Monster Hunter Wilds Director Explains How Monster Rosters Are Decided
The Monster Hunter Wilds team at Capcom has revealed its thought process when it decides on a roster of monsters for a Monster Hunter game. In an interview with IGN, director Yuya Tokuda spoke about the studio’s processes for coming up with the upcoming title’s roster of monsters.
Tokuda spoke about how, when deciding a monster for a game, the team first tries to answer questions like where the monster would live in an area’s ecosystem and hierarchy. Giving the example of Arkveld, Tokuda talks about considering its place in the ecological pyramid of an area.
“We first consider what we want players to experience when facing major monsters like Arkveld, as well as the setting, ecosystem and so on of the world, unique to each title,” Tokuda explained. “We then think about the kind of monsters needed to do that. In a way, we start by putting puzzle pieces together, like, ‘If this monster exists in this place, how does the ecological pyramid work here?’”
Tokuda also explained that the team doesn’t take any ratios of brand new monsters versus returning ones from previous titles into consideration when coming up with a roster. More important for the team, according to Tokuda, is the player experience, and how it would feel to hunt these monsters.
“We don’t focus too much on the proportion or number of new versus old monsters,” said Tokuda. “What’s important at the end of the day is the overall level design and order of monsters across the entire game, as well as the balance of ecological pyramids in each area. We take this multifaceted approach to decide which monsters to include.”
To that end, even the decision to further fill out a new game’s monster roster with returning monsters and fan-favourites largely comes down to whether it makes sense to bring the monster to the new game’s environments. Current technological advancements in game development also plays into this.
“So even when we’re selecting old monsters to put in the game, part of that involves making sure to
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