At Gamescom last week, and after completing and reviewing Dear Me, I Was..., we got the chance to meet and talk with legendary artist Taisuke Kanasaki (Another Code, Hotel Dusk) and brave director Maho Taguchi, who were more than happy to discuss past, present, and even future in the exclusive interview with Gamereactor you can watch below.
During the video, both tell us how the team deliberately kept player interaction to a minimum to focus on emotional storytelling. Inspired by Florence's philosophy, they decided every interactive moment (like exchanging letters, which we found touching) had to feel "meaningful, not mechanical". Taguchi-san explained that adding too many gameplay elements would potentially distract from the narrative and dilute the emotional weight of the experience.
"If we added too many interactive elements, it would have looked like too much of a game. Our goal was to make every moment you interact feel meaningful for the story."
Dear Me, I Was... is for now available on the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusively, where it's about to turn one month old. During the interview we asked about the platform choice, its recent release and Mouse Mode, or the possibility to please veteran fans with fully-fledged graphic adventures in the style of the beloved Another Code and Hotel Dusk/Last Window series. When asked about future plans, Kanasaki-san revealed he's unsure about continuing with rotoscoping, the watercolour animation technique on top of FMV footage that defines the game's visual style. While Dear Me, I Was... is only his second time using it after Hotel Dusk, but he did hint at possibly tackling a bigger adventure project with Taguchi-san in the future, though nothing is decided yet.
"I'm not sure if I'll keep using rotoscoping, but I'd love to collaborate with Taguchi-san again... maybe on a larger adventure next time."
Elsewhere in the interview Kanasaki and Taguchi talk about choosing the Nintendo Switch 2 as temporarily exclusive platform, the possibility and will to bring Dear Me, I Was... to other platforms, and the difficulty to rotoscope little kittens.
