In NowGamer's first report direct from the Games Developers Conference in San Francisco, we take a look at the Eastern and Western Game Design panel, led by SUDA 51 and Team ICO's Fumito Ueda

There are a lot of worthwhile panels to be found at the annual Game Developers Conference. Some might say too many.

In fact, as the more interesting panels are often scheduled at the same time as each other, it can cause some excruciating decision making for attendees who shelled out $1300 for an All Access pass. However, when Goichi Suda, the creator of No More Heroes and Killer7, Emil Pagliarulo, the lead designer of Fallout 3, and Fumito Ueda, director of Shadow of Colossus, all end up in the same room together, it is a panel - no, an event - that simply cannot be missed.
 
As always, Goichi Suda (better known as SUDA 51) was the life of the party, keeping things fresh and fun while the other two were a bit more serious about their input on the differences between Western and Eastern game design. As if it wasn’t quite obvious from his games, Suda admitted that he gathers inspiration from numerous sources, “I take a look at TV shows, films, and games and then try to get good ideas -- and I accumulate my ideas and then that will come together to make a game."
 
Referencing the save feature in his last game, Suda added, "Being alone is very important. I go to the bathroom and then I try to poop and I'll come up with a good idea."
 
However, it was Ueda-San, making an extremely rare U.S. appearance, who had the crowd hanging on every word. Discussing the need to have a flexible design process, Ueda-San revealed the Shadow of the Colossus that could have been.

"Originally, several people worked together to kill the colossi," said Ueda. "But thinking about team strength and teamwork, we had to change our idea a little bit. But I love that process. We always are making an effort to create the best thing, so changing the plan is not a bad thing."

Suda’s philosophy is a bit different, however. "I make a perfect design plan, so there's no way we could change it," the charismatic developer said to an explosion of audience laughter.
 
More seriously, Suda noted that he often relied on the opinion of the producer whenever the development team opposed one of his ideas, which in the case of the Killer7 was Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami.

Ueda-San instead seeks out the opinions of players during test sessions. He admitted that sometimes he loses track of whether his game is actually fun or not, and therefore he stands behind an actual gamer and tries to experience through their eyes for the first time.
 
This was easily one of the more interesting and informative panels thus far at this year’s GDC, however we have a feeling that Lifetime Achievement honoree Hideo Kojima will not disappoint when he gives his keynote in several hours. Check back later in the day for impressions of his highly anticipated speech.