winner believes that fighting games will increasingly focus on giving their characters a story and a background. However, Harada believes one of the genre's pillars remains the maneuverability of those characters and the ability to help players achieve a satisfying experience.
The Japanese developer will receive the BIG Conference 2023 Honorary Award this evening at the Titanium Awards gala.
DINGA BAKABA, DIRECTOR OF ARKANE LYON, RECEIVES THE BIG CONFERENCE 2023 HONORARY AWARD
"Dying in Deathloop has a narrative meaning because it brings you closer to the game's final goal."
Dinga Bakaba, director of Arkane Lyon, has received the BIG Conference 2023 Honorary Award for his video game career. Designer of Dishonored and director of Dishonored 2 and Deathloop, Bakaba chatted with Antonio Santo, director of the festival, about three games vital to understanding the French studio's popularity.
Bakaba recalled the "strange design" of the Dishonored's world. Playing an assassin with powers determined the framework in which players could move. Ultimately, the design relied less on a designer's decision than on the world where the game took place.
The sequel to Dishonored allowed Bakaba to take the reins of the franchise. Like any good sequel, one of his goals was adding new features to justify that second installment: "The goal was to make the best Dishonored possible. But making it too complicated meant it wouldn't be the best possible version in every aspect."
The studio found the solution by creating two characters, each with a different skill set, so that each delivered a fresh experience. "We only let you use all the skills when you play a New Game +, which is when you master all the skills, and not at the beginning of the game," he explained.
Deathloop, a murder and time-traveling game, has again placed the studio as a global industry phenomenon. In the game, death is part of the process, so the studio was clear from the beginning that death could not be a game over like in any other title: "We needed each death to have a narrative meaning because every time you die, you get a little closer to the final goal."
Finally, Bakaba emphasized that Arkane's games have a diversity component that comes organically from within the studio and not from a previous debate: "Deathloop is about Emily, not about what it means to be a woman. Industry representation is improving, but we still have a problem if we keep asking these questions."
The man behind Dishonored 2 and Deathloop received the BIG Conference 2023 Honorary Award this evening during the Titanium Awards gala.
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM, BEST GAME OF THE YEAR AT THE BIG CONFERENCE 2023 TITANIUM AWARDS
The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, by Deconstructeam, wins the Best Spanish Independent Game of the Year award
The latest installment of the Zelda saga, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, has won Best Game of the Year at the Titanium Awards at the BIG Conference 2023. The Titanium Awards gala also awarded Best Game Design for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Best Narrative Design for Alan Wake 2, Best Art Direction for Hi-Fi Rush, and Best Sound Direction for Hi-Fi Rush. The Titanium Awards also recognized the Best Spanish Independent Game of 2023, which went to The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood by Deconstructeam.
The Titanium Awards gala also served to announce the winners of the BIG Indie Contest. The second edition of this contest, with a prize pool of 10,000 euros, honors the Most Innovative Game, the Best Basque Game, and the Best Student Game. Laika: Aged Through Blood by Brainwash Gang won the award for Most Innovative Game, and Barraka by Zomorro Studio won the award for Best Basque Game, both with a prize of 4,000 euros. Bugs N' Guns, by Blinkshot (u-Tad), won the award for Best Student Game, with a prize of 2,000 euros.
TITANIUM 2023 AWARDS
- Best Game of the Year: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Best Game Design: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Best Narrative Design: Alan Wake 2
- Best Art Direction: Hi-Fi Rush
- Best Sound Direction: Hi-Fi Rush
- Best Spanish Independent Video Game: The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood
BIG INDIE CONTEST 2023 AWARDS
- Most Innovative Game: Laika: Aged Through Blood
- Best Basque Game: Barraka
- Best Student Game: Bugs N' Guns
DINGA BAKABA AND KATSUHIRO HARADA LIGHT UP FIRST DAY OF BIG CONFERENCE 2023
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom wins Game of the Year Award
The Bilbao International Games Conference has just closed its first day with the Titanium Awards, which have crowned The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as the best game of the year and The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, by Deconstructeam, as the Best Spanish Independent Game of 2023. In addition, the BIG Conference honored Dinga Bakaba, director of Arkane Lyon, and Katsuhiro Harada, director of the Tekken saga, with Honorary Awards for their careers in the video game industry.
Katushiro Harada, responsible for the Teken saga, has come to Bilbao to collect the Honorary Award of the BIG Conference 2023 for his contribution to the history of videogames and to talk with Antonio Santo, director of the event, about his career.
Dinga Bakaba told his point of view as director of the studio behind the games Dishonoured 2 and Deathloop in an interview with Antonio Santo. The speech have been focused on the importance Bakaba gives to the world in which the action takes place and the importance of teamwork. "Thinking about what I enjoyed when I was a child in the games is the possibility of visiting new worlds, meeting new people... the same as in the books but with a higher degree of involvement".
David Erosa and Paco Ureña, from The Game Kitchen studio, explained the challenge of developing the sequel to Blasphemous. In their presentation they talked about how difficult it is to accuratelly manage the public's expectations, something that can easily be the downfall of independent studios. "With Blasphemous 2 we had to change everything to keep it the same. This is the biggest challenge of all."
Irina Moreno, from Chibig Studio has revealed the keys behind the strategy for Mika and the Witch's Mountain's Kickstarter campaign. "Spoiler: no, we don't have a million euros in the bank account" she clarified after revealing the €1,300,368 figure that the campaign managed to raise.
Callum Underwood, co-founder of the startup IndieBI, explained how to analyze and interpret data offered by stores to optimize video game sales. "Appearing in the section of most anticipated titles on digital distribution platforms is essential to be noticed in an increasingly competitive market".
Alejandro Camarero, from Keplerians, told of his experience developing horror games on mobile platforms. "If you make video games you have to find the point between doing something fun and doing something you're good at." The studio has just released the latest chapter of Ice Scream and the PC and console version of Evil Nun.
Okuda San Miguel, the Spanish multidisciplinary artist, has unveiled his new video game project, Rainbow in the Darkness. "Rainbow in the Darkness shares the same values as the rest of my works, we seek to send the message of love, diversity, inclusion and freedom" he said about this project in which Bliss Pictures and Factory of Dreams will be involved.
The latest installment of the Zelda saga, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, has won the award for Best Game of the Year at the Titanium Awards at the BIG Conference 2023. The Titanium Awards gala also handed out awards for Best Game Design, also for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom; Best Narrative Design, for Alan Wake 2; Best Art Direction, for Hi-Fi Rush; and Best Sound Direction, for Hi-Fi Rush. The Titanium Awards also recognized the Best Spanish Independent Game of 2023, which went to The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, by Deconstructeam. In addition, the winners of the BIG Indie Contest were announced. Laika: Aged Through Blood, by Brainwash Gang, won the award for Most Innovative Game, Barraka, by Zomorro Studio, won the award for Best Basque Videogame and Bugs N' Guns, by Blinkshot (u-Tad) won the award for Best University Videogame.
ANNA GUXENS, DESIGNER AT BALDUR'S GATE 3, CLOSES THE BIG CONFERENCE 2023 WITH A MASTER CLASS ON NARRATIVE DESIGN
The event in Bilbao brings together more than 1,200 professionals who have held 873 networking meetings
The Bilbao International Games Conference 2023 has closed its second edition. It has done so with record attendance, with more than 1,200 registered professionals who have held 873 networking meetings. "We are very happy, very grateful and we humbly pick up this year's conference with the feeling that we have taken a very important step forward. The BIG Conference is now established as the most important congress in the Spanish video game industry," said Antonio Santo, co-director of the festival. For Alfonso Gómez, co-director of the Bilbao event, the event "has fulfilled all our expectations as an organization. We have also seen and certified that it is an event that has every reason to be for the sector itself".
Anna Guxens, narrative designer for Baldur's Gate 3, one of the most prominent games of this 2023, spoke about the importance of narrative design, especially in a game where the story, and the player's role in it, plays such an important role. Guxens recalled the importance of having a hook, a development and an end result that live up to the promise made to players.
"You need to create emotions that affect the player: whether it's gaining or losing power or a change in a relationship. The stories must be interesting for the player, not forced, so that they are the ones who decide what they want to focus on," she explained. Guxens reminded that storytelling is not just about the script: "It's also gameplay. You have to give players the tools they need to be creative in their relationship with the story. You have to say yes to the craziest ideas, like creating a column of wooden boxes to get around a wall." The end result, she reminded, must have an impact on the game world. "A good result doesn't have to be positive for the player, it has to be satisfying," she concluded.
Tatiana Delgado has unveiled the secrets of puzzle and narrative design based on her experience developing American Arcadia "We like to hide details that you only understand once you have completed the game; which gives a special magic to the second round."
"The game has been five years in development, it has cost 400,000 euros and half of it has gone to localization" explained the members of Deconstructeam about their latest work, The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, in a talk that has collected all the problems encountered during development but also all the successes.
"We call it The Theater of the Mind, because it's all in our heads" Cissy Jones, voice actress on titles such as Baldur's Gate 3 or Firewatch, related her experience in the industry "I never work with my scene partner, so I have to imagine the person I'm talking to, the situation, the tone. Everything".
The Andalusian Odders Labs have presented their latest release for virtual reality, Les Mills XR Dance, during the BIG Conference 2023. Ana Molina, CEO of the studio, recalled that the opportunity of virtual reality comes right now, in an industry with a great capacity for growth: "VR is a growing industry, but a niche one. Even the manufacturers don't know the specs we'll be handling five years from now."
Rosie Taylor, from Safe in Our World, and David Canela, from Tequila Works, have discussed the importance of mental health in the video game industry. And they did so taking into account the importance of taking care of it both within the studio and in the products that a company launches on the market: "Reflecting a mental health problem in any game means taking it into account in all aspects of development: from the script to the mechanics, including the art".
Selling a game is much easier with a good trailer and a well-defined art style. Gameloft's Elsa Reig reminded us of the importance of 'less is more' when creating a good promotional video: "Sometimes we want to cram too much information in". Mohammed Bakir, artist at Brainwash Gang, reminded that having a very special aesthetic can be both a problem and a blessing: "If your game has a very unique aesthetic, it will be harder for you to find artists. It can be both a strength and a weakness."
