KEITA TAKAHASHI
Vince Pavey asks esoteric game designer (and creator of Katamari and Wattam) Keita Takahashi some questions about his new game to a T, as well as about his broader thoughts on indie game development
All of your games are incredibly unique, and to a T is no exception. How does your idea generation process typically go? It’s nothing special. I just think, and something will come up. The ideas will come from daily life, but not from games.
So was Teen’s posture always a T right from the beginning, or did you experiment with other shapes? It was a T shape from the beginning.
It seems like the game explores themes of self-discovery and fitting in. How do you approach blending those emotional themes with somewhat silly (fun!) gameplay mechanics in a way that will resonate? Our life is made out of a bunch of silliness and emotions. I just put them into a game.
You’re known for creating unconventional works of art. What drives you to push the boundaries of game design like you often do? I have never tried to push the boundaries of game design, actually. I just make games that I want to play. Maybe I have been trying to push the boundaries by accident, because I don’t play other games, and I don’t know about video games at all. It’s a great amateur spirit.
As I’ve alluded to a bit, you often go for quite unorthodox game mechanics. How do you make them feel so accessible to new players? Oh, sorry. I think I have never thought about new players, or old players, or medium players.
to a T uses an episodic structure for its narrative, much like Katamari and Wattam. What would you say are still the hardest challenges of creating episodic experiences, (even with so many finished games under your belt) and how do you prepare for them? I’m shocked by this question, and I can’t answer it, because I thought “to a T” was the first episodic game I made. I totally forgot how I designed Wattam, but I believe Katamari is not an episodic game?
Wattam is divided up into distinct seasons — and Katamari … I mean, it’s level-based.Anyway, as you can’t answer … What role does the character customization play in to a T? Does it influence the story, gameplay or Teen’s development in any way?
48 | MCV/DEVELOP April/May 2025 Nope. It has no deep gameplay integration. Just appearance.
Were there any challenges when it came to adding character customization to a game that you hadn’t expected? If so, how did you overcome them? It was the skirt. The player was able to see Teen’s underwear when Teen sat on a chair if Teen wore a skirt. It felt awkward, even though the 3D model design is gender neutral.
You can freely explore the town in to a T. How do you balance telling a story with free exploration without one overshadowing the other? Unless you have a save data that starts in the middle of an episode, the game always starts at Teen’s house. Teen must then go to a starting location where they can start the next episode. Because there are limitations to what the player can do in each episode’s game, we wanted to give the player some freedom while going to the starting location.
How do you feel the indie game development landscape has changed since your earlier works? Have those changes influenced your design process for to a T and other projects? … Indie game development landscape? This question is too difficult for me, sorry.
Do you have any advice for someone that would want to follow in your footsteps and be an indie developer? Don’t follow me, find your own way.
Lastly, what do you hope that players will take away from to a T? What do I hope …? I’m just happy that they are playing the game.
Great.
Looking forward to playing it!
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