TITLE
Book Excerpt: Animal Crossing tracks the rise of the original cozy life sim
AUTHOR
Kelsey Lewin
PUBLICATION
Game Developer
YEAR
2024
ARTICLE TYPE
Book Excerpt
FROM THE ARTICLE
The story of Animal Crossing’s development first starts in the space between Yoshi’s Story’s international release date in 1998 and Eguchi’s new “communication game.” During that brief interim, he and Nogami were assigned to work as advisors on an odd new concept called Mario Artist: Talent Studio[1]—part of a series of 64DD software all named under the Mario Artist umbrella.[…]
It was fresh from working on this odd, creatively engaging non-game concept that Eguchi returned to games. In 1999, Eguchi submitted a simple, two-page pitch titled “Proposing a Communication Field.” It was not exactly a game pitch, but a gameplay pitch—the earliest foundation of what would eventually become Animal Crossing.
GAMES MENTIONED
Animal Crossing
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Katsuya Eguchi
EXCERPTED FROM
Boss Fight Books – Animal Crossing