As published by Famitsu, the publication site has posted up an interview that features Dragon Ball FighterZ producer Tomoko Hiroki and Arc System Works director Junya Motomura. The interview uncovers stages, voice lines and more for the upcoming fighting game.

Thanks to publication site ShonenGamez, a translation regarding Famitsu and its interview with Dragon Ball FighterZ producer Tomoko Hiroki and Arc System Works director Junya Motomura reveals some new things about the upcoming fighting game, which can be read below.

The former publication site picked through the interview and focused on technical aspects of Dragon Ball FighterZ such as the camera work, confirmation of their being 10 plus stages, as well as special dialogue for certain teams that are put together and opponents you battle.

The first translated question that ShonenGamez posted of Famitsu’s interview stands to be how long has the game been in development and what does it mean to the developers?

Hiroki(H): In the past, we have worked with Arc System Works to develop Dragon Ball Z Extreme Butoden. As a 3DS title, we had a specific audience in mind when making Extreme Butoden but it put us in the mood to try a more fleshed out fighting game. When we approached Arc Sys with this idea, they were just as excited about moving forward with it.

The second question translated asks whether if there was a specific character the developers had in the early stages for testing.

Motomura (M): When dealing with Dragon Ball, you have to start with Goku, right? But as it turns out, the more we worked on the project, the more we found that we put a lot of time on getting him right. *Laughs* There is always a lot of pressure when developing on an existing IP. You get stuck trying to get things just right between the graphics and the game feel.

The third question deals with the 2.5D atmosphere with the game and how the team went with 3D characters in a 2D world that really brings the world to life an anime-esque way, which shocked Famitsu.

M: With 3D characters it is actually fairly difficult to have them look good at this angle. In order to improve visual fidelity, we designed the camera to move during certain special moves and really make the game shine. We tried our best to make the game look as good as possible while, again, being as close to the original work as we could manage.

 

H: We have worked on several 3D Dragon Ball games in the past, but lately we have steered away from a strictly anime-aesthetic. With Dragon Ball being such a well-known anime franchise, we wanted to infuse that anime feel into a brand new experience for our players.

The next question surrounds that of not being too flashy but keeping the camera work and characters in focus so that players know what is going on without it becoming jarring. Tomoko Hiroki replied that…

M: Over at Arc Sys, we first start off with drawing it out and work-shopping what we want to produce. If the direction is approved, we move on to animation. When creating the initial concept art, we tried to keep the original work on our minds. If you think about it, the scale of Dragon Ball is quite large at times. We believe that fans share this sense of scale and worked towards incorporating that feeling in our art.

The next question relates to that of how many characters/fighters will have special voice lines in Dragon Ball FighterZ. Thanks to Tomoko Hiroki, we now know:

H: This wasn’t shown at E3, but when switching from one character to another, you may hear special voice lines that are specific to that pair. There are also voice lines that are specific to your opponent as well.

Looking over to stages, the translation pertaining to the interview that Famitsu struck up reveals that there will be 10 plus stages.

H: In terms of stages, we are planning to have over 10. We’ll show off more of them as we continue development.

The last question relates to e-sports and if the development team has considered such route.

H: Of course it is something that we consider. But when you think of how wide spread the appeal of Dragon Ball is we also think of casual fighting game players too. Conversely, fighting games traditionally have a more limited appeal due to the high level of precision on input required. But fighting games are more than just inputs, there is a lot of game knowledge and mind games that add to the difficulty as well. It’s that latter appeal that we want to open up to a broader audience. With simple controls, the barrier of entry is greatly reduced and players can start with a deeper fighting game experience than they may be used to. This does not mean we are ignoring the core, e-sports oriented, audience. We are aiming for a newer type of game that bridges the gap.

 

Through that lens, we have made special inputs easier for new players. However, it is hard to get the feeling of getting better with something like one button specials. We are actively working on this aspect to get it right.

You can expect Dragon Ball FighterZ to release for PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime next year.