3. Back Flips in the Palm of Your Hand
With the Nintendo 3DS system, the expression of the eyes is richer.
Yes. Before, we illustrated the eyes of the puppies, but this time we actually made eyeballs, so they follow moving objects with their eyes . Last time the eyeballs weren’t modelled - textures (pictures to place over polygons) were placed on their faces, so the eyes didn’t move like real eyes.
Also, when representing eye movement, as dogs move their whole head when watching something but cats follow it only with their eyes, we had to make everything separately for them.
You had to make the dogs and cats different, not just in bone structure and movement, but also in how their eyes follow objects.
Right. There’s something called “cat’s eye.” In bright places, their pupils narrow.
In the dark, they get round.
The pupil changes in light and dark.
Right. And the Nintendo 3DS system has the inner camera, so we wanted to use the camera function to create the feeling of the puppy or kitten watching the person who is playing with them.
In the previous game, when you called your puppy, you touched it with the stylus or called its name, but this time the puppy will come if you just put your face close.
Yes. If you put your face close to the camera, the puppy will act like it’s licking your face.
Yes, it licks your face! (laughs) Do the dogs recognise just a single owner’s face?
No, not just the owner, but they remember the faces of family members and friends, too.
When a whole family owns a dog, sometimes it will, for example, like the father best.
Yes. If you’re the one to buy it in the shop and then you care for it a lot, it will be friendlier toward you. But toward new faces, it might bark or cringe.
When you’re the owner, it’s a good feeling when it likes you more than anyone else! (laughs)
With the previous game as well, since it was able to respond to the owner’s voice, people happily proclaimed, “It only obeys me!” when their dog was extra friendly toward them alone.
This time, the puppies’ response is completely different depending on the person, so you definitely want to show that to people.
Another pleasing feature is how the puppies this time are more obedient to what their owners say.
And this time, you put in a new form of play using the two outer cameras, didn’t you?
Yes. The system is compatible with AR4 Cards. It’s just a little extra, but when you use the camera to view the AR Card with the question mark on it, which comes with the system, your puppy will jump on top of that card. 4AR (augmented reality): A way of playing games with the Nintendo 3DS system by using the system’s camera to place data from an AR Card onto images of objects in the real world.
You can have it sit in your hand !
If you put the card on your shoulder, your dog will get on your shoulder!
Either way is okay! (laughs)
Yes. And it will learn tricks.
It will shake hands in the palm of your hand!
And do back flips there, too. And you can take 3D photos of it with the outer cameras.
You can have it do tricks in something like a diorama and take a picture of it.
I played around by making a little diorama with the development staff, putting in a puppy figurine, placing the card by it, and taking a photo, and also by putting a doggie on a real dog’s forehead and so on. (laughs)
I suppose you could do that with a very calm dog. (laughs)
I can’t wait to see what surprising things the players do when they use that function and take pictures.
Yes. Three-dimensional photos create a really unique space, so I hope everyone will play around with it in creative ways. And you can save those photos and in-game photos of your puppy or kitten on the SD Memory Card included with the system.
Can you take a photograph of any scene in the game?
Yes. You can take photos when you’re walking or shampooing your dog. And, of course, you can take pictures when you’re just playing in your room as usual. You can also exchange cute photos of your favourite puppies and kittens through StreetPass.
You can distribute super cute photos of your pet to people you pass on the street.
Yes. The photos you take with the AR Card are a composite photo including a real photo, so you can’t distribute those, but you can pass out in-game photos that you’re proud of as much you want.
You can brag about your pet. (laughs)
Yeah! (laughs)
I asked about StreetPass in Iwata Asks: Nintendo 3DS and on stage at Nintendo World 2011, but you were really fired up about that.
One theme for me was a StreetPass counter-attack!
You wanted revenge.
Oh, yes.
The StreetPass-like feature in Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies5 became a social phenomenon. It was our platform, and they had made excellent use of a function we put forth, so Nintendo’s people should be generally pleased, but you may be the most frustrated person about it in the world. 5Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies: An RPG released by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS system in July 2009 in Japan.