eye and they’re able to latch on and ride it. “Each space in
the game has one or two particular species that were the
‘heroes’ in this way,” says Nava. He points out a room with
giant manta rays noting how their colour and size make
them stand out from the environment. I love latching onto
those rays, watching them gently push through the kelp
with their massive bodies as my diver hitches a ride.
These larger fish act as physical connection points for
the player. They’re the ones you can touch or interact
with, and they’re distinct units, easier to track as they
move around and easier to think of as individuals. “Across
the entire game, a relationship with a great white shark
evolves, so the idea of a having a hero fish as a connection
point also applied in the larger narrative,” explains Nava.
The bait ball I mentioned at the start is another type of
focal point. The larger predators working the bait ball
could perhaps be thought of as hero fish, but I’d say that
in this instance the hero is actually the bait ball itself. The
individual fish move too fast to track but they form a
larger entity – a single swirling, shining cloud.
With so many fish onscreen at a given time, all of them
moving around, one of the challenges was distributing
them in a way that looked right.
“Our team studied the behaviour of fish, visited
aquariums and went diving to understand the logic
behind the motion of fish shoals,” explains Nava. “This
research led to the creation of a very deep simulation of
fish movement and complex AI that controlled the
behaviour of the creatures in the environment.
“The fish are aware of the positions of their neighbours
and how close they are to the level geometry, and use this
information to determine where to go. They attempt to
align with similarly sized fish of the same species and
avoid larger fish of different species which are potential
predators. Each fish also gets hungry and will look for
smaller fish to eat. By creating a set of these rules for
individuals, the group behaviour of schooling fish emerges
organically, very similarly to real life.”BEYOND THE SEA
Reference points for the team included David
Attenborough documentaries, deep sea rover live cam
feeds and their own diving experience. But Nava was
also influenced by the art of French painter Henrideepintothedarknessoftheseais a universalmetaphor
of diving into one’sself Thecombinationofghostly
architecture and swim
sense of magic thatwe
By interspersingtim
realm, Giant Squidwa
diver was progressing,ch
th
ta
pr
T
th
surfacewaterandthecoldofthe
deepsea.It’swhe
suddenlyplumme
Visually thisre
describes as “aho
distortion”. Heex
prototyped these
players had nore
thermocline was
couldn’t intuitwh
be. We endedup
we couldn’t solve
communicatethethermoclineto
players clearlyenough.”
I’ve gone scuba diving in the
ocean once. I loved it, but you can
become incredibly aware of being a
small creature in an
incomprehensibly vast space, entirelyf.Thecombinationofghostly
mmingabovea waterplanecreateda
ewerelookingfor”.
me inthe oceanwithvisitstothis
as abletocultivatea sensethatthe
gradually transforming.
Despitesolvingvasttechnical
hallengeslikeputtinghundredsof
housandsof fishonscreen without
ankingperformance,oneeffect
rovedelusive– the thermocline.
he thermoclineis thepointin
heoceanbetween thewarmer
urface water and the cold of the
erethetemperature
ets.
esultsinwhatNava
orizontalplaneof
xplains,“Weeee
inthegamebut
ferenceforwhata
andtherefore
hatitseffect would
cuttingitbecause
how toRousseau. “His work shares a similar
dreamlike, symbolic version of
natural environments with the art
direction of Abzu. Some of his pieces,
like The Hungry Lion Throws Itself
on the Antelope and The Dream
make you want to linger to observe
hidden creatures among the leaves.
This was exactly what we wanted
players to do in Abzu.”
In contrast to the ocean spaces,
Abzu also lets the player access a
more mysterious realm where
glowing architecture stands out
against dark waters. To me it’s a
combination of deep water and outer
space. Nava points out that “divingABOVE: This sketch
shows a broken drone
lying in the seabed.
LEFT: This sketch
shows the moment
the great white shark
chomps a drone right
in front of the player.Abzu
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