Editing Space Channel 5 (section)

==Development==
[[Image:Tetsuya Mizuguchi.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Tetsuya Mizuguchi, founder of AM Annex, which later became United Game Artists]]
The concept for ''Space Channel 5'' originated when [[Tetsuya Mizuguchi]]—then known for his work on racing games—was contacted by [[Sega]] to develop a game for the Dreamcast aimed at a female casual gaming demographic.<ref name="GamaInterview"/><ref name="VGD"/> Mizuguchi had no knowledge of such a demographic, so he personally interviewed several young girls to find their tastes in gaming. He discovered that, while male gamers trended towards games that allowed for ranking and high scores, women preferred straight puzzle games.<ref name="GamaInterview"/> Mizuguchi decided to create a game which would bring together both video game and music fans, using his personal experience with nightclub disco and music events such as [[Street Parade]]. He also drew inspiration from the art of [[Wassily Kandinsky]], wanting to encourage a form of [[synesthesia]] within players.<ref name="EuroInterview"/> Other sources of inspiration were the music of the 1950s and 60s, and the music videos of [[Peter Gabriel]] and [[Michael Jackson]] that were showing on [[MTV]] during the 80s.<ref name="Retro"/> This concept originated in 1993, with full production beginning in 1998 following extensive internal planning and approval by Sega senior staff.<ref name="4Gretro"/>

Production was handled by [[United Game Artists|Sega AM9]], later known as United Game Artists.<ref name="DCMag"/><ref name="Edge"/> The team included many staff from [[Sega Sports R&D|Team Andromeda]] (makers of ''[[Panzer Dragoon]]'') and the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series and more who were complete newcomers to game development.<ref name="IGNinterviewA"/> Development for the game lasted almost two years.<ref name="DCMag"/> Beginning with a small team of ten, it eventually expanded to 27 members as development progressed.<ref name="IGNinterviewA"/> Mizuguchi acted as the game's producer, with Takashi Yuda both directing and providing the voice for supporting character Fuze.<ref name="YutaInterview"/> The game was Mizuguchi's first time working on a game aimed exclusively at the home console market, as his earlier work had first been developed for [[arcade game|arcade]].<ref name="EuroInterview"/> Speaking about the Dreamcast, Mizuguchi said that it allowed higher-quality music compared to graphics-focused racing games. He wanted to use the new technology to incorporate interactivity into the score.<ref name="VGD"/> Production was challenging at times due to the balance of gameplay and scenario.<ref name="4Gretro"/>

===Design===
The earliest versions of the game were described by Mizuguchi as "very cool, but not so fun", as players simply pressed buttons in time to the music while a non-interactive video changed. To make the game more interesting, Mizuguchi drew inspiration from the rhythm troope [[Stomp (theatrical show)|Stomp]]; a particular piece which inspired him was a segment where a performer would have the audience copy their clapping, with the rhythm becoming more complex over time. Mizuguchi wanted to incorporate this into the game, combining it with a narrative and distinctive music. The rest of the team found it difficult to understand Mizuguchi's vision as they were confused by his wish for comedy to be a part of the game's style, so he hired a pantomime artist to school the team in physical comedy.<ref name="1UPinterview"/> The production team also went to a comedy workshop to practise miming and physical comedy routines to further inform their understanding of the game.<ref name="GSinterview2"/> The name of the game's aliens "Morolians" was a derivation of the surname of artist Mayumi Moro; it came about as the team often used her last name around the office. Moro found its use in the game funny.<ref name="GSinterview1"/>

A key aspect of the game was that while the gameplay involved shooting, Ulala never actually killed anyone, allowing the game to be approachable to a wider range of players.<ref name="IGNinterviewA"/> When pitching the gameplay in his design document, Mizuguchi distilled the basic cycle of effort and reward, then came up with a means of realising them in the game. To ensure the team fully understood the gameplay concept of matching button presses to music and character actions, all extraneous effects were stripped away, leaving a basic version the team could focus on.<ref name="IGNinterviewB"/> While some animations were created using motion capture, the rest were animated by hand.<ref name="GSinterview1"/> The vocalization "Chu" emerged during voice recording. The original word was "Shoot", but the actors had difficulty pronouncing it using the necessary single syllable, resulting in the word being contracted and altered into its current form.<ref name="4Gretro"/>

Ulala's motion capture actions were performed by Japanese dancer Nazu Nahoko.<ref name="UlalaVoiceA"/> The Morolians' movements were scripted by the mime artist Mizuguchi hired to help the team during early production.<ref name="IGNinterviewB"/> The idea of streaming polygonal models over CGI movies was suggested by Yuta.<ref name="GSinterview1"/> They made use of [[ADX (file format)|ADX]] technology to synch the movement of models over the movies. The game content filled just over 99% of the Dreamcast [[GD-ROM]] disc.<ref name="DCMag"/> The space usage was attributed by Mizuguchi to the large amount of video and audio streaming used in the game.<ref name="GSinterview1"/> In hindsight, Mizuguchi cited the use of pre-rendered movies as a challenge to the team.<ref name="VGD"/> Due to the amount of space used, some planned comedy segments had to be cut.<ref name="GSinterview1"/> An early tech demo was put together for the game; in this prototype version, the player character was a man, and only the most basic elements of its gameplay and theme were in place. A later version featured a prototype design for Ulala.<ref name="GWIsecret"/> The game's visual aesthetic of a "retro future" was present in that demo, and stayed throughout production.<ref name="DengMusic"/> Influences on the characters and art design came from across the production team, with tastes ranging from ''[[Star Wars]]'' to ''[[Doraemon]]'' to [[Monty Python]].<ref name="IGNinterviewA"/> Mizuguchi was inspired by the contrasting styles of orchestral music and science fiction setting used in ''Star Wars''.<ref name="VGD"/>

The character of Ulala was a collaborative creation, though much of her design was attributed to the game's art director Yumiko Miyabe.<ref name="GSinterview1"/> Ulala's early actions were deemed too "cool and stylish", and her overall movement too stiff. Her design was also adjusted several times so she would appeal to male gamers (who favored looks) and female gamers (who preferred personality).<ref name="GSinterview2"/> Another notable artist on the project was Jake Kazdal, who worked as a concept and model artist.<ref name="Kazdal1"/> Kazdal said that one of Ulala's key design inspirations was the titular lead of the science fiction film ''[[Barbarella (film)|Barbarella]]'' (1968). The art style continued to evolve from there, with the staff often laughing at the "sheer ridiculousness" of some later characters.<ref name="Kazdal2"/> Her costume's orange colour was a reference to the Dreamcast logo and signified Sega's new direction.<ref name="SpaceChannel3"/>

===Audio===
====Music====
The music for ''Space Channel 5'' was composed by Naofumi Hataya and Kenichi Tokoi of Sega's music label WaveMaster. Hataya also acted as sound director.<ref name="SC5composerA"/><ref name="SC5composerB"/> The musical style, inspired by big band jazz of the 1950s and 60s, was one of the earliest elements to be decided upon.<ref name="1UPinterview"/><ref name="Retro"/> Hataya attributed the game's musical direction to Mizuguchi's guidance throughout production.<ref name="RocketHataya"/> The musical style changed with each stage, with later sections incorporating [[Techno Music|techno]] and [[Trance music|trance]].<ref name="IGNinterviewA"/> The in-game soundtrack mixed CD-quality music with midi sound samples.<ref name="DCMag"/> According to Hataya, one of the hardest aspects of music development was the variety of genres and fitting all the score onto the game disc.<ref name="RocketHataya"/> Music production ran simultaneously with the game's production, with the sound team at first using concept art and in-production gameplay. Late in development, the story caused a lot of additional work for the team. The final total of in-game music was estimated at 70 minutes.<ref name="SC5diary"/>

The game's main theme was "Mexican Flyer", composed by [[Ken Woodman]] in 1966.<ref name="1UPinterview"/> Mizuguchi approached Woodman about using the theme. Woodman was surprised that someone wanted to use the theme for a video game.<ref name="IGNinterviewA"/> The use of "Mexican Flyer" in the game's early presentation video informed the direction of the music.<ref name="DengMusic"/> Getting the rights to the track proved difficult, as the track was extremely obscure and had not been used in any media since its release.<ref name="Retro"/> The ending theme "Pala Paya" used vocals performed by WaveMaster staff.<ref name="DengMusic"/> A soundtrack album for the game was published by [[Marvelous Entertainment]] and distributed by [[VAP (company)|VAP]] on February 21, 2000. The album featured 22 tracks, including a remix of "Mexican Flyer".<ref name="SC5ost"/> Tracks from ''Space Channel 5'' were included in the compilation album ''Space Channel 5 20th Anniversary: Gyungyun Selection'' by UMA on December 18, 2019.<ref name="Album2019"/>

====Voice cast====
Sega chose not to promote the game's voice cast.<ref name="UlalaVoiceA"/> Most of the voice roles were performed by members of the game's staff.<ref name="SP5jacksonA"/> This was due to the team wanting full control of how characters were portrayed, and the need to do quick re-recording sessions. Ulala's Japanese voice actress was similarly pulled from Sega staff. According to Mizuguchi, the recording process was so strenuous, and his demands so exacting that the actress was brought to tears.<ref name="Retro"/> Journalist James Mielke attributed Ulala's voice to Mineko Okamura.<ref name="UlalaVoiceB"/> Okamura later confirmed her role, saying her demo voice was kept in the final game after positive feedback from the press. Professionals [[Show Hayami]] and Kae Iida were hired for the roles of rival reporters Jaguar and Pudding respectively, with Iida originally being planned for the role of Ulala.<ref name="4Gretro"/> Ulala was voiced in English by [[Apollo Smile]], then a notable television personality.<ref name="UlalaVoiceA"/>

A notable cameo was [[Michael Jackson]] himself, featuring in the game as the character "Space Michael". A long-term collaborator with and fan of Sega, Jackson was shown a near-finished version of the game by Sega staff member Shuji Utsumi. Jackson loved the game and wanted to be featured in it.<ref name="1UPinterview"/><ref name="SP5jacksonB"/> Mizuguchi initially wanted to refuse the request, as the game was only a month away from completion, but the team wanted to include Jackson, so they substituted a Morolian-controlled NPC character for a model based on Jackson and added moves based on the singer's famous dance moves. Initially thinking Jackson would dislike it, Mizuguchi was surprised when Jackson approved, realising the pressures the team were under, and provided voice lines for the character.<ref name="SP5jacksonA"/>