dark souls interview(both english and japanese included)

This interview is written in the book (Dark Souls: Design Works) published by (Famitsu).

Otsuka: Firstly I would like to ask Mr. Miyazaki a little about the general design process.

Miyazaki: We pursued two main avenues when designing Dark Souls: in the initial concept stages I gave each of the artists a few simple "image words" to use as a starting point and then they were free to develop these in whatever way they wished. We then took the images we liked, adjusted them where necessary and used them to begin shaping the world. For example the Gaping Dragon, Egg Carrier and Gravelord Nito all emerged during this stage and made it almost unchanged into the final game.
In cases where I had a clearer idea of what I wanted, the design process was slightly different. For example, this is going to be used in this place to perform this function or, the area is designed in this way so it must adhere to these conditions, for example the mimic and the gargoyles. Regardless of which design process was used, rather than to appoint a person to take charge of each concept, I took the designs and talked them over with each of the artists and developed them in that way.

Otsuka: With all this freedom in the design process and the concept artists differing styles, was there a need to unify all the designs?

Miyazaki: I suppose there was, but as I said before I took charge over all the designs and was ultimately responsible for their direction, and since they all went through me I suppose there was some degree of unification.
Having said that, I tried to bring out all the artists' individual styles because I think working closely with each designer to develop their ideas whilst still embracing their personal style creates a much richer, organic feeling world in the end. As I mentioned earlier, each artist began with just a few simple "image words" and developed their designs from that. The words which inspired each of their designs and the way they chose to use them was very different. Some found that relatively philosophical words gave them ideas while some used them to develop a character's back story. Each collaboration was different and because of that, each was stimulating in its own way. I think this is the main reason that the world of Dark Souls turned out as well as it did.
There was need for some direction, so in Dark Souls there were three main sections or themes:
the image of Gods and knights centered around Anor Londo
Lost Izalith and the theme of Chaos, fire and demons
and Gravelord Nito and the image of death and decay
I suppose you could also add to that the image of the ancient dragons. These themes, along with utilizing the artists' personal styles, formed the basis of the Dark Souls design principle. In contrast to most art teams, we didn't have our artists concentrating on a specific section, instead all the artists contributed to all areas.

Otsuka: So for example, Anor Londo wasn't created by a single artist?

Miyazaki: Not quite: we didn't have a single designer making maps, characters or equipment, but we did have separate people in charge of each of the game's areas. I believe Mr. Waragai was responsible for Anor Londo.
Waragai: Yes, I was, but before we started developing the look of the area, we first decided on the general layout and then we worked together with the 3D artist. I set out designing the main features such as the statues and the revolving elevator.
This is actually how most of the areas were constructed. The map design was really what dictated everything else, once we determined what needed to happen in each area we would immediately draw up a rough map, then once the basic layout of the area was decided, we'd work on the finer details. Through the rough map I was able to communicate the requirements, structure and appearance of an area to the artists, and have them develop those ideas through collaborating with one another. I'm never satisfied with design works that simply follows the design brief so I often requested that the artists and designers add some of their own ideas. I believe that these ideas can enrich the area, if not the entire game, although this can lead to more work of course.

Otsuka: So you had a team of one artist/designer and one 3D artist working on each area, and then it fell to you to make the final decisions?

Miyazaki: Yes, but each of the areas had its own feel or tone as far as art direction was concerned. For an area like Blighttown for example, we found that once we decided on the general direction and gathered appropriate reference materials, there wasn't really a need to spend too much time developing the look of the area, it just came together. However in areas which were composed of more traditional architecture, we had to spend a lot of time working on the finer details. There weren't a huge amount of artists on the team so it was a case of moving people to where they would be of most use.
Anor Londo for instance is one of the most complicated areas in the game in terms of architecture, and as the mid-way point of the game it's also a very important area, so we spent a great deal of time working on it. After ringing the bells and overcoming the traps of Sen's Fortress I really wanted to player to feel "Yes! I've made it!"

Otsuka: It seems that your direction was at times quite abstract

Miyazaki: According to the artists, it was, but I believe that if your instructions are too specific, the designs you get will be somewhat devoid of creativity, so I try to give out just the most basic, essential information before handing it over to the artists' imaginations, which inevitable eclipses my own. My initial instructions are certainly abstract. For example, when designing equipment I'd simply say "make something you can trust with your life on the battlefield", or "make something that has enchantments to protect you". I think the artists probably didn't know what I was talking about half the time.

Waragai: That's true.

Miyazaki: I'm sorry. Of course, If I don't get what I want, I start giving more specific descriptions and I might even start drawing things on the whiteboard, but even then I'd never go so far as to say "it has to be this color or this shape", I don't want the designers to become my tools. It doesn't always go as I want, but I think that's probably due to me not getting the best out of the artists, and this is something I want to get better at in the future.

Otsuka: It's similar when I put a book together, I understand how you feel.

Miyazaki: With this game, some fantastic images came from the initial concept stage, for example Lautrec's "Armor of Favor". If we had simply concentrated on what was required rather than trying to experiment, I don't think something like this would have been created. In order to get this from my designers, I tried talking to them about all sorts of things, for example I spoke at length with Nakamura about philosophy.

Waragai: You spoke about space and stuff, too, right?

Miyazaki: Oh yeah, especially at the beginning. About the world, life and death, and with regards to the game world, the meaning of fire and role of the Four Kings. By talking like this with the artists I found that it not only helped them to develop their ideas, but it really helped me shape my idea of the world I wanted to create. I also tried hard not to be predictable or conservative. Of course, since we decided on a fantasy setting, we couldn't stray too far from that, but we had to be careful not to just take the easy route, or the world would become boring. I really tried hard to maintain this.

大塚　まず宮崎さんに、デザインの発注の仕方についてお聞きしたいのですが。
宮崎　ダークソウルでは、デザイン発注のやり方は、大きく二通りありました。一つは、プロジェクトの最初期のコンセプトワークで、ごく簡潔なイメージを提示して、各デザイナーの自由にデザインしてもらうやり方です。そこで良いイメージが出てきたら、それを採用し、必要であれば調整しながら、世界観にフィードバックしていくのですが、例えば、貧食ドラゴンや卵背負い、あるいは墓王ニトなどが、こうしたコンセプトワークから生まれ、ほぼそのまま採用されています。もう一つは、ゲームあるいは世界観の要件が固まったうえでの、かなり具体的なデザイン発注です。こういったゲーム意図で、こういった場所でこう言った風に使います、行為板設定の中でこういう用件があります、といった感じですね。こちらのケースでは、私の中にある程度のイメージができていることが多く、例えば、ミミック（貪欲者）とか、ガーゴイルなどが該当します。また、どちらかのやり方の発注でも、特に管理者等は置かず、発注者は私で、直接各デザイナーとやり取りする形になりますね。
大塚
宮崎　そうそう。特に最初の頃はよくしたなあ。世界の成り立ちとか、生と死と、今回でいうと日の意味とか、4人の王や人の位置ずけとか。彼らとそういった話をしていく中で、私のほうも良い刺激をもらてて、世界観のイメージが固まっていくんですよ。あとは、そうだなあ、保守的にならないように、ということはありましたね。本格ファンタジーを標榜している以上、当然外せないラインはあるのですが、あまり保守的な、ちじこまったったものになってしまうと、世界が豊かで、というか面白くなくなってしまうので、そういうところは気を付けていました。間違った意味で「こだわり」と言わないように、とかね。