*Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka sat down with Keiichiro Toyama at Bokeh Game Studios to talk about his development process. The interview was recorded as part of Bokeh’s regular “Golden Hour” series, where Toyama talks with developers across the industry. During their chat, Kodaka discussed his inspirations, his experience working with voice actors and the challenges of setting up his own company.
When discussing the inspirations behind the Danganronpa series, Kodaka talked about how he was heavily inspired by the manga Dragon Head and The Drifting Classroom. He also cited the original Battle Royale novel as a major inspiration too. He talked about how he meticulously plans out his storylines and likes to hear when players get so hooked on his stories that they play in one sitting.
The interview also touched on the development of Kodaka’s latest title, Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. He explained that the process of recording voice actors for the new game was different from doing the same for Danganronpa. He talked about how there were a lot of retakes, due to frequent changes to the script over the game’s six-year development.
Kodaka also discussed the challenges of setting up Too Kyo Games, the development studio he founded with fellow Danganronpa team members Rui Komatsuzaki and Masafumi Takada, along with Zero Escape director Kotaro Uchikoshi. He also joked about working with Uchikoshi, who he claims sleeps all day and works through the night. *