Editing Radiant Silvergun (section)

== Development ==
=== Background ===
Since the company's inception, [[Treasure (company)|Treasure]] had primarily been a developer of [[Action game|action]] and [[Platform game|platform]] games for home consoles.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{cite magazine|date=August 1998|title=Interview with Masato Maegawa|url=https://archive.org/stream/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_034/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_034_-_august_1998_UK#page/n23/mode/2up|magazine=[[Sega Saturn Magazine]] (UK)|issue=34|pages=25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407092532/https://archive.org/stream/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_034/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_034_-_august_1998_UK#page/n23/mode/2up|archive-date=7 April 2016|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Sega had repeatedly asked the company to develop an arcade game for them, but Treasure president Masato Maegawa was concerned the shrinking arcade business would be too risky from a business perspective and arcade goers would not appreciate the effort placed into their game.<ref name=":3">{{Cite magazine|date=15 March 1998|script-title=ja:レイディアント シルバーガン|magazine=Gamest|language=ja|location=Japan|volume=216|pages=86}} ([http://shmuplations.com/radiantsilvergun/ Translation], [https://web.archive.org/web/20170531192700/http://shmuplations.com/radiantsilvergun/ archived])</ref> Despite this concern the team had wanted to develop a 2D arcade style [[shoot 'em up]] for some time.<ref name=":2" /> Much of the staff were fans of the genre, having grown up during the genre's golden age, but entering their careers after [[fighting game]]s started filling arcades.<ref name=":3" /> Director Hiroshi Iuchi was especially passionate about starting the project.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=レイディアントシルバーガン公式ガイドブック|publisher=ソフトバンク|year=1998|isbn=4797307080|location=Tōkyō|oclc=170216781}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20120205182519/http://www.emuxhaven.net/~silver/Hiroshi%20Iuchi%20Interview.html Translation])</ref> Although the team was eager to develop the game, there were still concerns. Maegawa believed that the shoot 'em up genre was dying, and was risky from a sales perspective.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5">{{cite magazine|last=McCarthy|first=Dave|title=The Making of...Radiant Silvergun|url=https://archive.org/stream/retro_gamer/RetroGamer_096#page/44/mode/2up|magazine=[[Retro Gamer]]|issue=96|pages=44–47}}</ref> Iuchi was also concerned there would be no place for a 2D shooter in an arcade space that was advancing more towards large and specialized 3D game machines.<ref name=":3" /> In the face of these concerns about commercial viability, the team felt they had a good concept and pushed forth.<ref name=":2" />

Iuchi thought arcade developers of the era were not innovating enough and only settling for rehashes of old ideas. He thought shooting games at the time were most commonly in the style of [[Toaplan]]-developed vertical shooters, but he remembered in the past when developers like [[Konami]] and [[Irem]] had distinct shooter styles. In response to this, Iuchi's first thought was to develop a non-Toaplan style shooter.<ref name=":3" /> He claimed to have the idea for ''Radiant Silvergun'' long before it was released, not pulling any influence from games of the era.<ref name=":5" /> The key philosophies he carried was to make a classic style game, but make it unlike anything else.<ref name=":4" /> He was a big fan of Irem's ''[[Image Fight]]'' (1988), and believes that some of that inspiration is reflected in ''Radiant Silvergun''.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />

The Treasure team wanted to develop the game for home console in addition to arcades. They agreed the game had to be released in arcades first, as a console exclusive shooter may be a hard sell.<ref name=":3" /> They hoped the game would appeal to shooting fans in the arcades while also convincing home console players that shooters were still fun.<ref name=":2" /> Maegawa thought it would be best to keep the arcade and console portions of the development cycle separate, because arcades and consoles are so different.<ref name=":3" /> Iuchi treated the arcade version as the "test version" with the console version released soon after that.<ref name=":3" /> He believed that if the team was not successful with the console [[Porting|port]], the 2D shoot 'em up genre would soon die.<ref name=":3" />

=== Production ===
{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center
| align = right
| total_width = 440
| footer = ''Radiant Silvergun'' was developed for the [[ST-V]] arcade board (left) and the [[Sega Saturn]] (right).
| footer_align = center
| image1 = Sega ST-V Dynamite Deka PCB 20100324.jpg | width1 = 593 | height1 = 551
| image2 = Sega-Saturn-JP-Mk1-Console-Set.jpg | width2 = 3980 | height2 = 2280
}}
Development on ''Radiant Silvergun'' started in late 1997, and progressed smoothly as opposed to past projects where they had to scrap ideas and restart from scratch.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" /> The title is in reference to an early concept that had people flying through the sky holding silver guns in each hand. Some of the staff thought the name was difficult to remember, but Iuchi believed that if it was hard to remember, it was hard to forget.<ref name=":4" /> Only ten people worked on the game,<ref name=":5" /> including three programmers, four artists, and one sound designer.<ref name=":2" /> They chose to develop for the Sega [[ST-V]] arcade board because Treasure had normally developed games for Sega and it was similar to the [[Sega Saturn]] home console, which they were planning on porting the game to. The team had knowledge of the Sega Saturn's hardware from developing previous games for it, so they believed it would be easier this time around.<ref name=":2" /> They did not use any expensive hardware, just conventional computers. They used [[LightWave 3D|LightWave]] for the 3D objects and freeware downloaded from the internet to make the 2D graphics.<ref name=":5" /> The programmers and designers worked hard to use every bit of power from Sega's hardware.<ref name=":5" />

Iuchi did not include [[power-up]]s in ''Radiant Silvergun'' because he felt they were distracting, and he often found himself dying when trying to manage different weapons and items. To combat this, he made the game progress simply through shooting and dodging, and mapped weapons to individual buttons and button combinations instead of needing to press a button to cycle through weapons.<ref name=":3" /> The team also made the bullets deliberately slow to appeal to a wider playing audience.<ref name=":3" /> The team recruited animation studio [[Gonzo (company)|Gonzo]] to create movie sequences with deeper story elements for the Saturn version. These sequences were not included in the arcade version because players there do not want to wait through story sequences.<ref name=":2" /> Gonzo had previously done animation for Treasure's ''[[Silhouette Mirage]]'' (1997) and Iuchi was happy with the outcome of their work on ''Radiant Silvergun''.<ref name=":4" /> The game's music was composed by [[Hitoshi Sakimoto]].<ref name=":5" />

Towards the end of development, Maegawa could not finish the game to properly [[Debugging|debug]] it because it was too difficult. He brought in skilled players who held national records at shooters to debug the game.<ref name=":5" />

=== Release ===
''Radiant Silvergun'' was released in Japanese arcades on May 28, 1998.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.treasure-inc.co.jp/products3.html|title=トレジャーアーケード|website=Treasure|access-date=1 October 2021|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The team was anxious about whether it was going to be received well in arcades since it was such a unique shooter and their first arcade game, so Maegawa went in person to arcades to gauge the player reaction. He later said they observed people playing the game for a very long time, which made them happy.<ref name=":5" /> The game was released at retail for the Sega Saturn on July 23, 1998, and sold around 50,000 copies.<ref name="ssmjp">{{cite magazine|date=24 July 1998|title=レイディアントシルバーガン|url=https://retrocdn.net/images/3/32/SSM_JP_19980724_1998-22.pdf|magazine=Sega Saturn Magazine (JP)|volume=22|pages=207|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326003914/https://retrocdn.net/images/3/32/SSM_JP_19980724_1998-22.pdf|archive-date=26 March 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ownt.com/qtakes/2003/gamestats/gamestats.shtm|title=Game Stats|date=21 February 2006|website=Ownt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060221044930/http://www.ownt.com/qtakes/2003/gamestats/gamestats.shtm|archive-date=21 February 2006|url-status=dead|access-date=25 March 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref>