Dragon Quest Builders, developed by Square Enix and first launched in 2016, is a spin-off of the favored Dragon Quest sequence of RPGs. Originally launched in Japan in January 2016, the sport was launched in different markets later that yr, earlier than being ported to the Switch in 2018.

Earlier this yr, the sport was ported to cell gadgets worldwide. We spoke to the producer of the cell model, Yuki Furukawa, relating to the discharge.

PocketGamer.Biz: Where did the preliminary thought for porting Dragon Quest Builders to cell originate?

Yuki Furukawa: We’ve mentioned the potential for a cell model for DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS up to now. However, the specs for the cell gadgets on the time didn’t fulfil the mandatory necessities to ship clean gameplay and the perfect gaming expertise for gamers. However, the emergence of high-performance cell gadgets in recent times introduced a possibility for us to develop it for DRAGON QUEST followers.

The largest replace from the console variations is the inclusion of actually well-designed touchscreen controls. Can you talk about the prototyping of the touchscreen controls, and at what level the adjustments to constructing took form?

Thank you very a lot for appreciating the sport’s controllability! The most difficult impediment in growing this title was enhancing the consolation of the touchscreen controls.

During the early levels of growth, we created a prototype with specs that had little to no adjustments from the unique sport. However, we instantly found that the prototype contained many points and it was not simply playable.

Game controllers are higher suited to intricate controls, and with touchscreens, your finger will partially obscure the display screen. On prime of that, cell system screens are very small in comparison with sport displays. Because of this, we skilled points the place the ensuing controls weren’t according to what the participant had meant.

And for that purpose, we rebuilt our prototype many occasions and began to discover new options which might be distinctive to the cell model of DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS, such because the UNDO characteristic that enables gamers to revert again to their earlier state, and the distant placement characteristic that enables gamers to immediately place blocks on distant places.

How blissful are you with the launch of the sport on cell up to now? Are you taking a look at porting Dragon Quest Builders 2?

I’ve been studying our clients’ opinions and I’m really grateful that the sport has gathered many excessive rankings. However, we did obtain some suggestions relating to cell gadgets heating up and consuming a number of energy, so we’ve got applied a brand new replace the place gamers can cut back their heating and energy consumption via their participant settings. I have to admit that on reflection, it could have been even higher if we have been capable of implement this characteristic earlier than the sport’s launch; however with that stated I consider that we didn’t face any main points total and it was launch.

While the subsequent undertaking that the event crew will participate in continues to be undecided, we stay up for using the teachings we realized in creating DRAGON QUEST for future sport developments.

Have there been extra levels in growing a sport with an already established IP?

There have been no extra levels in growth. The options created by the event crew went via trial and error, and steadily got here to fruition after having Producers Noriyoshi Fujimoto, Takuma Shiraishi and Yuji Horii, who all helped develop the unique sport, play-test and supply a lot of recommendation.

What are you able to inform us about your future cell initiatives?

We can’t reveal a lot at the moment, however the DRAGON QUEST franchise will increase even additional sooner or later. We’re honored to have just lately celebrated the franchise’s thirty sixth anniversary and we’re excited to carry extra DRAGON QUEST video games to Western followers.
Fans can keep assured that developments are underway with expansions on cell and extra supported languages being a part of the plan.

Last yr, Square Enix made our listing of the prime 50 cell sport makers. Keep your eye out to see if it makes the listing once more after we launch our 2022 listing later this month.