Archive:Dear Alf 04/q11/answer

Alf: In our first two games, this was entirely due to memory constraints on the Playstation. Our characters are so rich and so detailed that you can't have more than a few of them on screen at the same time. We really had to jump through hoops to get as much stuff on the screen as we did… every time you move from one screen to the next, the code is busily swapping stuff in and out in the background. It's almost like pouring water from a gallon jug, into a cup, then into another gallon jug, over and over again, without spilling a drop in the meantime. Quite a challenge! We trust that our new platform will permit us to work with a broader canvas of characters, although machines being what they are, I'm sure we'll still be doing all sorts of wizardry in the background to deliver the most exciting game experience possible.