Patrick: This might be a question for everyone. Skip makes unusual games. Skip published Archime-DS, which is a small, low-budget game. Also, recently, there were the bit Generations games, which, again, were small, simple...

[Fumihiro emits a noise]

Patrick: Hang on, Fumihiro has something to say.

Fumihiro: Ah, it’s... difficult to say that about the bit Generations games.

Patrick: Oh, really? You programmed all of them, right?

Fumihiro: I didn’t program all of the bit Generations games. I only made Coloris and Orbital.

Patrick: Coloris is very popular.

Fumihiro: Yes. Coloris’ music was made by Keigo Oyamada – he’s called Cornelius, a major Japanese musician. Ah... what was your question?

[laughter]

Patrick: I was saying that the bit Generations games are very simple, and you said, “Ho-ho! One moment!” So... you don’t think they were so... I mean, they’re simple games...

Fumihiro: Yes.

Patrick: ...But they were difficult to make?

Fumihiro: No. The bit Generations games were made easily, but thinking of the concepts was not so easy.

Patrick: The concepts are... complicated, right? They’re simple to play, but... beautiful.

Kenichi: The concepts are very complicated and very deep, but they’re easy to play. I think they’re... elegant. It’s an elegant project. Elegant.

Patrick: Elegant! That’s a word I love. I like elegant games. I remember playing the bit Generations games, and some of them were fun, but some of them... I didn’t find so fun, but they were very interesting. I still enjoyed them.

Fumihiro: Thank you.

Patrick: The concepts for bit Generations... I know you were a programmer...

Fumihiro: Yes, I am a programmer.

Patrick: But who was responsible for the ideas?

Miki: It depends on the game. There were three designers. But the concept...

Fumihiro: The bit Generations concept was thought up by a Skip staff member. He is working downstairs, now.

Patrick: What’s his name?

Fumihiro: Keita Eto.

Kenichi: He is my old friend. He and I used to belong to Squaresoft.

Patrick: You worked on Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG. So, he’s from Square as well.

Kenichi: He worked on Final Fantasy Five or Six...? Six.

Patrick: What did he do?

Kenichi: I don’t know. But he is a planner. He made... event source code.

Patrick: Oh, okay... the event tree...

Kenichi: Yes, yes – flag on, flag down...

Patrick: What was I talking about?

[laughter]

Patrick: Oh yes. I said the bit Generations games were simple. I mean, they had a short development time...

[Fumihiro does his noise again]

Patrick: I mean, short programming time. But did the ideas take longer?

Fumihiro: Yes. We had a short programming time, but we spent a long time thinking of the concepts.

Patrick: Yeah? How long?

Fumihiro: I don’t know.

[laughter]

Fumihiro: About one year.

Patrick: Really? Wow. So did Nintendo ask for the bit Generations games, or did you make them and then say, “Hey, Nintendo...”

Fumihiro: Ahhh... we can’t answer.

Miki: bit Generations belongs to Nintendo, so, it’s so hard to answer questions like that.

Patrick: Oh, sure. No problem. Miki, I did want to ask about Skip. You’ve been publishing some smaller games: Archime-DS...

Miki: We only published Archime-DS.

Patrick: Oh, yes, Nintendo published bit Generations.

Kenichi: bit Generations, Giftpia, Chibi-Robo – published by Nintendo. Copyrighted by Nintendo. All rights belong to Nintendo.

Patrick: Oh, yeah? No royalties? Oh, no, I shouldn’t...

[laughter]

Patrick: I’m sorry, I forget the camera’s there.

Kenichi: No problem.

Patrick: So, you haven’t published, but you’ve developed these smaller games, more recently. Is this something Skip is very interested in – making these smaller games?

Miki: Depends on the project; depends on the teams.

Patrick: You have three teams at Skip, right?

Miki: Yes. But I don’t know the answer to your question, because I do accounting and management. I haven’t asked the teams.

Patrick: So you’re the accounts manager?

Miki: I’m the chief manager. There are two more managers – one for each office. And I’m also in charge of Skip’s money. So, I know about Skip as a company, but I don’t know about the projects.

Patrick: Okay. Maybe I should be talking to Kanaya. What division do you work in? What section?

Fumihiro: Ummmmm...

Miki: This section.

Kenichi: This section.

Fumihiro: ...mmmmm, this section, yeah.

Patrick: What does this section do? They did bit Generations...

Kenichi: This is the bit Generations division. Another office at Ebisu...

Miki: We call this office First Division. Another office at Ebisu, we call Nishi Division, because Nishi was there. And another office, we call Hiro-o Division, because it’s in Hiro-o. So this office is ‘one’ [1], Ni-shi is ‘two four’ [24], and Hiro-o is ‘one six zero’ [160].

Patrick: So they’re all puns. What do you say... ‘oyaji gyagu’?

[laughter; it’s a disparaging term, literally ‘old man’s gag’]

Miki: Yes, yes, yes.

Fumihiro: It’s oyaji gyagu.

Miki: So, at any time, each division is making one game. Here, they make bit Generations, Nishi Division made Giftpia and Chibi-Robo, and Hiro-o made Chibi-Robo DS.

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