In the first week of its nationwide release, Ryu ga Gotoku 4 broke the 500,000 copy mark.
I can't even begin to sum up the way I felt when I heard this amazing news. I had worked on development teams as a game creator at Sega for more than twenty years, but I hadn't gambled everything I had on any other one of those games. From that first release the series proceeded smoothly, becoming a big hit that was anticipated by hundreds of thousands of people across Japan in 2010. I can hardly express how much this moves me.
After achieving this success, all kinds of people asked me questions. "Did you expect things to go this way?" "Why did you want to make it?" But I can't answer all of them in a short interview. In "Life of a Game-Maker" (MicroMagazine co.) I talked a bit about the kinds of things I took a chance with for Ryu ga Gotoku. In this book I look back on the events that led to the game's creation and the journey along the way, but also dig deeper, with tales not only from me but also the story of the main staff members who fought alongside me, speaking in chronological order.
In particular, people often ask me, "Could you give me some tips on how to make something as successful as this?" However, I don't feel as though there were any specific tricks employed in the creation of Ryu ga Gotoku. From the very first proposal, which was met with great opposition from everyone, the only way we overcame those obstacles was with straightforward perseverance. If, for example, someone working in a creative or business environment were in a hard place with seemingly nowhere to turn, I would hope that reading this book would give them a good kind of confidence. "Tricks" and "ability" are not much of an issue - this does not only apply to those in a creative environment, but any occupation. On the contrary; honest perseverance and communication between people is important, which I reaffirmed. I hope that those reading this book will feel that as well.
Usually, people who play games don't know all that much about the actual game creation process. As many true stories about Ryu ga Gotoku's development as possible have been compiled in this book. What do we game creators generally think about when we are making games? What obstacles does one face when creating a hit game, and how are they overcome? I would like as many people as possible to know even a little of this. I hope that somehow the gamble made by us team members, who have brought so much fun to so many people, will by understood by you.
Toshihiro Nagoshi