KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory: laying down a track
Masanobu Suzui, Co-Director of KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory, takes you Hand in Hand through the creation of one of the stages in the game.Hello everyone! This is Masanobu Suzui, Co-Director of KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory.
In my last article, I revealed how we approached this amazing project and the steps we took to make Melody of Memory a heartfelt celebration of the KINGDOM HEARTS series. Today I want to dig a little deeper, and take you through the production of a single track: “Hand in Hand” from the original KINGDOM HEARTS.
This battle theme is one of the most popular in the series - here’s how it appears in Melody of Memory:
So how did we take the original song and turn it into exciting gameplay? Read on and I’ll explain:
Step one - Choose the track
The first big decision we had to make when starting KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory is which tracks would be in the game. Songs were chosen for a variety of reasons - perhaps their beats and tempo make them a natural fit for a rhythm game, maybe they’re popular with fans, accompanied memorable moments, or even simply elicited an emotional reaction from those of us working on the game.
“Hand in Hand” from the original KINGDOM HEARTS fulfils all those criteria, making it an obvious choice for inclusion. In fact, it was one of the first tracks we worked on - and the first to be completed.
Step 2 - Cut the song
After deciding that “Hand in Hand” would be in the game, we identified the section of the track that would be the easiest to play as a rhythm game, and also included the key phrases of the song. From there, we made a cut - essentially we brought out the specific part we wanted to use in the game.
Step 3 - Plan the stage
Once we defined which section of “Hand in Hand” would make it into the game, we created a document with instructions for how to create the course.
This document didn’t just cover the track itself, it also included details on how to make the background of the stage match the flow of the original adventure. For example, we had to define which symbolic elements from Traverse Town we had place onto the course, and at what point in the song we wanted them to appear.
When you play the track, you may notice many famous landmarks from the world, including the main square with the item shop and Cid’s shop, the hotel area and more.
Step 4 - Choose the enemies
At much the same stage, we also built an outline of which enemies would appear in the stage.
We had several goals when it came to the Heartless, Unversed and Nobodies that Sora and his allies would face on Field Battle stages. Firstly, Melody of Memory is intended to be a celebration of the KINGDOM HEARTS series, so we wanted to bring out the individuality and character of each enemy from the original games.
It was also important to make sure that the actions by Sora and other party characters when attacking enemies would have enough variation not to become overly repetitive.
In addition, we wanted to make it easy for the player to be able to read the enemy movements and aimed for a structure with several predictable movement patterns, rather than a different pattern for every single enemy.
We listed all the enemies from the original KINGDOM HEARTS games and put them into broad categories, based on criteria like whether they walk or fly, if they’re sedate or active, and whether they had a lot of HP and were difficult to defeat.
We knew that the enemy types would differ for each world so when we were designing “Hand in Hand”, we had to ensure that all movement types were accounted for when making the final selection of enemies to include.
Step 5 - Build the sequence
Once all this information has been brought together, we began building the track. The member of the team tasked with creating the note sequence listened to “Hand in Hand” multiple times and devised an overarching concept for stage - normal at the beginning, followed by some difficulty spikes around the middle and end of the track.
They then created separate note sequences for the three difficulty levels with a specialised tool that displays provisional models.
The most important points to consider when creating the note sequence were not only whether it was fun to play, but also whether or not the enemy selection correctly reflected the KINGDOM HEARTS universe, and whether the input from the player matched the emotional climaxes of the track.
It was very valuable for us to have big KINGDOM HEARTS fans among the development staff who would pore over these points from their perspective.
Speaking of which…
Step 6 - Gather feedback and revise
Once any track was completed to a certain level, the person working on it filled out a sheet that was circulated internally and gathered the team’s feedback. This included opinions on overall direction, such as how the track, the world, and enemy choice linked together and whether it felt true to KINGDOM HEARTS.
People also wrote specific requests: for example, this particular note sequence at this particular time should be changed, this particular moment needs a different action - things like that. After using this feedback to make further adjustments, the track reached its first completed form.
As I mentioned, “Hand in Hand” was actually the first track we completed with this process. At this early stage in development, we weren’t using the most up-to-date sound effects, nor were the motions for Sora and the other characters fully adjusted. But we could still see for ourselves how fun it was to play along with the song.
It was exhilarating to picture the final game and we could imagine lots of people enjoying it, once it had been polished! This helped us more confident that the game - and the track - was progressing properly.
Step 7 - Test, test and test again
Towards the end of the development of the game, once the note sequences for tracks had been determined to a sufficient standard, we played them all across all the difficulty levels. Naturally, that included “Hand in Hand.”
These tests let us make repeated improvements and additions, such as evening out any discrepancies in quality due to the early stage in development that the track was made, and adjusting it to be in line with the most recent guidelines for note sequences. We also improved visibility and refined enemy movements - this had a big impact on the difficulty level and how noticeable the prompts were.
Finally, a few leaders looked over everything again to ensure consistency, and the development version was fully complete. There may have been a few adjustments later due to feedback from Quality Assurance (QA) and external testers, but the bulk of the work was complete.
I hope you found that interesting. As you can see, even a single track in KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory was a big undertaking. Each one is hand-crafted to provide an enjoyable rhythm-action experience, and it’s gratifying to see so many players enjoying it now that it’s released.
You can play through “Hand in Hand” in the full game - out now for PS4, Xbox One and Switch:
Alternatively, there’s a free demo available on all systems… and “Hand in Hand” is one of the tracks included. So if you’d like to see the result of all our hard work, please try it out:
Thanks to everyone who’s played the game and shared their feedback. I hope you continue to enjoy KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory!