Source: Kamaitachi no Yoru Official Fanbook (PS), page 22-27
Kamaitachi no Yoru: Making of Kamaitachi no Yoru (Special Edition)
Kamaitachi's cream of the crop reassemble four years on! With new faces added to the team, the game has been given a fresh coat of paint as the first instalment in the Sound Novel Evolution series. Let's ask them all sorts of questions, from stories of their struggles to new experiments!
The biggest trick in Kamaitachi's arsenal: the basement miniature!
On the right is the full diorama of the basement. It's about 1.1m long, 1.2m tall and 1m wide. From the photos alone, you'd never think it was a model.
This image was made from a combination of photos taken of the diorama. When it's done, it looks just like the photos of the actual pension! Even the wine bottles look real.
The entrance to the basement is on the right side of the diorama. If you peek through the door, you can see a wooden staircase leading to the bottom. It even has a little bannister.
Here's a comparison between the diorama and a human hand. Does this give you a better idea of the scale of the model? The cardboard boxes on top of the shelves contain wire, things wrapped in newspaper and bits of wood.
Here are some more props...
Several props used in Kamaitachi. There's some paint and spoiled ketchup to create the fake blood. Notice the bald cap in the front row!
Costumes for the dead bodies. That's Kayama on the right, and Kobayashi on the left. The fake blood was made from a mixture of paint and ketchup.
Director/supervisor
Kazuya Asano (35)
Joined Chunsoft 12 years ago.
Director of the SFC version of Kamaitachi no Yoru. Currently in charge of overall supervision on Sound Novel Evolution.
These days, he apparently spends his days drenched in sweat at the gym...
We'd decided from the start that Kamaitachi no Yoru was going to be a honkaku mystery game. The scenario Mr. Abiko wrote exceeded all expectations when he was done, and I was really pleased. I felt like his writing would work well with live action, so we decided to use real photographs and, at his suggestion, use silhouettes to represent the characters.
Since I'm handling overall supervision for the Sound Novel Evolution games, most of my work involved looking over finished portions of the game and giving advice. While I did make some requests of the team, my foremost concern was making sure that we preserved the atmosphere of the original game. We spent a lot of time discussing whether or not we should add the flowchart, the biggest change of all. In the end, it was kind of like, "Let's put it in, even if we are selling our souls to the devil!" (laughs). Thanks to that, I think it's quite a bit easier to play than before.
Favourite scene: "The snowy forest that shows during bad endings that looks like a scene from someone's mind's eye. I like how hopeless it feels."
Executive producer
Koichi Nakamura (34)
Chunsoft's president. Founded the company in 1984.
Established a new genre called "sound novels" with Otogiriso in 1992. Kamaitachi no Yoru is the second instalment, with Machi being the third. All three games will be rereleased together for the PlayStation.
Since the game took about two-and-a-half years to make once Mr. Abiko began writing the scenario, I'm quite attached to it, especially because I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I guess you could say that it's somewhat tricky, maybe, but back when the game first came out, I didn't see that as too big of a problem, since it got people talking.
Later on, though, I found out that not all that many people actually fully solved the case, meaning that a lot of people hadn't even got half their money's worth. In fact, there are even some people who borrowed a copy, played a little bit, got killed by Mari and ended it there, who were left thinking that she was the killer (laughs). As one of the people responsible for putting it out into the world, that obviously made me sad, so we decided to try adding a flowchart mechanic to the game to hopefully make it easier even for people who weren't able to solve the case previously.
I think the highlight of this release is probably the new scenarios, but... The audio and graphical quality has been improved over the SFC version, too, without compromising the game's atmosphere or feel. I think we did a good job remaking it.
Favourite scene: The hand in the opening movie. "That's actually my hand!"
Producer
Fukashi Omorita (41)
Fifth year with the company.
Whenever I have free time, I spend it all drinking. I don't really care what kind of alcohol it is - I'll drink anything.
I've pretty much been involved with sound novels from the very beginning. On Otogiriso, though, I was only brought on towards the end to make stuff like flames. I was still a freelancer back in those days. Work on Kamaitachi no Yoru was reaching its climax right as I joined the company, and I worked as a sub programmer, making things like falling snow.
This time around, I'm working as a producer, handling things like the overall setting.
Going back to Kamaitachi for the first time in a while, it was just as good as I remembered. When it comes to video games, something from four years ago feels pretty old, but I didn't feel that at all in this case. I think this update for the PlayStation has come together really nicely, too.
Favourite scene: The bad ending where you get killed by Mari. I like how grim and depressing it is.
Composition
Shinya Ochiai (29)
Seventh year with the company.
I'd only ever used PCs at work in the past, but recently I bought one to use at home.
I was one of the people in charge of the graphics back on the first Kamaitachi, and I made stuff like the set for the dead body, the charm and so on. I was actually the one who played Kayama's dead body, too. Since he's supposed to be bald, I had to put on a bald cap and dress myself up to look like a corpse... That's not something I'll ever be showing to anyone I know (laughs).
I'm in charge of the overall composition of what's shown on screen in the PlayStation version of the game, like the new menus and flowchart.
While the visuals and audio are of a higher quality than before, this does mean it takes a little time to read data from the CD, which also affects the cadence at which the player proceeds through the text. Making adjustments to any related theatrical effects and accounting for the fact that it doesn't use an autosave system anymore was a struggle.
Favourite scene: I wanted people to think, "Ooh, this is different..." right from the start of the game.
Chief programmer
Naoto Niida (27)
Works at Astroll.
Recently, I've definitely been totally devoted to parenting. I want to get home as soon as possible so I can play with my kid.
I've made games for a bunch of different platforms before now, but this was my first time working on both a Chunsoft game and a sound novel.
The toughest part was programming the audio. It's so complex. Doing things like having two or three music tracks or sound effects going at once, and then adding another one on top of that... It's so tricky to adjust. There was one occasion where it took a whole month just for that alone.
I do find it enjoyable overall, though. It always starts feeling fun right as it's heading towards completion. That makes me want to polish it even more thoroughly. I end up thinking, "If only I had one more week..." (laughs).
Favourite scene: I think the scene where Toshio gets angry is the biggest climax of the story, where it all comes to a head.
Programmer
Jun Terabayashi (25)
Works at Astroll.
First year with the company.
In terms of video games, I like orthodox action games.
I was primarily involved with programming things related to the audio - basically planning things out, like, this is where the track comes in, this is where it should stop.
The only other sound novel I'd played before was Otogiriso. I'd never played Kamaitachi no Yoru.
Which part of the job did I find challenging? ...All of it. It's a really polished, thoroughly-made game, so in particular, things like the switches from scene to scene are very carefully and precisely handled. Trying to match up to such strict requirements was a really difficult task. At the same time, though, it also served as a fantastic learning experience that taught me so much. I experienced first-hand just what a different level hit games are on.
Favourite scene: Mikimoto is pretty cool in the Demon Chapter.
Sound
Kota Kato (24)
Seventh year with the company.
I put on 10kg while working on Machi, and lost 7kg during Kamaitachi. I'm not in a band anymore. (Mystery)
This is Kato, the guy who wrote Kayama's song (laughs). Back on the original Kamaitachi, I made sounds like sucking on the back of my hand to make a squelching noise... Though, I've been doing the same thing this time around, too. I had Mr. Tenpei Sato deal with putting the music on the PlayStation for me, while, instead of working as a three-man team like last time, I handled the sound effects all by myself, so it was quite tough going. There were loads of things I wanted to take this chance to try out doing, but I had such a big pile of work on my shoulders that it was really difficult.
Oh, but I did hear that people thought that the karaoke for Kayama's song was in too high of a key, so I've lowered it. You should be able to sing along now.
Favourite scene: This track required so many retakes that I'll never forget it.
Graphics
Shinji Sasaki (28)
Eighth year with the company.
My hobby is playing with my cats. I have two, called Taro and Hime, that I found as strays near the office.
I was involved with working on the graphics on the SFC version of Kamaitachi, too, and this time around I was more or less in charge of the main graphics. Since this was Chunsoft's first time making a game for the PlayStation, that meant that everything was new to us and we lacked any expertise; at first, we didn't even know what our limitations were, so the whole thing was a series of trial and error.
Some people said they were happy with the atmosphere being preserved, but from my personal standpoint, I can't help but wish we'd made the graphics higher quality. I'm a tiny bit disappointed with that aspect.
Also, going back to Kamaitachi no Yoru for the first time in a while made me think, "Were there really this many silhouettes?" all over again (laughs).
Favourite scene: The lady spy hiding in the bathtub. I like how cute it is.