The Artists behind Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links

Background

Yu-Gi-Oh is an anime/ trading card game made by Kazuki Takahashi however, Konami has made virtually all Yu-Gi-Oh games in existence. Recently, Konami has released Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links for android/ ios, bringing the game to a new generation of gamers. The objective of the game is simple, summon monsters, attack your opponent and get their life points to zero and you win the game. The main mechanics of the game revolve around strategy. The three main type of cards are spell, trap, and duel monster. Some monsters need to be sacrificed to in order to summon stronger monsters such as Dark Magician or Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Who is the artist?

I went to the Yu-Gi-Oh duel links website to try to identify the main developer of the game but Konami has not released this information. So for this blog, I will be determining whether the Konami developer team for Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links are artists or not as a whole. After all, sociologist Howard Becker wrote how works of art are accomplished through human collaboration. Since Konami has been producing Yu-Gi-Oh video games for decades, they have the experience and vision to modify and improve the game in Duel Links.

Are the Konami Developer artists?

According to Axel Stockburger, “So the strategy of contemporary art consists in creating a specific context in which can make a certain form or thing look other, new and interesting – even if this form was already collected before” (From appropriation to approximation, page. 27). I view the developers of the game as contemporary artists .This is what Konami’s developers did with Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links, brought an old formula and remolded it for a new audience. Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links changes a few rules about the original Yu-Gi-Oh. The player gets 6 slots in total. 3 disposable for duel monsters and 3 for spell and trap cards, instead of the standard 10 slots. There are also cards from the original trading card game, such as Change of Heart or Monster Reborn, who are banned from the game for being too powerful. The developers made this decision in order to keep a balance in the game (keeping a duelist from beating their opponent in one turn. The developers didn’t only copy and paste the Yu-Gi-Oh formula but also fixed the faults of the original game. The rest of the strategy is left to the player with several packs to choose from, all having abundant amounts of cards to choose from. The player must carefully build their deck around certain card(s) or skill sets to outsmart their opponent.

Stockburger states, “The artist is changing a functional or aesthetic element in an existing game.” (From Appropriation to Approximation, page. 29). Konami has taken the old Yu-Gi-Oh duel monsters formula and have transposed it to a modern platform (smart phones). While dueling with your opponent, you can switch between a 2-D or 3-D view of the field giving it a very futuristic look that resembled the anime. The player can also duel with their friends in another part of the world as long as he/she adds their peer to the friend list. This feature was not present in past electronic Yu-Gi-Oh games. The player can also play with anyone around the world in ranked challenges. The game also introduces new packs every couple of months to keep players hooked. Individuals usually have to pay for packs when playing the Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game, but the developers added in game currency that can be earned by completing missions. These packs keep the game fun because the player can create a new deck out of the new card he/ she has earned. There has been much thought put into Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links through its futuristic design and boundaries placed on the original rules, making the developers contemporary artists of our generation.