14 DAY TRIAL // Hideo Kojima, who is the mind behind the Metal Gear series, delivered a speech at the Game Developers Conference, revealing the way he approached the design of the various Metal Gear titles, highlighting how his philosophy was influenced by the technical limitations of the platform on which he made his games.
Kojima took attendees on a time trip, showing them how the idea of hiding and sneaking around was born and how the first Metal Gear games was created.
The limitation of the hardware platform at the time meant that only a limited number of sprites could be shown by the machine at the same time, so Kojima understood that a game featuring a player character, enemies and bullets on screen at the same time was pretty much undoable. He chose to eliminate some of the complexity and the sprites needed by creating a game in which shooting was not featured prominently.
Kojima pretty much told the audience that he was working on another Metal Gear Solid game, given the title of one chapter of his presentation, named “The Next MGS.”
The veteran designer wants to create a game that is Japanese to the core, shaped by the vision of the designer, while also embracing Western elements, like the reliance on the advancement of software technology and the new freedom allowed by open world games. Kojima even said that he welcomed those who want to challenge his assumptions about game design to come and work for his development company and on the next Metal Gear Solid.
Considering that GDC is aimed at game developers, we might see an official announcement regarding the next title in the long running series at this year’s E3. Look for the Konami booth and for the figure of Solid Snake.