Capcom recently published an internal interview with Mega Man 11 producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya. There, they talked about the game. About halfway into the interview, they discussed the team that developed the game. Tsuchiya revealed that “around 40 people” were involved in development for the game, which is “a rather small number compared to recently development teams”.
As for why, Tsuchiya explained that “There are certainly benefits to a larger development team, but with so many people it means that some are unable to affect development across the game as a whole. With around 30 people it feels like you’ve got just enough staff for the project. It’s very clear what aspects of the game each person is in charge of, so they can be completely sure of their goals and keenly feel responsibility towards them. I feel like the development team was the perfect size for a project of this sort”.
I think Eiji Aonuma might disagree with this comment considering how many people were involved with BOTW.
Having said that, look at games like Stardew Valley that was made by one person.
Personally I love mega man 11, I just wish it was a bit longer.
It’s all about the scope of the project.. A game with zeldas scope needs a lot more than a game like mega man. You think botw would have got released by now with a group of 40 people?
okay, thanks Sega!
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Beautiful. It would be interesting to see how they feel about the influences between teams. It seems that when fans make this type of remakes they nail it, and when corporative devs try they usually mess it up. As a long-term fan, I feel they nailed it in many ways. In that sense, I’d like to know if they feel the true vision of Megaman essential design came through thanks to the size and autonomy of the team.
Wasn’t Xenoblade Chronicles 2 made by around 40 people as well?
I don’t know, but I find it difficult to believe considering its size.
Checked. 40 people over 2 years. Big maps doesn’t necessarily equal extremely more work. Their engine is more than capable of make good-looking autogenerated scenery, and making a big map isn’t that much harder than making a small one. It’s what they fill it with that takes time, and that’s what impressive. That story, those graphic and all those quests – with only 40 people. Poor guys, probably a lot of overtime.
Still mighty impressive for such a relatively small team. I don’t think even good auto-generated environment will ever be enough to not still require a huge amount of work from artists.
40 people isn’t even thaaat small. I’d estimate that a project like this could theoretically be done with around 10 to 15 people, although it would probably take a good while longer. I assume that the majority of people in the team only created assets, mostly art, considering how polished and varried the levels look.