Namco staying at arm's length when it comes to Dark Souls development

Namco's Daisuke Uchiyama and Kei Hirono, producers on Dark Souls, are taking a hand-off approach when it come to the game, and allowing lead director Hidetaka Miyazaki complete control of the it.

Speaking with Gamasutra, Hirono described Miyazaki as being "very confident," about the game and Namco wants him to "create what he's confident in," added Uchiyama.

Part of this, is not allowing marketing to get in the way by suggesting gameplay changes, or making the game less-difficult than its predecessor, Demons' Souls.

"We are bringing this game to a new stage, making this game more difficult and having people feel more of a sense of achievement or accomplishment," said Hirono "Actually, we wanted people to feel the sense of achievement or accomplishment -- a 'Yes!' feeling. That was the reason why we increased the difficulty level. And I believe that this is the only game that people can feel that much sense of achievement."

"We don't really tell them to adjust the game balance or difficulty level," added Uchiyama, who said Namco never tells the Dark Souls team how to do their jobs. "In the beginning, yes, we did. It's about basic stuff, though. What we are doing is to respect [Miyazaki's] vision of this game, and what we are doing is to create an environment where he can focus on creating what he exactly wants to create.

"He always says, 'I cannot make the game from marketing.' I guess, in a way, he's a creative type of guy. He's that type of guy,"

"In terms of gameplay, we're relying on From Software to develop what they think is the best," said Hirono.

Dark Souls is out in early October for PS3 and Xbox 360.