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[LectureMaster]

As Monster Hunter Wilds finally approaches, veteran dev says making a new monster "takes about one year," and that's not counting "small, detailed adjustments"

"Though this can jump up significantly in the case of certain special monsters."

www.gamesradar.com

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If you've ever wondered how long it takes to create just one of the many monsters in Capcom's iconic Monster Hunter series, then you may be surprised to learn that it takes longer than you probably expected, according to one Monster Hunter Wilds dev.

In an interview with Screen Rant, art director Kaname Fujioka spoke about the process of creating a new monster, stating that, while different monsters may take different amounts of time to make, "each monster takes roughly a year from start to finish", though this can jump up significantly in the case of certain special monsters. "It obviously depends on the monster." he explains, before adding that "The flagship monster for Monster Hunter Wilds obviously took a very long time because it has to do with the story of the game".

Rather than making each monster one by one, Fujioka states that they are designed in parallel, which can make it hard to tell how long certain monsters took to be created, but estimates most will take roughly a year. "Typically an average from planning a monster, designing it, making a model, animation, it usually takes about one year for a monster. If you add adjusting to it, small, detailed adjustments, it'll obviously take longer. But that's a rough timeline."

Fujioka also notes that certain types of monsters are more challenging to design than others, noting that they had previously struggled to create "octopus-type monsters with those kinds of flexible arms", but that the team had managed to pull it off for Monster Hunter Wilds.

For Fujioka, it's worth spending a lot of time creating every monster because he wants players to have a personal connection to them. "When creating monsters, we want to focus on how each person will be able to find their own favorite monster", before declaring Arkveld to be his own personal favorite because of how long it took to make, and because "it's a flashy monster."

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[Robb]

I just pray that the suits at Capcom values his mindset, even if/when sales of the franchise ever go down.

 

[cripterion]

Hmmm sounds quite long just for one monster, especially since I imagine several people are working on it (design, art, level, etc...) If I had guessed I would have said it took them 3-4 months for each monster.

 

[Icymanipulator]

This is one of those “total time spent” in man hours kinds of numbers, that adds up to a “year”

Not like an entire team is working a whole year for a single monster. Or we’d have like 4 monsters since World wrapped up lol
These kinds of stories always manage to present things in a strange way

 

[artsi]

I understand MH monsters are detailed and it might not be the same.

But I have wild respect for FF7 Remake / Rebirth devs because those games have crazy enemy variety and they're super detailed too, with unique movesets.

 

[Schmendrick]

He definitely means manhours, and since we´re talking about teamwork here and monsters that most of the time recycle bodytypes and animations in large parts this should be taken with a bottle of salt.

 

[GymWolf]

I sincerely doubt it.

 

[Scrawnton]

I understand MH monsters are detailed and it might not be the same.

But I have wild respect for FF7 Remake / Rebirth devs because those games have crazy enemy variety and they're super detailed too, with unique movesets.

Monsters in FF7 Remake and Monster Hunter are literally not comparable. Like. At all.

MH has to develop body degradation, world ai, combat ai, injury cycles, etc etc etc.

 

[GymWolf]

Monsters in FF7 Remake and Monster Hunter are literally not comparable. Like. At all.

MH has to develop body degradation, world ai, combat ai, injury cycles, etc etc etc.

Yep, the closest thing to mh creatures in terms of complexity are the dinobots in horizon.

 

[Danjin44]

Yep, the closest thing to mh creatures in terms of complexity are the dinobots in horizon.

No that goes to Trico in Last Guardian, especially when it comes to animation and AI behaviour.

 

[FeralEcho]

What a load of bullshit... They are detailed sure but let's not act like they are some next level shit,even then,a whole year by multiple developers for one single monster is outrageous and makes me wonder just wtf these devs are doing with their time.

Bring back crunch I say...seems like devs are slacking too much nowadays,devs in the past would release entire trilogies in the time devs nowadays aparently take to design 8 monsters.... Says alot about the state of gaming.

 

[GymWolf]

No that goes to Trico in Last Guardian, especially when it comes to animation and AI behaviour.

Nah that one is even a level above mh creatures, and no shit, the whole game is about one single creature tyat you have to interact with for 10-15 hours.

Dinobots in horizon have a lot of moves, moving parts, various weakened states, weakness points, elemental weakness, moves you can disable by attacking specific parts and they are wonderfully animated and the time to kill is way longer than your average open world enemies, so they are the closest thing to mh creatures to me if we exclude other monster hunting games like wild hearts.

 

[SJRB]

If you hire 12 x more staff you can do it in a month.

 

[Danjin44]

Nah that one is even a level above mh creatures, and no shit, the whole game is about one single creature.
Dinobots in horizon have a lot of moves, moving parts, various weakened states, weakness points, elemental weakness, moves you can disable by attacking specific parts and they are wonderfully animated and the time to kill is way longer than your average open world enemies, so they are the closest thing to mh creatures to me if we exclude other monster hunting games like wild hearts.

It is above MH but animation system and AI would never work in MH. Trico it’s too realistic, hunters would destroy Trico in no time.

 

[Skifi28]

What a load of bullshit... They are detailed sure but let's not act like they are some next level shit,even then,a whole year by multiple developers for one single monster is outrageous and makes me wonder just wtf these devs are doing with their time.

Bring back crunch I say...seems like devs are slacking too much nowadays,devs in the past would release entire trilogies in the time devs nowadays aparently take to design 8 monsters.... Says alot about the state of gaming.

You should show them how to make a monster in a week and get hired.

 

[GymWolf]

It is above MH but animation system and AI would never work in MH. Trico it’s too realistic, hunters would destroy Trico in no time.

Yeah i was just talking about how complex its ai routine are and how many unique animation it has, it's clearly a step up compared to the mh monsters, i was not saying that he would be great to fight.

 

[Danjin44]

Yeah i was just talking about how complex its ai routine are and how many unique animation it has, it's clearly a step up compared to the mh monsters, i was not saying that he would be great to fight.

I agree with you Trico is much more complex compare to Monsters in MH and like you said team ICO manged to do it because they were only designing one creature.

It just not practical to do this with number of Monsters you have to make in MH and not mention with different body types and sizes and while balancing them to fight with players and other Monsters.

 

[april6e]

I don't believe this for a second. Just excuses and justification for why 50% of monsters in each game are reused. Just come out and admit that it saves development time to reuse monsters from World, Rise and other modern entries and I'd at least respect that.