Japanese game director Masahiro Sakurai (the mastermind behind series such as Kirby and Super Smash Bros.) posted daily screenshots for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on his Twitter account. It was a project that he continued for almost three years, until he finally ran out of ideas for photos and announced that he was quitting. It was a sad day, but there was light at the end of the tunnel, as he also announced that he was starting a new project, and it wouldn’t be long before we would see what it was. That project turned out to be his new YouTube channel, titled Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games, and Man is it great!
On the channel, Sakurai talks about the elements of game design and gives tips and pointers on each one. He plans to give those interested in video game making a head start while making his dives into the concepts simple and easy to understand for the public, including those not interested in video game making. In short, everyone can watch their videos and learn fun things.
He talks about some of the other games he directed, such as the first games in the Kirby series, and his philosophy behind designing them the way he did. He also provides design documents and builds used in the development of some of his games, including Smash Bros. His overall goal is, in his own words, to “make games more fun!”
Judging by the traction the canal has garnered, it’s doing great so far. It’s only been a little over a month since the channel was founded and it already has over two million views and 430,000 subscribers to its English channel; he also has a Japanese channel with similar numbers. The fact that he has no intention of taking advantage of these videos at all (in fact, he explicitly states that this project will probably cost him a lot of money the longer it goes on) is even more of a reason to love and enjoy the content he has. appreciate. willing to offer.
Some of his clues may seem simple and obvious at first, but when he starts to dig into them a bit, it quickly becomes apparent how complex they are and how helpful it would be to understand them on a deeper level. One of his recent videos entitled Draw the Light, Not the Asset focuses on gaming graphics. When drawing an asset for a video game, he recommends drawing the light reflecting an object rather than the object itself. He then gives an example of several trees copied and pasted over a landscape, turning it from a dull image into something truly beautiful with just a few exposures.
His tips and pointers can also be compared to other games, both for better and for worse. To use the example above, take a look at Pokémon. Their recent games have been heavily criticized for the muddyness of their graphics. This was especially true for Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield’s Wild Area, when fans were able to view the flora during a Treehouse Live presentation ahead of its release in 2019. If they had drawn the light bouncing off the trees rather than the trees alone. they would have looked much nicer and more organic. The same can be said about other parts of the Wild Area, such as the grasses and bodies of water.
Comparisons to other games can also be taken from one of his first videos, entitled Stop at Big Moments! In this video, Sakurai explains how pausing the action at major events in a game, such as a fatal hit landing, can help sell the impact or emotion it needs.
He also shows how using slow-motion or screen-shaking effects can add to that. You can probably think of many games that took advantage of this skillfully. The first example that comes to mind is the Kingdom Hearts series; l always felt something after losing my life or winning a big boss fight, thanks to the iconic slow motion effects and sounds that accompanied the last big hit.
He does a great job of digging just deep enough to not only show the complexities of these concepts at a basic level, but encourage his viewers interested in game design to dig deeper for themselves. These are all great things for people who play or are interested in games, but other videos of his cover things that can apply to things in life other than video games.
Going back to the asset creation video, the tip of drawing the light reflecting an object instead of the asset can be applied to any art form outside of games. If you’re an aspiring artist, you might find a lot of value in his graphics-focused videos. Using the tip about pausing the action at key moments can benefit you if you’re interested in making movies, short films, and even books. Furthermore, it is simply wonderful to listen to Sakurai. His soft inflection and way of handling words feels like an anecdote about a chaotic world.
In all seriousness, Sakurai has a lot of valuable insight to offer as an accomplished game developer. He’s too humble to say it himself, so I’ll say it for him: like his videos and subscribe to his channel.
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