Interview: Yoot Saito (1999-10-09) by games4mac

This is an unaltered copy of an interview of Yoot Saito, for use as a primary source on Sega Retro. Please do not edit the contents below. Language: English Original source: games4mac (archived)

Yoot Saito Q&A

Yoot Saito is a Mac evengelist and developer of Yoot Tower from Sega PC. He created SimTower, as well.

How do you explain the phenomenal success of SimTower ?

Unlike RPGs or adventure games with a linear story, the challenge of SimTower is the simulation model of "people" and how to treat them. There is no specific hero. By setting the movements of the elevators we succeeded in showing the natural reactions of people. It is generally thought that the building is the main character of SimTower, but ultimately it is the residents themselves. They are what brings about the excitement in the simulation.

We were limited by the 2D graphics though.

Tell us about Yoot Tower.

Using the SimTower simulation engine I want to offer a variety of building construction kits in manner similar to Lego. You can say it is the appeal of an extendible game...

As a kid, I was a big fan of Lego. Later when the windmill and the wheel were put out the fun of Lego was never-ending. So rather than having scores and game-over, being able to extend and expand the game is my intention.

What software did you use to develop Yoot Tower?

I assume that this question is not about what I as the game designer used, but rather Mr. Sakai and the rest of the development team used. Primarily they used the CodeWarrior C++ compiler and Photoshop for the graphics.

What sites do you have in mind for add-on modules?

Actually, the completion of Yoot Tower was late so as soon as it finished I had to concentrate on "Seaman", an A-Life game. So even though I have left the Tower team, they are developing the Statue of Liberty, Tokyo Tower, and plans for other famous symbolic sites.

What was the hardest part of developing it?

Defining the functions of the main game required me to anticipate all possible functions needed by option disks in the future. That was really tough.

Why did you want Yoot Tower to come to Mac first? What kind of resistance did you encounter?

In making the initial prototypes, the Mac was a great sketchbook. However in America much more so than in Japan there is a lot of skepticism toward the Mac market. That was a very difficult point from a marketing angle.

How did you start developing games?

I did not have a lot of interest in action or shooting games. However when I first saw SimCity I thought that it was a very smart method of expression. So when Maxis released Tower in America and Europe as Sim Tower it was a big honor for me.

How did you first become involved with the Mac?

Around 1984-85 DOS machines were at the height of their power in Japan. However the Mac, althought the screen was just monochrome, had sampling sounds and many bizarre brilliant programs like RACTOR. It was like seeing the silver screen from the 21st century.

What kind of Mac do you have?

FROM LISA1 TO POWERBOOK2400. SO MANY.

Tell us about the Macintosh Museum that you established.

This was not a permanent thing.

My collection itself is for some reason called the Macintosh Museum. In 1992 with the help of Apple Japan I held an exhibition of my entire collection in a gallery in Tokyo. I was trying to show the progress of the user interface from the Alto, the original prototype by Xeroxcs Palo Alto Research Center, to the latest user interface.

It was just done as a hobby.

It seems like promoting the Macintosh has become something of a quest for you-or a symbol for something greater. Could you talk about that a little?

Macintosh is more than the name of a computer, it is a way of thinking. Apple is a unique R company, and I am experiencing their R together with them.

The fax modem, QuickTime, CD-ROM and other technologies that are now taken for granted all began on the Mac. The Newton message pad is no more but it was a great product typical of Apple. For the ordinary computer user Apple resembles the MIT Media Lab.

Recently this has changed a little though...

What was working with Timothy Leary like?

How do you know this? Timothy???????????????????????????????????????????Keith Halings?Art?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

When I was much younger Timothy invited me to his house a number of times. Sometimes I spent the night. His house was filled with the art of Keith Haring. Staying at his house every day I was introduced to a large number of other guests. Spending my days in this way I recieved my education on America.

Just before he passed away, I paid him a visit. After he heard about my arrival, I could hear that familiar voice shouting "YOOT! YOOT!" His entourage let me in. When I entered the room he propped himself up in his bed and said "Take a picture!" to a cameraman nearby. Although he was emaciated his eyes still twinkled with life.

A few days later when I returned to Berkeley I received a call from Timothyfs lawyer George informing me that Timothy was no more.

It was a shock.

The photograph from that day can still be seen in my office.

If there were no computer games, what do you think youcd be doing professionally?

Maybe magazines, or movies.

I am still looking for a opportunity to shoot a movie.

What would you like to see Apple do, specifically in terms of expanding the Macintosh gaming market?

What I expect most from Apple right now are not games but more progress in the state of the art of computing itself. Since 1984, computer interfaces have not progressed.

If you weren't constrained by the standard conventions of computer gaming architecture, what kinds of games would you create?

I am not interested in games with such concepts as scoring, game over, endings, clearing levels, etc. I would continue to make games without end, that become a part of the usercs life. Something that, in the same way as a word processor or network software, stays on the hard disk for years.

What do you think of the iMac as a gaming machine?

Apart from having expanding the Mac market, I don't think there is anything especially new and different about the iMac.

Give us a sense of yourself as a person-your musical taste, types of movies/literature you like, what you do in your leisure time, etc.

Ethnic music like Deep Forest.

Spending time with my daughter

Partying with friends like Matt Wolf/a producer at Sega

If you could tell Steve Jobs one thing, what would it be?

I once read an article by a president at Honda.

In it he said that not being a founder, he was not allowed to decide on the truly risky choices where bancrupcy was a possibility. Only Soichiro Honda could do that.

Deciding a Big Change always threatens the present situation of a business.

Still, it has to be done.

Only Mr. Jobs has a right to do it,

I think, because nobody else on earth does.

By Heather Hawkins
of Access Communications
used with permission