From the primary second I performed Sword of the Sea on the Summer season Sport Fest Play Days, I knew that it was like the sport Journey, which led down from that fantastic recreation created years in the past to the second once I was enjoying the newest recreation from Matt Nava’s recreation studio, Large Squid.
I performed the start of the sport. You begin out as a anonymous character within the sand. You begin browsing by the sand, form of like a snowboarder in SSX. Besides you’re not using on a snowboard. You journey on a sword, gliding above the sand as if you happen to have been on a hoverboard.
Oddly sufficient, the expertise of snowboarding was the inspiration for Matt Nava, inventive director on the sport and founding father of Large Squid. He advised me that he was impressed by being each a snowboarder and a surfer and the feeling of transferring quick. While you’re in that second, he mentioned that these excessive sports activities turn out to be meditative. It’s about being again in nature and connecting with it.
We’ve seen these sorts of video games in Flower, the place you exchange a metropolis from grey to greenery, in Journey as you slide by the sand, and in different peaceable video games as nicely. There are pictures from The Pathless and Abzu, the corporate’s earlier video games, in Sword of the Sea. When you wield a sword as a mysterious character in Sword of the Sea, you don’t use it in violence. As that character, you might be looking for one thing, however I didn’t study what that was in my brief demo.
The sport has lovely music, however you play the sport in silence. There’s no dialogue. No spoken narrative. It’s just like the online game model of a poem, or a silent movie. Within the recreation, you progress round, resolve puzzles, and if you accomplish that you exchange the sand to sea water. It’s a really satisfying expertise.
I famous it was odd how Large Squid was hitting its stride with this recreation, whereas the remainder of the business was struggling attributable to lack of funding, excessive prices and altering gamer tastes. However Nava revealed in our dialog that Large Squid was on the brink for some time till PlayStation backed the corporate. It was an attention-grabbing chat in the course of a really chaotic demo day on the Summer season Sport Fest.
Right here is an edited transcript of our interview.
GamesBeat: What are among the inspirations for this? I really feel like I see plenty of Journey right here, and your first recreation as nicely.
Matt Nava: And even The Pathless, which was our recreation after that. It was all about transferring actually quick and momentum. It’s all of these concepts. However actually, the inspiration is simply from being a snowboarder and going browsing myself. While you’re really doing that stuff, you’re transferring quick, and it’s excessive, nevertheless it’s actually this type of meditation. I’m actually within the meditative, non secular facet of these excessive sports activities. Normally when video video games painting excessive sports activities, it’s very a lot about simply the floor stage of it. It’s not about the actual purpose that individuals return to surf. You wish to be in nature. You wish to join with nature. You wish to discover.
There’s this type of magical sensation you may get. That’s what we’re attempting to realize with this recreation. Take the motion and the pace, however allow you to get into that circulation state and begin to join with the scene.
GamesBeat: Is all of it silent? No one talking, no narrative?
Nava: Yeah, there’s no dialogue within the recreation. There are undoubtedly characters. You’ll meet one other mysterious character alongside the best way. There will probably be a narrative that performs out as you make your means by this world. There are many completely different biomes to discover past the sand. You’ll see within the trailer that we simply put out on the showcase. There are snowy areas and different issues. We’re telling the story with a sort of atmospheric narrative.
GamesBeat: Do you continue to want a story designer for that?
Nava: Oh, yeah. We’ve had a author on this recreation. It’s hilarious. We’re like, “Okay, don’t write any words, but please help us.” It’s nice. Within the later model, there are little lore fragments yow will discover and browse to study extra in regards to the backstory of the world. You’ll be capable of learn some little poems in regards to the historical past. It’s very delicate, the best way we do it.
GamesBeat: Is that immediately linked to your previous video games in any respect?
Nava: All of our video games are linked indirectly. What we love to do is let the gamers give you these connections. We’ll undoubtedly give them some clues and issues to go on. However we by no means spell out precisely how they join. We’ve imagery from The Pathless and from Abzu, so if you happen to performed these video games you’ll acknowledge some issues. You’ll see that connecting house, for positive.
GamesBeat: The animation and the surroundings, it looks as if these are each areas the place you already know what you’re doing. The sand and the ocean. Was there one thing that was very acquainted about doing this, or did it’s important to study extra?
Nava: It’s humorous. I believed, “I did a sand game. I did a water game. This will be easy.” However then we added this new factor, which is that the terrain is animating. It’s continually transferring in each body. That meant we needed to invent this new tech. This can be a very customized piece of know-how that we made with the intention to transfer with this wave at excessive pace. It was acquainted, but in addition a very new problem. It was plenty of enjoyable.
GamesBeat: What timing do you take into consideration? Is that this scheduled for launch but?
Nava: Yeah, it’s going to be out on August 19, fairly quickly. We’ve to complete this factor. We’re virtually finished.
GamesBeat: What platforms is it going to?
Nava: It’s going to be on PS5 and PC, Steam and Epic Video games Retailer. Day one on PS5 it’s going to be on the PlayStation Plus service.
GamesBeat: Do you study a lot about the primary character, or does he stay mysterious?
Nava: He’s very mysterious. You do study extra about him by the lore that you just learn within the recreation, these little fragments. He’s sort of this empty go well with of armor at first. You see that droplet hit him and make him come to life. He’s sort of this empty creature. He’s looking for one thing.
GamesBeat: How would you evaluate the event to previous initiatives? Has it moved quicker?
Nava: Each recreation that I make takes about three or 4 years. This one is about 4 years of labor to this point. We began it throughout the pandemic, proper after The Pathless shipped. It was the primary recreation we began remotely as a group. We needed to determine that every one out. The group got here collectively. It’s fairly wonderful what they’ve pulled off.
GamesBeat: How many individuals are on the group now?
Nava: We’ve 16 or 17 individuals. A medium-sized group.
GamesBeat: And that’s intentional?
Nava: That’s our id. We prefer to preserve it small. We’re a detailed group of mates, mainly, making bizarre, out-there video games.
GamesBeat: There’s a sword, however typically your video games have been non-violent. Do it’s important to use the sword?
Nava: It’s humorous. The primary recreation I made with a sword, we’re not doing fight or something. There are issues that you just lower. You noticed the little–what I name ocean seeds, the place he interacts and slashes it and the water comes out. Afterward there’s going to be a sort of antagonist you meet. There are scripted moments. However yeah, there’s no second to second fight within the recreation. It’s actually in regards to the motion. The sword is a part of the lore.
GamesBeat: Do you take into account this one thing that anyone ought to be capable of determine? Is it a failure if somebody doesn’t know what to do subsequent?
Nava: One in all our massive challenges after we designed the sport was to make it with the intention to actually simply play and uncover how you can play while not having to look something up. Simply self-guided. We secretly train you issues as you go. At first we present a bit of textual content that tells you ways you leap and so forth. However we do secret stuff like–if a participant already jumps earlier than we present them that textual content, we simply don’t present the textual content. We perceive that you just already know how you can leap. We don’t have to let you know. We’re attempting to get out of your means and allow you to be within the recreation, not remind you that you just’re enjoying a recreation.
GamesBeat: Is it your personal engine?
Nava: It’s Unreal Engine 5, however our group is exclusive in that despite the fact that we’re fairly small, we do numerous customized rendering. It doesn’t appear to be all the opposite Unreal Engine video games. It has a really distinctive visible fashion, and that’s actually due to the customized tech that we placed on high of Unreal.
GamesBeat: What’s troublesome about getting that finished?
Nava: The largest problem is getting that character motion to really feel good. We’ve been engaged on the way it feels to go off the jumps and work together with the motion of the waves. We do some issues like–you go quicker on the sand. You go even quicker on the water. You go slower on tile. With out having any sort of pace management for the participant, you simply mechanically go on the pace that feels proper in all places. Simply ensuring that all of it feels completely good if you’re transferring is the factor we’ve stored engaged on for 4 years.
Later within the recreation you’re going to find environments which have snow and lava. Some very surreal environments. We’re taking these landscapes that you just’ve seen earlier than. You’ve seen a desert panorama. You’ve seen the water. However not like this. You’ve by no means seen a mountain of water. You’ve by no means seen the terrain transferring like that. There’s going to be locations that you just don’t anticipate to see in a recreation like this in any respect.
That was one of many largest challenges once I was pitching this recreation. I’d give you a chunk of idea artwork. “Imagine this animated. Imagine these waves moving.” “You’re just showing me a picture of the desert.” It’s important to see it in movement to know it. However when you do, as soon as you’re feeling it, then all people says, “Okay, I get it.”
GamesBeat: How did you fiscal this recreation?
Nava: We’re partnered with Sony. Sony’s been our monetary backer. They’ve been nice companions. They understood the sport early and believed in us, believed within the group. We’ve had a detailed partnership with them prior to now. We labored with them to ship Abzu as a console unique again within the day on the PS4. They’ve at all times been shut mates of the studio. They’ve a fantastic group at PlayStation Indies.
GamesBeat: Have you ever mentioned how nicely your previous video games have finished to this point?
Nava: I don’t have these numbers readily available, however the good factor is that it’s sufficient for us to maintain going. They’ve been profitable. We nonetheless have to get funding from massive firms, however each considered one of our video games has discovered its fanbase. We put out our trailer and now we have our Discord. Everybody was going loopy. It’s actually enjoyable to see. They’re doing new fan artwork already, which is an enormous morale enhance for the group.
GamesBeat: It looks as if you’re hitting a stride right here, even whereas the remainder of the business has struggled.
Nava: It’s been a troublesome time with so many studios closing. We have been on the brink for some time. Final yr was actually tough. We persevered and fought exhausting. Sony actually got here in and helped us. They made it so we might proceed and end the sport. We’re grateful to them for serving to us make it by a extremely exhausting time.
