Going 3D With Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies Was Not A Simple Process

A day before Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies’ Japanese release date, Siliconera caught up with series producer Motohide Eshiro and scenario director Takeshi Yamazaki, who talked about how they thinks of the game’s plot twists first, followed by the rest. In another interview with Game Watch, the two discuss transitioning from 2D models to 3D, and how it wasn’t as simple as they had expected.

Game Watch states their belief that one of the biggest perks of shifting to 3D graphics is the ease of modifying character models, whereas hand-drawn 2D sprites require a lot more work whenever any modifications are needed. They ask the developers to share a little insight in that area.

“Yes, in addition to being able to go backwards in the work process, it’s also easier to change motions and angles now,” scenario director Takeshi Yamazaki replies. This allows the director of the project to further focus on the camerawork and opens up a wider range of creative possibilities with how you present a scene.

“I believe the creative side has widened with questions such as, ‘How can we effectively show the directed ideas and patterns?’” replies producer Motohide Eshiro. “Since going 3D, we have more room; however, the ‘trouble of making it 3D’ was actually very problematic. Simply taking the original 2D screen’s perspectives and camera angles and tossing in 3D models ended up making it appear completely different.”

“That’s where the person in charge of the modeling devised various models according to different situations.”

  Court scene (left) and adventure scene (right) models.

Court scene (left) and adventure scene (right) models.

“When you used Phoenix Wright’s models for court in the adventure parts [of the game], the sense of inconsistency was too great,” Eshiro explains. “That resulted in camera angle changes leading to something that looked strange. For such occasions, we switched parts of the model. That way, the 3D models appeared natural in any scene.”

One of the biggest parts of the game that has been greatly enhanced by the new 3D models is Phoenix’s famous pose (pictured above). According to the developers, they wanted to upgrade the intensity of it, and were able to do it by adjusting the perspective of the pose, making the hand appear much larger when seen in 3D.

“Without making it larger, it ended up looking like a very bitter pose, which lacked intensity,” Yamazaki says with a laugh. “So, before the finger pointing hits, we’ve used a regular court-purpose model, then the moment he sharply points, it switches to a specific model that serves the single purpose of the pose with large hands.”

Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies  will be released this fall in the west on Nintendo 3DS.