Gust has shared more behind-the-scenes information about the new body shape change feature in Atelier Karia: The Night Kingdom & the Guide of Memories, and revealed that it almost didn’t make it into the game.
This is an optional feature in which Karia’s body shape changes based on how much she eats while snacking. There’s also an option to lock the character at a preferred body shape even if it’s enabled.
Junzo Hosoi, producer and head of Gust, spoke more about the body shape change feature in Atelier Karia and how it came to be in an interview with Nintendo Everything. Gust decided to host a survey to see what fans thought of the idea, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Before that, though, there was debate internally as to whether or not it should be included. Koei Tecmo and Gust decided to let the fans “have the final say.”
Hosoi told us:
“The idea for that survey came from the fact that ‘eating’ is one of the central concepts of this game. I found myself thinking, ‘If you eat, wouldn’t it be natural for your body shape to change as well?’ I also understood that everyone has their own views when it comes to body types. We considered implementing this feature because we thought it might make the protagonist feel more lively and believable as a character. However, there were various opinions within the company outside the development team, and we began to wonder whether it might be better not to include it after all. Ultimately, we decided to let the people who would actually be playing the game have the final say, which is why we included that question in the survey.
The overwhelmingly positive response gave the entire development team the confidence to move forward with implementing the feature. It also helped us better understand what players wanted, which led us to introduce options such as the ability to turn body shape changes on or off.
Personally, even if the response had been unsupportive, I would still have felt that conducting the survey was worthwhile. I’d love to continue holding surveys like this in the future.”
Atelier Karia: The Night Kingdom & the Guide of Memories launches for Nintendo Switch 2 on February 5, 2027.
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Story via Nintendo Everything. Read the original article
