After working for Namco on titles including Ridge Racer and Ace Combat, Takuya Iwasaki moved to Cavia. There he acted as producer for the Nier and Drakengard projects before subsequently starting his own company named Orca. He has also worked on Dragon Quest X, and an interview with Famitsu has revealed that his studio is currently working on a new Dragon Quest game. It is not yet known what kind of Dragon Quest game they are working on, but the Dragon Quest franchise will be celebrating its 30th anniversary next year. Yuji Horii has said that they have three games in development for the event, so Orca’s current project may well be one of them.
When asked by Famitsu about their current work, Orca had this to say: “I’ve been put in charge for the production of a project for the Dragon Quest series,” said producer Toru Takahashi. “At the moment, we’re looking for new planners for this new project. Orca’s staff consists of about 70% programmers, so it’s kind of difficult to internally develop even one piece of software.”
Orca manager Masatoshi Furubayashi said “This project has currently just started, and we really need help from planners. We’d like to get the presentation abilities and ideas from a planner that can help show just how much fun this project will be.” He added that there is still much work left to do, and that if there are any planners who’d like to test their talents, Orca would welcome them with open arms.
Famitsu also asked the developers about their current progress on the project. Takahashi told Famitsu, “Since it’s a project that we’re barely starting, we’ve made what’s going to be the base of the game, then from here on, we’re at a stage where we’ll make various elements to add to the game. And to do this, we’ll need staff that can provide ideas, so we’ve decided to get planners to help participate in coming up with ideas.”
While little is known about this new Dragon Quest project at the moment, it appears likely that it is one of three projects in development for next year’s celebration of the Dragon Quest franchise’s 30th anniversary. We will have to wait until more information is released to find out specifics about the game, and when it may release.
