We were then treated to a movie showing the prototype version of Katamari that was presented to Namco. The demo was actually created by Takahashi and a group of students. Even during the earliest stages of the game, the title screen featured the familiar "Nah-nah" humming of the theme song. Aside from a few changes with the HUD and some minor design changes to the King of All Cosmos (the Prince's father), the prototype looked remarkably similar to the final game. It was amusing to hear Takahashi comment half-to-himself and half-to-the-crowd on his past work as he watched the video. Remarks like, "This doesn't look that great" and "This looks cool" were not uncommon.
Apparently, at one point, Namco felt that the game was too simple and that more features needed to be added. Takahashi proudly declared that he "proactively ignored" this advice. Despite the simple nature of Katamari's gameplay, the creator did explain that the best games aren't always simple. The lamented that he's not yet skilled enough to tackle such complex and abstract topics as youth and love in a videogame, thus the simple nature of his first title.
Kart-Amari Damacy?
After this bit of serious talk, Takahashi revealed that Katamari Damacy was not meant to be the Prince's first game. The diminutive character was originally going to star in an action driving game. Early concept art showed a small boy driving an invisible go-kart (only the tires and steering wheel were visible). The point of the game would have been to drive around the world and destroy buildings by driving over them. Not too far off from Katamari's goal. The Prince rode on the child's back, occasionally jamming a tiny steering wheel into the kid's head, allowing the Prince to take over driving duties. Takahashi expressed relief in Namco's decision to pass on that title (we'd still like to see it, though).
Takahashi even treated us to some pictures of some sculptures that he created in college. Bizarre creations like a goat shaped flower pot that urinated when you watered the plants, an unnecessarily large tissue holder shaped like a hippo, and a full-sized coffee table that you could transform into a robot gave a very telling look into the mind of the man who would go on to create a game where a tiny space prince rolls a ball around the earth picking up everything and everyone in sight.
Yeah, we're kinda showing off here.
Sequel Tease
Sadly, not much info about Katamari Damacy 2 was revealed, although we were shown the sequel's game over screen. On it, the Prince and another character (a cousin, perhaps?) were at the bottom of the screen running back at forth. Looming in the sky above was the King of All Cosmos, who was shooting the two heroes with laser beams from his eyes. The lasers caused the Prince to shrink until he was nothing more than a dot. It was an all too brief glimpse of an eagerly anticipated title.
The session ended with some of Takahashi's thoughts on the game industry. He feels that creativity, not technology plays a large role in the creation of game content and that originality is necessary to create wonderful new games, not better graphics, faster load times, or improved sound. This served as an interesting contrast to Microsoft's "HD Era" keynote address the day before.
Instead of new machines, Takahashi argued, there needs to be a better way to distribute games to people who aren't normally interested in games. He compared the medium to books in that nobody would buy a book that they couldn't pick up in a bookstore and flip through. He suggested that game manuals become more important (and more literary) and that people should be able to freely read them before making a purchase. It certainly is an odd idea, but would you expect anything less from the man responsible for the most innovative game of 2004?
