Among the games that Microsoft was showcasing for the Xbox One was something that, once upon a time, was intended for the Xbox 360—Crimson Dragon, the latest game from Yukio Futatsugi, creator of Sega’s beloved Panzer Dragoon series.
Its apparent spiritual successor was to be for the Kinect, yet vanished sometime last year. And all of a sudden it’s back, seemingly the same exact game as before, but on the Xbox One and with added controller support, which many were clamoring for.
So, is it truly the same game, just with a different control scheme, or are there other improvements under the hood? Also, has Crimson Dragon been done for some time now, and is simply waiting for the Xbox One’s release to catch up with it, or is the game still being pieced together?
According to Yutaka Noma, producer of the game, “What you see is still a work in progress. One of the key things we decided to do was enhance the visuals. The [Xbox One] is so powerful that we can express our vision much more with this console.”
“We are also enhancing the dragon breeding system; depending on how you do it, your dragon evolves in different ways. So your dragon might not look like mine. Ours will also have different attributes; your might be faster, but mine stronger.”
As for how long Crimson Dragon has been in development exactly…
“A long time!” Noma shared with Siliconera. “Because of the change of direction, it required a little bit more time. Plus the change in hardware allows us to do more. There has been nothing to fix.”
That last part is in reference to how a more traditional control scheme has been added to the game, which some viewed as a means of fixing a wrong—which is not exactly the case. In fact, the delay has allowed for a game that had been intended all along.
“In the beginning, Microsoft approached Futasugi-san about doing a Kincect game for the Xbox 360, and he came up with a vision to do the ultimate Kinect game, with dragons,” Noma revealed.
“We actually wanted to support both the Kinect and a regular controller in the very beginning, but it takes time and lots of work to support both. Then we got lots and lots and lots of feedback from passionate fans, who all said ‘please support a controller’. Because of the new technology and added time, Futasugi-san went ‘okay, let’s go for it!'”
