Lost Kingdom's Atsushi Taniguchi explains how Lost Kingdoms differs from other card-based games
By Michael Lafferty

Princess Katia has a problem. A solid wall of black fog has come upon the kingdom, first swallowing up a forest, then those who ventured forth to investigate it. The next day the swirling mists engulfed the lake, followed by the village. The black fog continued to advance, and rumors spread of an ageless evil reawakened.

The heir to the crown of Alanjeh does have an advantage though. In spite of her slight appearance and lack of weapon training, Katia possesses the power of the cards, able to call forth creatures to battle on her behalf. With the world overrun by a variety of malicious creatures, dear ones disappearing, and the very world in jeopardy, Katia will have to rely on those cards if she hopes to save the lands she knows and loves.

Lost Kingdoms, a GameCube release from Activision Inc. and From Software, is a beautifully designed game that takes combat away from the swift and dexterous game player, and puts it in the hands of the cerebral fighter. Players receive cards at random, and those cards can be used when Katia is confronted by the game’s monsters. There is an involved system for determining which cards are particularly effective against which kind of monsters. And Katia has a limited number of cards – though she can collect more as she progresses through the game – so using them wisely is important.

Perhaps the most outstanding feature of this game is its look. Lost Kingdoms is a beautiful game, featuring lush graphical elements and wonderful animation.

Atsushi Taniguchi, the producer for Lost Kingdoms, talks with GameZone about this innovative title.

Question: Lost Kingdoms has an intriguing concept and some unique characters (how often do you encounter a hero who doesn't actually fight). Is this based on anything other than the developer's imaginations?

Atsushi: “We did not set out by basing it on anything in particular. Instead, we started with the goal of differentiating ourselves from other existing card-based games. For instance, we did start with a main character who does not fight, but in order to emphasize the power and effectiveness of the cards, we felt it would be best if she did not.”

Q: What inspired the card battle aspect of the game?

Atsushi: “There was no particular inspiration. Many existing card games leave you with the impression that they are either ‘too difficult’ or simply that ‘the person with the most powerful cards is the most powerful.’ We wanted to create something new. For instance, we felt that the different methods in which the players use the cards would make up for the differences between strong decks and weak ones. Keeping things like this in mind, we set out to create a completely new kind of game.”

Q: Why was it important that the princess not actually wield a weapon, but use only cards? Couldn't the game have incorporated both?

Atsushi: “If we allowed the main character to use weapons in battle, we felt that most players would rely solely on their own abilities. Should that happen, we felt that players would never fully appreciate the importance and necessity of the cards.”

Q: The game is, graphically, quite lush. How did the rendering process take place? What elements were used to give it this look and what kind of engine enabled you to realize it?

Atsushi: “Because the Nintendo Game Cube has a built-in ‘deflicker’ feature, we decided that from a technical standpoint, this platform offered us the best way of graphically expressing the naturally ‘soft’ quality that we wanted for Lost Kingdoms without having the engine do all the work. We then drew from our extensive design and artistic experience in creating these kinds of 3D fantasy worlds in order to create the high quality environments.”

Q: What advantages did you have, if any, in creating the game for the GameCube platform?
 
Atsushi: “As I mentioned previously, the Game Cube is good for expressing a soft natural look. We would have liked to have made even more effective use of the platform, but given the limited time we had from the release of the final hardware, we had little time to do extensive research. With the experience we gained on this development, we intend to make better use of this technology in the future and try may strive for a more realistic look and feel.”

Q: What particular advantages does platform-game design have over PC games?

Atsushi: “With PC games, you have to deal with gamers who all have different hardware specs. However with consoles, everyone’ s systems are the same. This fact allows us overcome one of the biggest issues faced when developing a game-- fully satisfying all players.”

Q: What was the most challenging part of creating Lost Kingdoms?

Atsushi: “Because the game play was totally new, I could not draw examples from other existing titles. This made the task of ensuring that all members of the development team share a common vision even more difficult and probably posed the greatest challenge that we faced.”

Q: What kind of game player do you think will really enjoy Lost Kingdoms?

Atsushi: “If I had to categorize I would say that there are some very specific groups who would enjoy Lost Kingdoms.
- Gamers who have been interested in card-based games, but have not tried them because they thought that they were to too complex.
- Gamers who are looking for an Action-RPG on their Game Cubes.
- Gamers who feel that most games offer nothing new.”

“However, I feel very comfortable in saying that all sorts of gamers will find the new battle system that we have created for Lost Kingdoms exciting and enjoyable.”

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