To make "something" from nothing, a huge amount of energy is required. Something that will seem novel in its own right... However, whilst its development team plotted ideas, sometimes engaging in heated arguments (??), the place in which Siren's creation progressed was surprisingly organised.
01 - Director Mr. Toyama's workspace.
02 - A sheet of "Shibito script" posted on the partition in the development room. Beside it is an ofuda from Oiwa Inari in Yotsuya, Tokyo...
03 - Beside the desk of Ms. Sato, in charge of background and levels, is a huge pile of reference books.
04 & 05 - Proposals for the title logo, going through the stages of fine-tuning.
06 - An overview of the development room, which has an organised impression.
07 - A ROM from midway through development could be played here, where the staff would fine-tune the play atmosphere and balance.
As is common in places where things are created, many things in the game creation space are disorganised. However, the Siren development room is surprisingly tidy, giving off a simplistic image. It is an image completely contradictory with that of Siren, a game in which the timeline is all over the place and not simply grasped. But if you look at the particulars of each staff member's own desk, you can see the personality of its owner. The desk of Mr. Toyama, the director, has a PC and keyboard, beside which is his favourite PDA, the Zaurus. The way he would take out his Zaurus for each meeting made quite an impression, and the desk shows that Toyama is someone who is incredibly fond of his mobile. On the other hand on the desk of Ms. Sato, in charge of setting and levels, is a heap of things that were and were not used as reference during Siren's development, a mountain of books piled high. Amongst them are mixed in things such as "Shiki", and Heinlein's "The Door into Summer" can also be made out. It seems to show the variety of topics that pique the curiosity of Ms. Sato, who wrote "Strange Tales of Hanuda".
Each of the desks are arranged with a passage between them that is comparatively wide, in a set-up where in any area the chairs could be arranged to hold an emergency meeting. During the time the photo on this page was taken, they said, "Right, while we're at it, let's have a meeting," and didn't have to do much legwork. And in one corner of the room is a test version of Siren, a critical point in development. Here they would rest while taking a short lunch break... and other such things it was used for.
Incidentally, the data created in the development area was all saved on servers, which at first numbered three in total called scary names such as "noroi" (curse), "urami" (resentment) and "tatari" (curse). However, for some reason the servers kept going down (and the hardware on "noroi" and "tatari" crashed). They were then renamed "kiyome" (purify), "harae" (cleanse) and "tamae" (please), pure-sounding names (Ms. Sato). Afterwards, the servers apparently stopped malfunctioning.
English Translation by Chelsea
