Valkyria Chronicles - Development

Development

The game's development team consisted mainly of staff that had been involved in the Sakura Wars series, led by Producer Ryutaro Nonaka and Director Shuntaro Tanaka. Together, they desired to create a game that combined facets of their previous works: strategy elements from the Sakura Wars series, third-person action elements from Nonaka's Nightshade, and role-playing influence from Tanaka's Skies of Arcadia. Originally under the working title Gallian Panzers, the team concentrated on making the strategic and action portions of the game of equal importance. Planning aspects of game play were emphasized through the Potential skill system that distinguishes individuals under the player's command, giving them affinities for certain environments, conditions, and each other. Contrasting the steady pacing of other turn-based strategy titles, the third-person portion of the BLiTZ system was to have an atmosphere of immediacy and tension, achieved in part by allowing enemy soldiers to actively defend themselves during the player's turn, and vice-versa. Also important was the incorporation of battle scenarios and map designs that mimic situations from World War II era combat, such as storming beachheads, stalking through forests, or breaking through barricades in the streets of an enemy-occupied city. They had also watched various war movies such as Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan with Combat!.

To complement the gameplay, distinctive, stylistic visuals were decided upon and carried out through the CANVAS graphics engine. Adding a touch of fantasy to the mix, the development team hoped to be able to garner attention from gamers who did not play games with similar settings but more realistic combat. The use of a warm color palette took emphasis away from the "grotesque, realistic nature of war itself," as Nonaka had stated, and focused instead on the characters and story. Tanaka added that, "we wanted to show that realism isn't the only thing you can do with 3D graphics." The character designs for the game were created by Raita Honjou, who, along with the rest of the development staff, aimed for a look that was described by 1UP.com's Jeremy Parish as "rustic." In early stages designs drew more directly on examples from World War II, however they proved to be too modern for what the team wanted to achieve. Thus, Raita aimed for a motif closer to that found in World War I, first creating Alicia and Welkin's concept illustrations and using them as a basis for the rest of the Gallian cast. World War II influence can still be seen in the designs of Imperial characters such as Gregor, whose uniform is heavily based on German officers' uniforms from that period. The end result of these efforts was described by Japanese director Mamoru Oshii as giving him "an impression similar to ... the Nausicaä manga," and Nonaka admits to aiming for the style found in World Masterpiece Theater.

The music of Valkyria Chronicles was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, who explained that the entire process of composing, recording and editing the game's tracks took a total of eight months. The game's "Main Theme" was initially composed in a variety of arrangements by Sakimoto, who then incorporated those arrangements into other pieces with contrasting tones. Like those in charge of the game's visuals, Sakimoto cited the game's story as its center and biggest inspiration for him, adding a "military color" to the score after this consideration. Other important themes written into the score are the contrast between the game's two most prominent female characters, Alicia and Selvaria, and the relationship between Alicia and Welkin.