With the release of Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, a remake of the Gamecube classic Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, we got the opportunity to hold an email interview with the game’s director Rika Hoshina and producer Hikaru Nakano who gave us some behind the scenes in-site about the remake.

Rika Hoshina previously acted as the Assistant Director of the previous Story of Seasons game: Pioneers of Olive Town while Hikaru Nakano, who’s been with the series since Harvest Moon 64, acted as that game’s director. For this interview, they spoke more about recreating Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, often considered one of the best games in the series, for modern consoles.

Following the release of Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, what led to the decision to also remake A Wonderful Life?

Nakano: A lot of things had to line up for this remake to come to fruition, including acquiring the green light for the project, timing, putting a framework in place, fixing staffing issues, and a host of other factors.

One of the biggest motivations for us was our fans. Even before social media had really taken off, fans had been telling us for years that A Wonderful Life was one of their favorite games. Because the original game was so beloved in the West, many team members who worked on the overseas editions felt very enthusiastic about the project.

Personally, I really liked the game’s depth, so I’ve always been looking for opportunities to remake it, but doing so was a bit difficult due to its complexity. It wasn’t until Hoshina took the reins as director that the remake became a reality.

What are some of the biggest changes compared to the original game, and which one is especially challenging to get right?

Hoshina: Since the early stages of development, the theme of this remake has always been “going through life with your family”. In the original game, you could choose whether to spend your life alone or with your family. In the remake, however, we wanted to put more of an emphasis on spending time with family. To do this, we added more family events, allowed family members to help out more on the farm, and added more love-interest events.

As a fan of the original game myself, it was quite difficult to draw a line between what to keep from the old game and what needed an overhaul. When I asked users who played the most recent Story of Seasons title about elements that I enjoyed from the original A Wonderful Life, many of them actually told me that they disliked those elements and found them difficult or hard to understand, or that the tone was a little too dark for their taste. So we had a tough time trying to strike the right balance between preserving aspects of the original game while making it more accessible to newer players of the series.

The original game is known for being quite challenging, was the remake updated to make it more accessible for newcomers?

Nakano: The original A Wonderful Life was a surprisingly difficult game. Taking care of animals was hard, and the overall difficulty was a bit high, so we had discussions about simplifying it. Even when we tinkered with the difficulty, there were still a lot of first-timers who found the game too difficult. Trying to find that perfect equilibrium was a real struggle.

Hoshina: I actually enjoyed the original game specifically because of its labor-intensive gameplay, but I understand that’s not for everyone. So trying to retain the charm of the original while making improvements to it proved especially challenging. One thing that makes A Wonderful Life and its remake unique within the Story of Seasons series is its portrayal of life from beginning to end.

Another big change in the game is obviously the character design, which is still being worked on by the series artist – Igusa Matsuyama, but there’s definitely a huge difference there. Are there any specific reasons for the style change in character design?

Hoshina: It’s been 20 years since the original came out, so we wanted to update the artwork. Some of the outfits and hairstyles that resonated with fans 20 years ago would feel a bit out of place today. For example, the marathon coach Sully (Wally in the original) had his stopwatch replaced with a modern smartwatch.

Besides expanding on the original game and taking feedback from recent Story of Seasons titles, are the developers also influenced by other works?

Hoshina: I wouldn’t say I was influenced by a specific game, but I’ve played and studied past titles from the Story of Seasons series. We put in a few easter eggs from other games, so please keep an eye out for them.

Since the game has already launched in Japan, how’s the reception been so far?

Nakano: The response has been largely positive in Japan, which we’re truly grateful for. This game is a bit unique from the others, but I feel like its theme of spending life with one’s family fits perfectly with the Story of Seasons series. By listening to feedback and requests from our fans, we hope to continue making great games.

Remaking games is hard so it’s interesting to hear what challenges the team had when making Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, especially in an age swamped with farming simulators that were clearly inspired by the original Harvest Moon titles.

For more on Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life check out our full review of the game.

The game is available for Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.