List of HAL Laboratory Miiverse posts - Kirby: Planet Robobot

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The following is a complete list of all American English Kirby: Planet Robobot Miiverse posts from its Behind the Scenes special community, posted by Satoshi Ishida.

Notably, unlike the other two special Miiverse communities, this one had the least posts, and it mostly consisted of posts of the "Kirby: Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon" and the results of the "Kirby: Planet Robobot Drawing and Screenshot Challenge".

Kirby: Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon - Round 1

An archived version of this post can be found here and here.

Post author, date and time (PST)	Text and/or image	Notes
Satoshi Ishida Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 10:43:00 AM	Kirby: Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon - Round 1 Hi everyone, it took us a while to set up but now it's finally time to kick off the Kirby: Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon! And here to answer your questions is the man himself, Kirby: Planet Robobot's director Shinya Kumazaki!
Shinya Kumazaki Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 10:49:00 AM	Hello! Shinya Kumazaki here. Honestly, I’m amazed at the tremendous number of questions we’ve received from Japan, the Americas and Europe. Naturally I can’t answer them all, but I’m hoping I can give you at least some of the answers you’re looking for. Mr Ishida, please fire away!
Satoshi Ishida Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 10:51:00 AM	All right, let’s get started. Here’s the first question: How did you decide upon ‘Kirby: Planet Robobot’ for the game title?
Shinya Kumazaki Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 10:56:00 AM	Initially, we’d planned to call it “Kirby: HAGANE” (“hagane” is Japanese for “steel”), but as Popstar would be populated by robots, we then leaned towards “Kirby: Robot Planet”. As titles go, this was far too literal and lacked impact, so we changed it again to “Roborobo Planet”. One last tweak and the result was “Planet Robobot”, which is in keeping with the playfulness of the Kirby universe. The name for the “Robobot Armor” also came up around this time.
Satoshi Ishida Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 10:59:00 AM	Interesting! I do think that “HAGANE” would have been perhaps a little too edgy for a Kirby game. Plus, I can see it being quite a difficult title to convey overseas. Now for the next question: What was it that inspired you to create this game, and how long did it take to produce it?
Shinya Kumazaki Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 11:03:00 AM	Since we ended up developing two Kirby games in a row using the same hardware - the first being Kirby: Triple Deluxe - this time, we wanted to do a completely different take on the world. At the same time, we were also hoping to attract a new audience. We thought a mechanized world would do well, since then it would be the polar opposite to the previous game’s warm skies and lush scenery. The concept for the Robobot Armor was then proposed as a means of performing new copy abilities unique to the mechanized world. Regarding the length of development, we worked on Planet Robobot in parallel with other titles such as Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe, and it was completed in under two years.
Satoshi Ishida Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 11:05:00 AM	When you were establishing this mechanized setting for the game world, how did the production team manage to strike a balance between the creative design and fun gameplay?
Shinya Kumazaki Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 11:09:00 AM	At the start, we shared our game design plans with the whole team - these were vital to the game. I began by working out the story and setting in my head, conveyed my ideas to lead team members and then the staff got to work, flexing their creative muscles to generate text, rough sketches and other resources. We worked to mesh the design and gameplay only in the final stages of the development process, and things were all very hectic during this period. We would schedule meetings with the whole team to keep everyone on the same page and fully bring out the team’s potential, and this helped to motivate everyone even more in the finishing stages.
Satoshi Ishida Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 11:11:00 AM	It’s so interesting to hear about the steps that led to the final product! I have to ask, was there a specific part of the creation process that you found especially challenging? And if you had the chance to redesign the whole game, would you want to improve any specific areas of it?
Shinya Kumazaki Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 11:14:00 AM	We were instructed by our producer to avoid any situation that might remind players of Triple Deluxe and I think that although this was a great idea, it was a nightmare to put into practice. We had limited development time and still had to make use of the assets from the previous game. Because we were using Triple Deluxe’s engine, a lot of the gameplay felt similar, so I was constantly fighting to preserve the Kirby series’ distinctive feel and yet produce something fresh and new. There were, of course, many things that I would have liked to refine or improve, but rather than regret not being able to address them, I try to use those shortcomings as motivation to look to the future and help myself do a better job next time. It’s a continuous process that never really ends.
Satoshi Ishida Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 11:15:00 AM	In Planet Robobot, I got the impression that you included references to older Kirby games and tried to evoke the same feel as them. Are you quite fond of the earlier titles? Were there any parts of them that influenced the current title?
Shinya Kumazaki Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 11:20:00 AM	I don’t believe that Kirby would still be around if it weren’t for the older series of games. Meta Knight and the Fountain of Dreams, debuting in Kirby’s Adventure, returned in Kirby Super Star (known as Kirby’s Fun Pak in Europe), and many of Kirby’s friends and foes from Kirby’s Dream Land 2 reprised their roles in Kirby’s Dream Land 3. We’re still continuing this trend of including characters and locations from past games. There’s a huge amount of charm unique to Kirby games and we’ve got 24 years’ worth of it to tap into. By incorporating some of that into Planet Robobot, we hope that newcomers to the Kirby series will be able to enjoy the more retro elements of the gameplay just as much as the newer ones. If that happens to spark their interest in the older titles too, we couldn’t ask for more.
Satoshi Ishida Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 11:21:00 AM	All right, one last question. I’m sure some of our readers are getting fed up with all the game development questions, so let’s move on to a different category! We’ve been receiving questions from all over the world along the lines of “Is Susie Haltmann’s real daughter?” and “Is Susie a clone or a robot?”. Mr Kumazaki, would you mind clearing things up for us once and for all and telling us her identity?
Shinya Kumazaki Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 11:24:00 AM	Allow me to explain: Susie is not a clone; she is Haltmann’s real daughter. I’d had in mind two story paths - one in which you finish the game and the story concludes comfortably even without knowing Susie’s identity, and one that reveals more answers after you sink a lot of time into the game. But in Planet Robobot, the story is designed with just a small twist to surprise you when you find out Susie’s last name. I initially considered making it so that Haltmann, in his loneliness, created a robotic Susie who believed she was alive, but that idea was discarded to avoid overcomplicating the story. At the time, I also considered a scenario with one final twist, where you discover that Haltmann was actually a robot all along.
Satoshi Ishida Tuesday, August 9th, 2016 11:25:00 AM	Wow! There you have it, fans - the definitive answer you’ve been waiting for! We’ve still got plenty of questions lined up for Mr Kumazaki, but I think we’re going to call it a day here. Watch this space for round 2 of the Kirby: Planet Robobot Ask-a-thon!