14 DAY TRIAL // The creators of Mighty No. 9 and Azure Striker Gunvolt are making games specifically for kids, because that's how they began their journey in the gaming world.
Inti Creates is currently involved with Keiji Inafune's Comcept in the development process of Mighty No. 9, as well as working on the upcoming Azure Striker Gunvolt.
Both of the games have an intended target audience between the ages 10 and 14, which is a tad surprising, but not uncharacteristic of the studio, as most of their past projects are games also aimed at the younger crowd.
Inti Creates CEO Takuya Aizu has recently revealed during an interview with Siliconera that many staff members at the company decided to become game developers themselves after being strongly influenced by the childhood games they played on Nintendo's platforms.
"I believe that the games we played back when we were kids were timeless, and had a distinct fun factor to them that still remains in our memories today," Aizu said, pointing to the company's portfolio of games, most of which are made for Nintendo's handheld devices.
"There are many staff members at Inti Creates who decided to become game developers after having played games on Nintendo’s hardware… actually most of them," Aizu continued.
He stated that many children possess Nintendo's handheld devices, and their goal is to make games that would influence them in the same way that the developers were influenced as children, hopefully creating lifelong fond memories.
Inti Creates is also open to exploring other prospective platforms, evidenced mostly by the upcoming action platformer Mighty No. 9, created as a spiritual successor to the Mega Man series, by the very designer of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune.
"I believe once Mighty No. 9 is released, it will be proof that Inti Creates can indeed develop for any platform out there," Aizu said.
It would certainly be interesting to see how well games that have been traditionally tailored for Nintendo's handheld console fare on other platforms and outside their main target audience in Japan, but Mighty No. 9 has an ace up its sleeve in the form of ample media coverage and a very successful crowdfunding campaign.
Azure Striker Gunvolt, on the other hand, is completely self-funded by Inti Creates, that is going to publish the game themselves, in an effort to establish themselves as a stronger presence in the gaming industry, in line with their plans for the future, which include branching out on Steam, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Mighty No. 9 is expected to launch in April 2015 and is currently in development for the PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii u, Nintendo 3Ds and PlayStation Vita, which pretty much sums up everything with a screen and buttons.
