Iconic Japanese game designer Swery – of Deadly Premonition fame – has been on sabbatical from the games industry since November last year. He’s been on extended sick leave, recovering from reactive hypoglycemia. IGN Japan caught up with him at the recent BitSummit in Kyoto, and what he’s been up to may surprise you.
I started writing a book that stars a cat. In a British countryside town, there is a murder case, and a mystery unfolds that is written from the perspective of the cat.
“I am currently away from work on sick leave, and in my private time I am writing a novel,” he says. “The first reason is that I suddenly had time on my hands, but the next reason is that I was saddened by the death of my cat and I wanted to find a form to express my sadness. So I started writing a book that stars a cat. In a British countryside town, there is a murder case, and a mystery unfolds that is written from the perspective of the cat. It’s like a version of Deadly Premonition but set in Britain. In Deadly Premonition, a protagonist from the city comes to a rural town and experiences being a fish out of water. In my novel, with the British countryside town, the people within the town are all very close, but by making the protagonist something other than human, that creates a filter to keep the reader a step removed.
At BitSummit. (From Swery's Instagram.)
“People ask me whether the novel will contain ‘Sweryism’,” he continues, “and I think it does. Up until now I have only made games, which is a similar process to making film. But the rhetoric for writing a novel is different, and that is something I have struggled to solve. When you make video you need to prepare everything that will appear on screen in advance and have it in the frame. But with a book, if you set it all up at the beginning, the reader will forget some of the information as they read. You have to introduce the elements exactly at the point where they are required. This is something different than my past experience.”
How close is the novel to being done? “I’ve already finished the first draft, and am editing now,” he responds.
That’s not all he’s been up to, however. “When you make a game, you work from morning till night, but now I have time to read books and to learn new things,” he explains. “I was raised in a Buddhist temple, and I became interested in temples and started to learn about them. Sometime next month I am aiming to get the qualifications required to become a priest. I want to become the first Buddhist priest game developer in Japan. It’s partly a serious pursuit, and partly not so serious.”
I want to become the first Buddhist priest game developer in Japan.
The biggest question, of course, is when the iconic designer will be back in the world of game development. “I get messages every day on Twitter from fans saying ‘Come back soon’, and I relish their support. I myself am considering when I can return, but it’s too early to say just yet. I want to return quickly. But I also get messages that say ‘There’s no need to rush’ or ‘I’m waiting for your next game, but your health is more important’, and since I have that generous support, I intend to recover fully and make a strong return to games. The support from my fans on Twitter helps me to recover not only physically but mentally too, and the reason I came to BitSummit this year is because I want to show everybody that I am getting better.”
We eagerly await your return, Swery. And for those of you unfamiliar with his work, check out our video review for Deadly Premonition: Director's Cut...
Cam Shea is senior editor in IGN's Sydney office and a big fan of quirky Japanese games. Tweet at him here.
