Prerelease:Persona 5/Early Development

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Persona 5.

To do: Clean up and rearrange everything...

Initial Concepts

Persona 5 was initially planned when Persona 4 came out for the PlayStation 2 in 2008. The developmental teams had split into half since then, working on Persona 3 Portable and Persona 5. Hashino had always wanted to make a Persona game with the "phantom thief" genre, so a design draft was created during scenario planning for Persona 3 Portable, labelled as "Persona The 3rd"..

One of the main concepts for Persona 5 had two keywords which were "Self-discovery” and “journey” along with an image of "jumping out of school and taking a journey into the outside world" in mind, as well as "backpacking and flying all over the world" which would be a drastic change from the previous two Persona games. They considered incorporating historical background to convey the connection of “bonds” with other people. It would be loosely revisited in the game's spin-off sequel, Persona 5 Strikers where the central plot of the game involves the Phantom Thieves travelling around the country.

The developers wanted to implement "real-time elements" into the game, so an "action-combat" system was considered then, but it was rather short-lived because it would have been a drastic change and departure from the turn-based system.

Concept Sheet

Several concepts of the backpacking theme were drawn in the form of a concept sheet, along with some text below;

Translation
PERSONA5 GAME DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS VER_1.0 Be personal for change.	Just Game Play is possible.

Two pieces of concept art can be seen, although in a lower resolution, of a character stopping in the middle of a desert with a red car, and the protagonist exiting from an airplane door of some sort. The protagonist's design doesn't seem to resemble the one seen later on in development.

Early Concept Art?

Among with the finalized phantom thief-related concepts of the game, this artwork stands out for being "travel-related", due to having suitcases inside the trunk.

Development Beginnings

On July 2, 2009, Japanese gaming website 7-Rush accidentally mentioned "a Persona 5 for the PlayStation 3" in an article about the then-forthcoming Shin Megami Tensei K pachinko machine. Many Japanese gaming sites asked that website for more information, but the article was quickly edited to remove the mention of that game. In 2010, the team that worked on Persona 3 Portable merged into the team working on Persona 5 after development had concluded.

On March 24, 2010 in Volume 469 of Dengeki PlayStation, Katsura Hashino publicly confirms that the next main numbered title of the Persona series is confirmed to be in development. Hashino said that he wants to add elements that fans would usually expect, while also changing them within those constraints.

To make sure that the team was prepared for bigger-scale projects, Catherine was developed as a "test" for life-sized models, detailed backgrounds and motion-captured cutscenes in tandem with the new Persona 5 game. However, it proved to be a tough challenge for the company itself because half of the team were already working on various other titles, while the other worked on Persona 5 and Soejima would make sure that the details were exactly as he wanted it to be, trial and error.

"Active development" of Persona 5 would begin after Catherine was released in February 2011 in Japan, where they took advantage of the resources created by the GameByro engine, which would later evolve into a in-house engine.

Change of Direction

The exploration-themed idea had to be completely reworked due to the Tohoku Earthquake in March 2011. Katsura Hashino wanted "a bigger focus on Japan" and people became aware of everybody else during that time, to cherish each other and overcome the incident. He also thought that people's mindsets had changed when the natural disaster happened, applying the contemporary setting of the Persona games and another plausible reason why he wanted to change the idea.

Hashino started to look at the "adventurous spirit of the human mind" as an alternative idea where he compared it to a "inner revolution", eventually becoming the centralistic theme of the game. The developmental team also reworked that idea into a journey into the "spirit world" instead, where they would take shape and shift into different directions.

It was apparently when they went with the Persona The 3rd design draft as a secondary option at this point. The "Phantom Thieves" motif came from Hashino's idea of wanting to enact the carefreeness of Lupin The Third manga series into the main protagonist. He also wanted to go with the idea because it's a genre that's rather old-fashioned and stereotypical but is still relevant to this today. Hashino also brought up that he doesn't see this portrayed in games.

Soejima went with a "passionate" red aesthetic with minimal contrasting monochromic colors in comparison with the "calm" blue and yellow color schemes from Persona 3 and Persona 4, respectively. Unlike the previous games, a sub-color was not included so that it can stand out more. This was because he wanted the game to feel like it "started anew" while also evoking a sense of things to come.

First Designs

All those designs have a style of being drawn with a brush and share a very similar style.

Protagonist

To do: Concept art from here and there.

The game originally featured a male and female protagonist, where their initial Persona would have been Mephistopheles, a demonic creature featured in German folklore. This was the very first draft designed for the protagonist was designed, where Soejima went for a "punk look" rather than "formal" because they wouldn't really fit as rebellious phantom thieves if they went with the latter. The school uniform was designed for the protagonist first before it was changed for other characters in the game.

Soejima thought of different ways to make the character "become the thief" without the player getting a sense of disagreement from it, where he originally tried to draw the design in a sense of a character from a shonen manga. The protagonist also originally wore their school uniform in an apparent stylistic fashion rather than the thief attire in the Metaverse.

Ryuji?

Makoto Nijima

She appears to have been conceptualized early, as told from the style. She originally used a sword and a gun, before using knuckles in the final.

The first sketch of Makoto Nijima.

Hifumi Togo

First draft concept art. Notably, some design elements would be loosely reworked into Futaba Sakura.

Hifumi Togo was originally planned to be a member of the Phantom Thieves as a "strategist" when Makoto Niijima was decided as the "brains" of the team and had her design based off that character. When deciding on Confidants, the developmental team thought that Hifumi would work better as that and the fact that the story would have been too long. Thus, they redesigned her to evoke a more Japanese look.

Haru Okumura

Haru seems to be the last of the female Persona characters to be designed. It seemed she may have been a supporting character, judging from the first image.

	The three sketched girls are likely Ann, Makoto and Hifumi.

Sae Nijima

Early design appears to resemble that of Katherine Brooks from Catherine.

Unknown

Katakana translates to "machine gun?".

Phantom Thief Attire

The very first conceptual design of the Phantom Thief attire, taking cues from the early school uniform rather than of a separate outfit. The design basis with the top hat would be possibly retooled for the protagonist's Persona Arsene.	Unknown, may be a precursor of some sort, or an alternative summoning mechanic?

Ann Takamaki

Seems to have been conceptualized a little later. She originally had longer hair.

	The "Phantom Thief outfits" sketch include a rough draft of what would likely be Ann Takamaki.

Early Concepts

A slightly later design of the protagonist, with the concept of the school featured. The design basis of the uniform would likely be used for the protagonist's Phantom Thief attire.	Another design of the protagonist. Interestingly, a render of that model can be found in the December 2015 build on a graphic.

However, Soejima thought that "he went overboard" with the design because he felt like it wouldn't go well with a "realistic group of youths", so he simplified the design a bit before eventually leading to the final. The protagonist was also eventually altered to not make him like too "manga-like" so the player can relate with the character easier. At that point, Soejima thought of the protagonist having different looks based on if he wore glasses or not; he would look like a regular person with glasses while he would look completely different without them.

A slightly later design with a finalized hairstyle.

Soejima decided to design the Phantom Thief outfits with a "classic look" in mind, rather than using their school uniform so it could be easier to convey the idea rather than with modernized looks.

This would be the point where the protagonist looked more casual with or without glasses, showing a conceptual sketch of him in everyday life and as a phantom thief.

Scrapped Female Protagonist?

Concept Art	Unused model for comparison.	Early cut-in

There was also apparently planned to be a female protagonist, according to some pieces of concept art depicted with the male protagonist.

Interestingly, an unused model of her can be found in the final game used as a height reference, and two full-colored sketches can be found in the December 2015 build.

Ryuji Sakamoto

According to early text found in the final game, he was originally named Reiji Deidou.

Ann Takamaki

Morgana

Morgana was originally drawn as feminine before their gender was decided. Also, Morgana was supposed to transform into multiple things rather than a van.

The first Morgana design draft, where the van was conceptualized.	Exploration sketches.

Makoto Nijima

She appears to have been conceptualized early, as told from the style. She originally used a sword and a gun, before using knuckles in the final.

The first sketch of Makoto Nijima.

Early Concept Art

Exploration Sketches

A concept art of the protagonist and the scrapped female protagonist driving in a sports car in a subway-like area, which appears to be a very early draft of Mementos. According to the Persona 5 artbook, Morgana was originally planned to transform into a sports car instead of a van which was reworked due to it not being able to fit the entire gang.

Interestingly on the left side, a world map with sticky notes can be seen. Whether this is to do with the scrapped world travel concept is unknown.

Early Locations

Rooftop

This concept art shows that the school was originally going to be near Minato rather than in Aoyama-Itchome, judging from the presence of the Tokyo Tower. A silhouette resembling that of Morgana's earlier character model can be seen near the bottom.

Nijima Residence

Velvet Room

Earlier concept of the Velvet Room, which has the jail motif, but appears to look fancier, even having in aquarium at the back.

A slightly later concept, showing the finalized medieval jail cell theme. Interestingly, a scrapped inmate NPC is present in the concept art, which has text leftovers for it in the final. Also, the Protagonist is wearing his school uniform, in comparison to a striped jail outfit.

Protagonist's House

Concept art for the protagonist's house that is never seen in any form of Persona 5 media. It is unknown if it was meant to be shown at any point during development, or during the flashback scene with Shido.

Shujin High School

Base design for Shujin High School.	Second base design, showing the earlier name of the school

Yongen-Jaya

Café Leblanc

Hikkioumori Concept Art

There are two pieces of concept art that are labelled as hikkioumori (引きこうもり), Japanese slang for "shut-ins". The first is labelled as world and the second is labelled as whereabouts. The most logical guess for them is to do with Futaba Sakura, who is a shut-in.

This rather ominous piece of concept art appears to show some sort of ritual in a modernized setting with anime figurines and merchandise scattered all over. The most logcial guess for this is that it's likely Futaba's Room, due to her interest in anime stuff and computers.

What seems to be some sort of ritual with anime figurines, looking completely different from the finalized version of Futaba's bedroom.

Kamoshida's Palace

An early exterior of Kamoshida's Palace, where it is depicted as being in an open area, compared to being surrounded by buildings in the final.

Shido's Palace

A very rough, and rather overexaggerated draft of what Shido's Palace would be in the final. Though the cruise ship motif made it to the final, it doesn't amount for the fact there are tons of skyscrapers, a rollercoaster, a Ferris wheel, and a space station would be cut out, leaving behind a simplistic city hall. Notably, what seems to be the finalized Morgana car can be seen in the concept art, along with the later Protagonist design.

Project Proposal

...But what does it mean? This game has text or audio that needs to be translated. If you are fluent with this language, please read our translation guidelines and then submit a translation! Notes: Translate the (at least) decipherable text.

WARNING: Language tag not added.

Translation
TEXT GOES HERE

Early Test Footage Build

Footage

Early footage was shown off in episode 5 of the Persona Stalker Club on October 31, 2016, in a rather unfinished state and likely from the preliminary development period.

• The protagonist's uniform looked slightly different, where it had a shirt and a tie rather than a turtleneck, and burgundy-striped pants looking closer to one of his early designs. He also carried around a bag that resembled more of a suitcase before it was replaced with a regular school bag. interestingly, that model can be found in the final game, albeit unused.
• The girls' uniform for Shujin Academy was different.
• The building that the protagonist was in is actually part of the apartment seen in later footage. The apartment would later make its way to the final game as a cutscene-exclusive location.
• The view outside of the apartment was likely reused for the SIU Director's office.

Concept Art

Characters

Concept Art from after the early build, but from around the later build.

Concept art of what the Phantom Thieves' masks would look like.	Unused model from that development period.

Mechanic

Later designs for Joker's mask.	Rough sketch of what a Persona summon would look like.

Later Test Footage

More footage from a slightly later build were shown in April 2017 in a 4Gamer article.

• The protagonist's design, model and animations now matches that of the final. The animations for the school bag were likely unfinished at that point as well as the textures, sporting a rather unusual blue color.
• The protagonist originally stayed in an apartment where Hashino stated it as being in a "trendy drama", whom has home to a prosecutor rather than a cafe manager. The prosecutor would originally have been chasing the protagonist's other life as a phantom thief while they get angry at the Calling Cards sent to antagonists throughout the game. The idea was discarded and reworked into a separate character named Sae Niijima, because Hashino thought the idea was too much "like a cheesy drama".
  • Traces of the scrapped apartment location can be seen in unused text, where it was divided into three different areas.
• Several leftovers from Catherine are present, obviously for placeholder purposes such as the text box and faceless model of Katherine as a stand-in for the prosecutor.
• The "Check!" graphic from Persona 4 Golden is seen except without the button prompt.
• The NPCs in the subway tram originally had face patterns and a monochromatic color scheme as an experiment. This was later changed because the director thought that the colors were too dull.