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Image credit: Konami
A lot of fans are eagerly waiting for Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater, a remake of the 2004 game, and it might trigger some fond memories, especially among the developers.
If you ask anyone who the creator of the series is, most people will say Hideo Kojima, and for good reason. But how was it to develop something so popular? Kojima recently went to Twitter to share some of his memories of working on the first game in the series – the 1998 Metal Gear Solid 1 – to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
He called it his "major turning point" as it was the first major PlayStation game to be released worldwide and a big change in production.
"Although I had previously planned, written, designed, and directed the game, my superiors had been responsible for production. I had no authority to make decisions on platforms, budgets, release dates, promotions, hiring of staff, participation of outside creators, and so on. When is it effective to sell? How much would be enough to turn a profit? How would we sell? We were not even told how to sell the product. If you have a black box, you can't move flexibly."
MGS1 was the first game Kojima produced on his own. He even asked Konami to stop working at night to reduce electricity bills, contributing to the production changes. "I also launched a drama series in parallel in order to turn a profit as soon as possible, and ported Bemani in order to stabilize the profit for the fiscal year."
This was a significant move since, as Kojima recalls, for Snatcher, a cyberpunk graphic adventure game released in 1988, the team was not allowed to choose developers or platforms to create games for, and it could not collaborate with outside creators.
The years of not being able to make business decisions and the frustration from it helped him work on MGS1.
Now it's all behind him, of course, but this one game made Kojima who he is now and allowed him to develop other fantastic titles.
Meanwhile, we have Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater to look forward to, although without Kojima's input as he left Konami in 2015. Still, it will feature the original cast and familiar voice lines. And if you'd like to replay MGS1, the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Collection Volume 1 will give you this opportunity.
Learn more about game production from Kojima's Twitter and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.
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