Postmortem: The singular design of Namco's Katamari Damacy (2004)
5 comments
·February 11, 2025scelerat
I liked this quote:
> I worked on the basic concept on my own. I found that if I started to listen to others, the concept tended to become diluted and unfocused. However, once the basic concept was decided, it was helpful to have open discussions with the team. There were many more ideas that were not used in the game, but I still got something out of all the different ideas that were brought up even if I didn't use them as they were presented.
jmcgough
Keita Takahashi is such an odd guy. Really creative and approaches games from a very different perspective than a lot of other creators, but Katamari Damacy was such a flash in the pan for him. His later endeavors have been equally if not more bizarre, without fun gameplay mechanics to back them up.
loa_in_
It bet it is fun to design!
dang
Related. Others?
He created the Katamari games, but they’re rolling on without him - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37374489 - Sept 2023 (67 comments)
Keita Takahashi Created the Katamari Games, but They’re Rolling on Without Him - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36950382 - July 2023 (4 comments)
Katamari Hack (2011) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33381345 - Oct 2022 (37 comments)
Katamari Christmassy (2019) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25783731 - Jan 2021 (1 comment)
Keita Takahashi (creator of Katamari) joins Glitch - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2748128 - July 2011 (2 comments)
Katamari Hack - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2486038 - April 2011 (5 comments)
Turn any page into Katamari Damacy - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2318076 - March 2011 (33 comments)
Life Size Katamari - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=625489 - May 2009 (3 comments)
> Originally, I wanted to eliminate the time limit and let the player simply roll the katamari to make it bigger. But, I couldn't figure out how to make the game fun without a time limit
Better level design (than in the original Katamari Damacy) is the answer. See Carmageddon as an example. Despite having a time limit and technically being in a race against other drivers, you can just go off course and explore the level, picking time bonuses as you do that. It's fun because the levels are full of secret areas and there's always something to explore. The other drivers are just dumb enough to not be a problem, and will also go off course if you do. Or you can play it as a racing game and ignore all that, no problem.