During March, several teams had successfully completed their development cycles. The two main teams finishing their work this month were Team NIWA from Japan and Team Tempest from the USA. Both teams had spent the past months polishing their projects to meet ZAGE's quality standards.
Team NIWA had completed development of Final Fantasy VIII for ZEPS 3, focusing on optimizing the game for the console hardware and ensuring the performance and visuals matched ZAGE's expectations. Meanwhile, Team Tempest had finished developing Castle Wolfenstein for PC.
Both titles were scheduled to release at the end of the month, launching alongside several other ZAGE titles including Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Mafia, and Fallout 2. Together, these releases were expected to create a strong lineup for ZAGE's March catalogue.
So Zaboru decided to give a new task to Team NIWA. The team was widely known as a group of specialists in JRPG development, and most of their previous projects had been within that genre. However, this time Zaboru intentionally chose not to assign them another JRPG. Instead, he wanted to challenge the team with something slightly different. The new project he gave them was related to the Zelda franchise, specifically The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
Zaboru was confident in the capabilities of all ZAGE teams, even when they were asked to work on genres they were not traditionally known for. In his view, strong developers should be able to adapt and grow when given new challenges. Fortunately, Team NIWA was not completely unfamiliar with the Zelda series. In fact, several members of the team had previously contributed to the development of the first Legend of Zelda game on ZEPS 3, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Because of that experience, Zaboru believed the team already understood the design philosophy behind the franchise.
Majora's Mask would still require careful work, however. The game carried a darker atmosphere compared to many other Zelda titles and relied heavily on time mechanics and world interactions. Zaboru wanted the team to focus on creating a rich world of Termina.
To ensure the developers had enough time to polish the game properly, Zaboru gave them a development window of 10 months. If everything progressed smoothly, the project should be completed by January 2001.
Next for Team Tempest, Zaboru planned for them to develop the sequel to Age of Empire, Age of Empire 2. In this world, the first ZAGE Age of Empire was roughly equivalent to a simplified version of Age of Empire II from Zaboru's previous life. Because of that, the new Age of Empire 2 would be designed as a much larger evolution of the formula. Zaboru planned for the game to combine the strong historical gameplay of Age of Empires II with several advanced mechanics and systems inspired by Age of Empires III.
This meant the game would include deeper civilization identities, improved economic mechanics, and more varied battlefield strategies while still preserving the classic large‑scale medieval warfare that made the series so popular. Zaboru also intended to introduce better unit balancing, improved AI behavior, and larger campaign storytelling so players could experience historical conflicts in a more immersive way.
In addition, several quality‑of‑life improvements would be added, including smoother pathfinding, more responsive controls, and better visual presentation to take advantage of this world modern PC hardware. Zaboru believed that combining the best elements from both Age of Empires II and III would create a strategy game that felt both familiar and significantly more advanced than its predecessor Age of Empire 2 in his previous life.
With these goals in mind, Zaboru scheduled the project for release in March 2001, giving Team Tempest enough time to refine the mechanics and polish the experience before launch.
Next, Zaboru had already begun expanding the existing ZAGE teams, especially Team Tempest. He planned for this team not only to develop full games but also to handle expansion packs in the future, allowing ZAGE titles to grow over time rather than ending support shortly after release. One of the main reasons Zaboru decided to start this strategy now was because Steam was already live. With a digital platform available, distributing expansion packs or DLC had become much easier compared to the past when games had to be sold physically. Instead of producing new discs, additional content could simply be uploaded to Steam and downloaded directly by players. Because of this, Zaboru believed expansion content would become an important part of the future game industry. It was a powerful way to keep players engaged while also extending the lifespan of successful games.
For their first assignment under this new direction, Team Tempest would begin working on the Warcraft III expansion pack, The Frozen Throne. Since the core systems of Warcraft III were already well established, the expansion would mainly focus on adding new campaigns, additional units, improved balance, and several gameplay features that could deepen the strategic experience for players. Because the development scope was smaller than a full game, Zaboru did not expect the project to take too long.
Based on the current development schedule, Zaboru estimated that the expansion could be completed and released by July of this year. He also decided that the price would remain relatively affordable, ensuring that most players who owned the base game could easily purchase the expansion through Steam and continue enjoying the world of Warcraft without feeling pressured by a high cost.
Aside from this, Zaboru was also closely monitoring the progress of the China offices, which were still in the middle of their recruitment phase. The hiring process was moving steadily, though it would still take some time before the office became fully operational. Based on the current progress, Zaboru expected the recruitment stage to be completed sometime around June or July.
Originally, Zaboru had considered naming the China team Team Dynasty, the same name used by the Korean team. His initial idea was for both the China and Korea branches to share a unified identity because the two offices would often collaborate and divide large development tasks between them. However, after thinking about it more carefully, he decided against using the same name. Zaboru believed that giving each region its own identity would help the teams build stronger internal culture and pride in their work.
Zaboru also had much larger plans for the China branch compared to some of the other regional offices. The building itself was slightly larger than the ZAGE Korea office, which meant it could support a much bigger workforce. Because of that, Zaboru intended for the China team to eventually function more like Team OMNI in London—a highly versatile development hub capable of handling many different types of projects.
In the long term, Zaboru hoped the China office could expand into multiple specialized teams, each focusing on different genres or technical areas. However, since the office was still new and recruitment was ongoing, he believed that starting with a single development team was the most practical approach. Once the team gained experience and the workforce grew larger, the branch could gradually expand into several teams in the future.
Meanwhile, under ZAGE's new internal rule that allowed developers to freely submit their own project ideas, an interesting proposal finally appeared. The request came from none other than Shigeru Miyamoto, who was currently the head of Team NOVA. Miyamoto proposed creating a sequel to Mario 64 for ZEPS 3. According to him, the idea had been forming in his mind for quite some time. Shigeru had always held a deep affection for Mario as a character and believed there were still many gameplay possibilities that had not yet been explored since the first Mario 64 release. He wanted to build upon the foundation of the original game while pushing the platforming design even further.
Just as Zaboru had requested in the new rule system, Miyamoto kept the detailed design of the project mostly secret. Instead of presenting a full design document from the beginning, Miyamoto preferred to develop the ideas internally within Team NOVA first. Zaboru would only be allowed to play early builds of the game later, once the prototype had reached a playable state. This method allowed the developers to experiment freely without being restricted too early by outside opinions.
Miyamoto explained that many of his best ideas often appeared during the process of iteration. Sometimes a mechanic that seemed simple at first could grow into the main identity of the game after weeks of testing. Because of that, he believed it was better for Zaboru to experience the game directly rather than read about it on paper.
Miyamoto asked Zaboru to trust him on this approach. He assured him that Team NOVA would work carefully and that the final result would not disappoint. His goal was to create something that could stand proudly beside the original Mario 64 while also introducing new ideas that would surprise players.
However, Miyamoto also requested a development period of two years. The reason was simple: Team NOVA already had several responsibilities assigned by Zaboru, and some expansion projects were still ongoing within the studio. Their manpower was limited, and the team preferred to focus on quality rather than rushing the project. According to Miyamoto, a Mario title required careful level design, constant gameplay testing, and repeated iteration before it could reach the standard he expected. If they rushed the development, the game might lose the charm and creativity that defined the series. Therefore, taking the full two years would ensure the game could be properly refined before release.
Zaboru himself felt a surge of excitement when hearing the proposal. For him, this project carried a special meaning. It would become the first major sequel of a famous game that did not exist in his previous life. That alone made the idea fascinating. Even though in this world Shigeru Miyamoto was not the original creator of Mario, Zaboru knew very well how talented Miyamoto truly was. In his previous life, Miyamoto had proven countless times that he possessed incredible design instincts when it came to gameplay and creativity.
Because of that, Zaboru did not hesitate for long. He approved the project and trusted Miyamoto's vision. Based on the two‑year development request, Zaboru expected the sequel to be ready for release around March 2002, giving Team NOVA enough time to experiment, refine mechanics, and create another memorable Mario adventure for the ZEPS 3.
In the near future, Zaboru planned to change the way he guided his developers. In the past, when he assigned a project, he usually provided a full outline—drafts, design direction, story concepts, and sometimes even gameplay structure—leaving the developers mostly responsible for executing the idea. However, Zaboru now wanted to shift toward a more creative approach. Instead of giving complete instructions, he would begin offering only core ideas and allow the developers themselves to expand them into full projects.
For example, he might simply say something like, "Make a Deadpool game." From there, the development team would be responsible for imagining the gameplay style, the tone of the story, the mechanics, and the overall design direction. Zaboru would still participate in discussions and give feedback when necessary, but the main creative process would belong to the team itself.
He believed this approach would encourage stronger creativity among the developers. By giving them room to experiment and think independently, they could produce ideas that were sometimes even better than what he originally imagined. Zaboru understood that great games were often born from passionate teams who had the freedom to explore their own vision, and he wanted ZAGE to become a place where that kind of creativity could grow. Besides, he knows all ZAGE Developers are talented. That shows whenever they work there will be ideas that come from them.
Now it was already the end of March, just before the release of the ZAGE March games. At the moment, however, Zaboru was spending time with his family as they attended the premiere of Finding Nemo.
To be continue
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