More titbits regarding the development of SEGA’s new Sonic game Sonic Frontiers have emerged from a recent interview with the head of Sonic Team and the game’s lead producer, Takashi Iizuka. Mr. Iizuka said that planning and development on Sonic Frontiers kicked off in 2017 which is a point in time when the developers at Sonic Team felt they were “kind of hitting a wall” with the old format of 3D Sonic games, so they embarked on the ambitious Sonic Frontiers which is the first open world or open zone Sonic game with its huge sprawling zones easily dwarfing the 3D stages in the fondly remembered 1999 Dreamc ast game, Sonic Adventures.
However, trouble was brewing during the middle stage of the game’s development as the COVID-19 pandemic hit causing a shake up in how the developers worked as they were tasked with developing Sonic Frontiers remotely. Mr. Iizuka said that “We had a lot of problems in the beginning” as “We’ve never done this before.” He said that the developers eventually adapted to the new normal and that the ease of todays digital communication even “accelerated” a lot of their work and they are continuing working remotely.
“The main thing lost was the ability for all workers, not just bosses, to get a sense of the big picture. “If you’re just on the team, you’re kind of doing your own work. And you don’t get to look over your shoulder at the other group doing the other work, so not everyone on the team shares the whole vision of what the game is.”
Head of Sonic Team, Takashi Iizuka
Thanks to Greatsong1 for sending in the news tip!
