Writers’ Room—Bringing New Characters to Life in Shadowverse
Shadowverse, a strategic multiplayer digital card game, will celebrate its 6th anniversary this year. The main story, which has come to focus on new characters since the “Fate’s Trigger” arc in 2020, is now entering a new chapter following the conclusion of the “Entropy’s Abyss” and “The Final Loop” arcs. We spoke with the scenario team about the process of introducing brand new leaders into the game.
- Head WriterRintaro
- Joining Cygames in 2015, Rintaro worked as a writer for “Rage of Bahamut” before joining “Shadowverse” in 2016. He has been the head writer for the main story since Chapter 9. He is also overseeing the development of non-game media, including the script for the “Shadowverse” anime series.
- Scenario WriterRyuji
- Joining Cygames as a new graduate in 2017, Ryuji takes on a wide range of tasks related to developing the game’s scenarios, including writing flavor text, organizing tie-ins with other IPs, and arranging the team’s schedule. He is also in charge of writing and supervising scenarios for the main story arc “The Empyrean Inn.”
Bringing Forth New Characters into the World of Shadowverse
For several years, Shadowverse was focused on depicting the story of the early leader characters, headed by Arisa. However, the “Fate’s Trigger” arc added in August 2020 introduced a range of new leaders, including Bunny & Baron. How did this transformation come about?
Rintaro The idea of focusing on the activities of new leaders was already in the works before the release of “The Guild War” arc in 2018. However, in the earlier part of “The Morning Star” arc, we felt like we were still at a stage where we’d only shown a tiny bit of each character’s personality. That’s why we decided we needed more time to fill out each character and had “The Guild War” arc feature the same leaders as before.
Of course, even at this point we haven’t been able to show every aspect of all the early leaders, but because we were able to bring about some closure with “Invasion of the Worldreaver,” we felt ready to introduce new leaders in the “Fate’s Trigger” arc. Part of the reason for this decision was that we thought that keeping the same leaders might confuse new players who are joining in the middle of an ongoing story.
Ryuji I remember that when we were planning the “Fate’s Trigger” and “Entropy’s Abyss” arcs, there was talk about only replacing Urias.
Rintaro Oh, that’s right. With Urias, I had the sense that we had played out his character as far as we could, especially leading up to the “Invasion of the Worldreaver” chapter, so I wondered if continuing his story would really produce anything new. From there, we decided that we might as well go ahead and introduce new leaders, but still have Arisa make an appearance.
What can you tell us about the process of creating Shadowverse’s main story?
Ryuji The script is basically written by Rintaro, and then checked by the scenario team. The producer, Yuito Kimura, takes a final look at it, and then it’s good to go. I feel that Rintaro has a real sense of how to write a clean and clear story.
Rintaro I do place a lot of emphasis on clarity. The idea of the Shadowverse story is that it should be like a food you’ve seen somewhere before, but you’ve never actually tasted—so I try not to make it too outlandish.
For example, the arcs featuring the new leaders—”Fate’s Trigger,” “Entropy’s Abyss,” and “The Final Loop”—have complex stories but share an overarching theme of fate, represented in the “bullet of fate” motif. Although the stories diverge in various ways, and we see how the bullet of fate affects Fleauesse, Iceschillendrig, and Nexus differently, having one consistent motif enhances the sense of cohesion.
Ryuji Starting from the “Fate’s Trigger” arc, we’ve been able to tell darker stories than we could previously, when the story was focused on the always upbeat Arisa. I think that’s allowed us to develop stories that are more in-line with the dark fantasy world of Shadowverse.
I won’t go into detail to prevent spoilers, but the concept of time loops was also featured heavily in “Fate’s Trigger,” “Entropy’s Abyss,” and “The Final Loop.” How did you come up with this idea?
Rintaro The time loops were something that developed out of Yuito Kimura’s ideas when we were coming up with a new scenario and expansion of the Shadowverse world.
Rintaro, would you say that you approach the scenario writing process with a focus on the characters rather than elaborate plot details?
Rintaro That’s right. Because we develop a deeper understanding of the characters during the writing process, we often change aspects of the characters’ personalities and the setting quite drastically as we go along. For example, Selena was originally planned to be a tomboyish bounty hunter. However, it was decided during the writing process that Maiser would show players the public image of Rivayle, while Selena would show them the darker underbelly that lurks beneath, and that’s how the character you see today came about.
Rintaro Take Bunny & Baron—Baron was initially going to be someone who was treated by the locals as a Robin Hood figure but who had no desire to actually be one, but he ended up becoming a character who aspired to be a chivalrous bandit.
Ryuji The complete opposite of what was planned. (Laughs)
Rintaro Basically, I approach writing as if the characters are free to act, grow, and create their own stories.
Showing Different Sides—
Creating Multidimensional Characters
Could you tell us about some characters or scenes that you felt were particularly impactful?
Ryuji Personally, I was very taken with the “Fate’s Trigger: Conclusion” chapter, where you see Zecilwenshe really come alive. Shadowverse is a game in which even the villains can develop a huge fanbase, and that’s exactly what happened with Zecilwenshe, Belphomet, and Iceschillendrig. I think having the villains play an active role is characteristic of Rintaro’s writing.
Rintaro Thinking about it, Zecilwenshe was added later in the writing process, wasn’t he?
Ryuji Yeah. At first, we were only going to have the Titans who control Rivayle as the main antagonists, but we found that moving the Titans around too much caused the story to fall in on itself. I think that’s when Rintaro suggested adding Zecilwenshe as a character who could move around more freely. I remember one day there was a name added to the list of characters who would appear, and Rintaro said to me, “This character is going to drive the story forward.”
Rintaro I really enjoy all of the characters, but if I had to name just one, it’d have to be Baron. It was challenging to have him play a role in the story and hold his own because he’s someone who is shaped by his own determination and spirit rather than his physical strength in battles.
In addition to the new characters, it was also interesting to see player choices being introduced for the first time. Can you tell us more about that change?
Ryuji Giving the player choices was something that Rintaro had been talking about wanting to add for a long time.
Rintaro Yeah. The theme of the story is fate, and I had this idea that fate is something you choose for yourself, so I thought this would be the perfect time to give players the chance to make their own choices. We also developed false choices and choices that cannot be made at that moment in order to give the choice function more of an impact.
In the chapters set in Rivayle, there is this very clever wordplay, where the last word of a chapter’s title is the first word of the next chapter’s title. Whose idea was that?
Rintaro That was Ryuji’s idea.
Ryuji I thought it would be a neat trick. Thankfully, Rintaro agreed, so I set to work on the project. I was really pleased that so many players noticed. There was also a part of me that worried that it would spoil the idea of the time loops if too many people noticed early on, but I think we were able to push it pretty far without that happening.
With the addition of new leaders since the “Fate’s Trigger” arc, the lineup of characters in Shadowverse is now quite large. What do you think is important when it comes to creating characters that will appeal to players?
Rintaro I’m very conscious of creating characters who are multifaceted. I don’t want them to just be “cool” or “cute”—I want to create characters who are “cool but flawed” and so on.
That’s often what draws us towards certain people in real life too, isn’t it?
Rintaro I think so. If I can show players many different sides of the same character—cute, cool, scary, etc., that makes me happy.
Ryuji In “Entropy’s Abyss,” Sekka looks adorable, but she’s actually incredibly strong-willed. I think this gap between her appearance and personality is another thing Rintaro excels at getting across in his writing, and it really adds to a character’s appeal.
Turning a New Page with “The Empyrean Inn”:
How Will the Shadowverse Story Unfold Next?
What do you envision for the future of the Shadowverse story?
Rintaro Well, “The Empyrean Inn” arc has started, and from here on out it will be the other members of the scenario team with Ryuji at the center who will write the script.
Ryuji Basically, everyone in the scenario team has written a series of things, and I’m working on putting everything together. The story of Arisa and the new leaders has come to a close, and a new story is beginning, which I hope is something that all the players can get excited about! But Arisa and other characters players have already met will continue to make appearances in the future, so there’s no need to worry about them disappearing.
Shadowverse is celebrating its sixth anniversary this year. What are some things you’ve been able to do because of the game’s long run?
Ryuji Thanks to the amazing support of the players, we’ve been able to do a lot more in terms of the scenarios, such as introducing additional stills and choices.
Rintaro In addition, having time to increase the number of characters has greatly expanded the scope of the story we’re able to tell. We’ve also been able to improve storytelling by working together with the scripting team responsible for directing conversation scenes and asking the staff for suggestions. For example, the scripting team helped us with the direction of the scene where the bullet of fate is handed over, which I think made it easier to convey the meaning behind this moment.
How do you view the role of the scenarios in the context of the card battles?
Rintaro The scenarios are tied to the card packs and are what make the card battles so interesting. The story is vital to ensuring each and every card captures the attention of the players. In Shadowverse, our first priority is to make the card lineup appealing to players. To put it strongly, we believe that no matter how fascinating a scenario is, it is meaningless if the card lineup is not able to tell the same story. We chose an Old West theme for Rivayle not only because it’s interesting, but also because it can be clearly expressed in the illustrations for a card pack.
So making the scenario more interesting also makes the card game part more fun, right?
Rintaro Yeah. We want players who don’t have much experience with card games to also fall in love with Shadowverse because of the story and characters.
On a final note, do you have a message for the players?
Ryuji Even though we might have brought the first chapter of Shadowverse to a close with “The Final Loop,” the story will continue! From “The Empyrean Inn” on, the new scenario team is going to work hard to produce something fans will really enjoy, so please give the new arc a go!
Rintaro Being able to create while also listening to the voices of players is one of the best parts of writing for an ongoing title, so I’m looking forward to hearing lots of comments from the fans going forward.
We’re going to keep on planning not only card packs for the main story, but also card packs with original themes to get excited about. We hope everyone continues to enjoy Shadowverse!
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