New Level-5 title announced

[Guild McCommunist]

In an interview in this week's Famitsu, Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino made first mention of the studio's newest project, Time Travelers.

This original game, whose genre, platform and release date, are being kept secret, has a time traveling theme. Hino described it as "a large scale title" and added that he expects it to become a popular series for the Professor Layton and Inazuma Eleven publisher.

Hino will be serving as producer on the game. But Japan is already going gaga over the title because of who's in the directors role. Level-5 has drafted Jiro Ishii to head up the project. Ishi previously directed 428, a Wii, PS3 and PSP sound novel that received wide critical acclaim, including a perfect score in Famitsu.

Even more intriguing was Hino's comment about the game's platform: "Centered on hardware that's not yet in this world, it will expand to other hardware."

It looks like Time Travelers is being readied for systems that doesn't yet exist. Is Hino hinting at 3DS support?

Regardless of platform, Time Travelers looks like it could be a ways off. In an interview in Famitsu, Hino and Ishii revealed that they only first met at Famitsu's annual awards show in April of last year. Some time after the event, Ishii told Hino that he'd split from 428 developer Chunsoft to become a freelancer, and that's when Hino suggested that they work together on Time Travelers, which is now in development at Level-5's Tokyo branch.

Source

Level-5 have been doing a lot of big and ambitious projects over in Japan, so I guess this is something to look forward to... providing it has a localization

 

[worlok375]

THE 3DS WILL HAVE TIME TRAVELING ABILITIES?!?!??!?! Oh wait, I read that wrong.

 

[Blebleman]

428 was awesome. I don't exactly how Japan would be going totally apeshit over the guy. He might definitely make a good story, but visual novels aren't exactly recognized for their gameplay... (although 428 had some really awesome features)

 

[Bladexdsl]

it's for the 3ds for sure than

 

[KingVamp]

Time hollow in 3D

 

[ChaosBoi]

I've not yet read 428, but I heard it was good and pretty unique for a visual novel. I also heard that Type-Moon's Kinoko Nasu wrote a scenario for that game, which was later made into an anime (I think it was called Canaan). Hopefully we will see a worldwide release of this title.

 

[_Chaz_]

THE 3DS WILL HAVE TIME TRAVELING ABILITIES?!?!??!?! Oh wait, I read that wrong.
No, it really will. I can't see how it wouldn't.

QUOTE(KingVamp @ Apr 14 2010, 08:10 PM) Time hollow in 3D

That would be epic. The game was awesome and could only be better in 3D.

 

[Deleted_171835]

Anything made by Level-5 is awesome!
This game will probably be great, too!
Hopefully, it's on the Wii/DS.

 

[fannnkobe]

To me level-5 is new.

 

[pichon64]

I remember how much I enjoyed 'Rogue Galaxy' for the PS2. Awesome.

 

[zuron7]

More jobs for translators

But, I wish there is an official translation because Level-5 games rock.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

For anyone wondering, some new info that was dug up...

Here's what we know so far about Time Travelers, the newly announced game from Professor Layton developer Level-5.

1. It will have a time traveling theme.

2. It's being produced by Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino

3. It's being directed by Jiro Ishii, director of the critically acclaimed Japan-only 428 sound novel game.

4. It's being developed for a platform that "does not yet exist in this world."

5. It's being developed at Level-5's Tokyo studio.

Following the game's announcement yesterday, Level-5 shared a logo and first concept art, which you can see here:



Get nice and cozy with that piece of artwork, as it's likely the last we'll see of Time Travelers for some time. In Tweets following the game's announcement, Hino said that now that it's been announced, the game will at long last be making its true start.

Combine Hino's comment with the lack of information (Level-5 isn't even confirming the genre), and Time Travelers could follow the path of Ushiro and Inazuma Eleven Break and go into a lengthy post-announcement quiet period. We'll be sure and let you know when it resurfaces.

Pics:

Spoiler

Sounds like a 3DS game. Level-5 have gotten a lot of success with Nintendo platforms (Professor Layton, Inazuma Eleven, 428, Dragon Quest IX (developed by them), etc). so it's not a stretch for them to continue on Nintendo platforms. And odds are by the end of the game's development, the 3DS will be right around the corner.

 

[clegion]

I've not yet read 428, but I heard it was good and pretty unique for a visual novel. I also heard that Type-Moon's Kinoko Nasu wrote a scenario for that game, which was later made into an anime (I think it was called Canaan). Hopefully we will see a worldwide release of this title.

428 is canaan?

 

[ChaosBoi]

No, but one of the scenarios written for 428 is. Apparently, Canaan is supposed to be a sequel of some sort according to Wikipedia, and it was based on the scenario that Nasu wrote for 428.

 

[cosmiccow]

Ahhh! I demand an english(subbed) release of Ninokuni before they announce anything new.

This Time Travellers game sounds and looks interesting though... Will it be something like Chrono Trigger + Level-5 mastery?

Oh but nobody buys DS games, so they won't bring anything of this to western audiences.

 

[shakirmoledina]

time travelling is always interesting esp as cosmicow said (CT)... i wonder if it is a possibility to translate it... really seems like it will come overseas like a very long time later