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InterviewAttract Mode
head of a former knight that joins your
party at a certain point in the story (along
with your pet goose). So it’s not just a
game about super-cute kids running
around. It’s more that kind of mixture of
cute and ickiness that you might see in a
cartoon like Adventure Time.Bikes. Discuss. Why are they in the
game? What can you do with them?
Why are they important to the
experience both from a mechanical and
stylistic viewpoint?
MOO: Bikes are such a critical moment
in any kid’s life, especially the less athletic
kids like I was. For me, it was the first time
I could start going where I wanted to go
without getting approval from the giant
human who was in charge of me. So it’s
not only a huge expansion of possibilities,
but a new level of decision-making that
I found myself suddenly in. We express
this idea of new horizons with all of the
bike upgrades that you slowly unlock
throughout the game. For example, one of
the first upgrades you apply are high-grip
tyres, which get you past all the deep mud
pits left around the island by the frequent
heavy rains.
So there’s that big macro change in a
child’s life that we wanted to capture. But
there’s also the instantaneous joy of riding
a bike. There’s the skid turns, kicking up Demelza’s the quieter of the two
lead characters, and pictured
here in her tiny caravan. Behind-the-scenes sketches show how much
care has gone into every element of the game.mounds of dirt, and coasting along with
your arms and legs in the air.It’s single-player or co-op – is it more one
than the other? More a case of a single-
player game a friend can join in with, or a
co-op game you can play alone?
MOO: It’s a game about two girls and their
friendship, and can be enjoyed in either
single player or co-op. It’s not the kind
of game where you have two identical
characters and the red one disappears if
you’re playing alone. Each girl has distinct
abilities, and you need to work together
to embark on this journey. The only
difference is whether the other girl is
being controlled by a real-life friend or a
computer friend.
If anything, though, I would say that
the single-player mode is an invitation to
play co-op. So even if you completed the
game single-player, I would hope that it’s
the kind of experience that would stick
with you and one day, you might just
meet someone who you’d like to play it
again with.
I had a pretty dark decade of my life
where I really struggled to fit in anywhere
or make any friends. I became obsessed
with 100-hour single-player experiences,
and I started using them as an excuse
to become more and more reclusive.
It got to the point where I always said
no to everything, so everyone I did
know stopped inviting me. That’s when Imum, and has been constantly arguing
with her dad. So much so that she’s moved
out of the family home on the caravan
park and commandeered a tiny spare
caravan to set up as her own base away
from the shouting.
Nessa’s character is a little bit older and
more punky and knowledgeable about
the wider world, and although she’s more
mysterious, it’s clear she’s had some
hardships in her past as well.
So while it’s a very energetic game about
bikes, frisbees, pet geese, and treasure,
it’s hopefully quite an emotional journey
as well. When I was leading the Tearaway
games at Media Molecule, the thing I got
the most out of its success were all the
letters that came in from players. These
were often about how much the game
had affected them, and often it
was a surprise to them how
emotional the game was.
And while this is quite
a different game, that
emotional connection
has been a goal during
this project as well.
All that being said, you are
correct! There is the slightly-
rotten (but still alive) pickled