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Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D Made RE: Revelations Possible
During his presentation at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, Resident Evil: Revelations producer Masachika Kawata revealed how efficient he found the simultaneous development of 3DS games Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D and Resident Evil: Revelations. Kawata says the method of cultivating these two similar products alongside one another parallels an agricultural tradition in Japan.
According to Kawata, studio-wide research and development for both Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D and Resident Evil: Revelations began in 2010. Halfway through the year the development crew split, with one group creating the core gameplay for Mercenaries 3D and the other developing the story and scenario for Revelations. After development of Mercenaries 3D was complete, the core gameplay was shared with the team working on Revelations, which saved them time on overall development and allowed them to release the game about a year later. This style of development is also the reason Mercenaries 3D players were able to check out a demo of Revelations included on the cartridge. Capcom could then gauge fans' reactions to the demo and alter development accordingly.
Kawata says this is similar to the Japanese farming method of double cropping. This agricultural method involves raising two similar crops in close proximity to increase efficiency and share resources. He also says Japan is great at packing a lot of variety into small packages, citing bento boxes - boxed lunches popular in Japan - as an example. Like bento boxes, Capcom managed to cram a lot of gameplay variety into the portable Resident Evil: Revelations.
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