Granblue Fantasy first launched in 2014, and since then, the game has expanded with new
storylines, characters and worlds.
It’s led the charge for Cygames’ global expansion and we’ve seen the release of
anime and manga adaptations as well as the console titles Granblue Fantasy Versus and
Granblue Fantasy ReLink.
So with the release of Versus and the original title’s sixth anniversary, I thought it
was worth talking a bit about the game’s development.
Here are 5 things you need to know.
Granblue Fantasy is an art-first property.
Production began by drawing out ideas for the world.
They knew they’d found their mark when the Cygames art team created an airship, for which
the entire world would be based.
Airships aren’t exactly unfamiliar to this team, though.
Granblue’s initial art team was largely made up of ex-Square Enix veterans, specifically
those who’d worked on the Final Fantasy series.
Granblue’s art director is Hideo Minaba, president of the CyDesignation design team.
Before landing at Cygames, Minaba most prominently served as art director on Final Fantasy VI,
IX and XII.
It’s one hell of a resume.
And that’s just the art.
Nobuo Uematsu, veteran Final Fantasy composer also created a whole bunch of iconic tracks
for the game.
While there’s plenty of mobile games with great art, a lot of them are reliant on guest
illustrators.
Fate/Grand Order is particularly famous for this, with fans looking forward to seeing
what illustrators they’ll bring in for certain characters.
However, while it makes the characters interesting, it does very little for consistency.
It feels weird seeing the Danganronpa designer’s Edmond Dantes next to the Sword Art Online
designer’s Mysterious Heroine X.
This is why, to create a consistent world, the art of Granblue is done in-house.
Minaba refers to it as unified parts of a whole where the art comes together to create
an impressive world.
It’s difficult to maintain this kind of consistency, and even more so to have this
consistency carry over to games produced at other companies.
The console titles Granblue Fantasy Versus and ReLink were created at Arc System Works
and Platinum Games respectively, although the latter one is now being produced solely
at Cygames Osaka.
There was a bunch of discussions with these teams discussing how to reflect the original
title, especially since these would be the first times the characters would be rendered
in 3D.
Arc System Works are experts in mimicking 2D art with 3D models, but they still needed
help.
And they got it.
Both Versus and ReLink are directed by Granblue’s director, who would trust the development
teams to deal with the gameplay, but he would be there to oversee everything and make sure
it still felt like Granblue Fantasy.
Directing these two games in addition to the original would’ve been a tonne of work.
One of the most exciting parts of Granblue is the collaborations, and they seriously
go all out.
Preparation for a collab begins a year in advance, and each collaboration will involve
an original story and most notably original art.
One of the disappointments for me in mobile game collaborations is when they just use
the original art from the original properties, but Cygames makes a real effort to make characters
from Persona 5, Detective Conan, Love Live, or Code Geass feel like they exist in the
world of Granblue.
It’s a load of work, but in return, Granblue pulls off some of the best collaborations
in mobile games.
The game first launched in English in 2016, but instead of making a separate version,
they added an English language option.
However, this means that there isn’t an English app, and instead you either play on
the browser or use the Japanese app store.
Even so, the game has fostered a huge community overseas and they’ve made sure to release
Versus and the anime adaptation overseas as well.
The staff were anticipating having to add different kinds of content to the original
game to appease international players, since conventional wisdom says that overseas players
have different tastes, but they were surprised to find that everyone kinda likes the same
stuff.
Popular characters and stories in Japan are popular overseas, and the Granblue IP has
an immediate global appeal.
Because of the positive reaction, they’re looking for more ways to help get overseas
players get into the game and are listening to feedback globally as well.