Sky: Children of Light Interview - Inspirations, Future Plans and More - game - Video Peel Mailages, Instructions, Exemplary procedures, reviews and culture

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Designer Atlas Chen talks to game about the title of social adventure.

The track record of Thatamecompany speaks for himself, with games such as flow, flower, _ and _reise have conquered the world in the storm than they came out. Your fourth game, _ sky: children of light_ was fresh and familiar at the same time. Although it is based on a free-to-play model and first introduced on mobile devices, it is characterized by the same serenity, beauty and synergy of several aspects of the same experience as such a thing reise. Soon, the game will be available on several other systems, and recently we have sent some of our title questions to the developers. You can read our interview with designer Atlas Chen below.

"We want all disciplines, music, audio, art to game design, play together. If everything stands with each other in resonance and causes an emotional catharsis, people tend to think about the events. This self-reflection is when the positive changes occur. "

_ Travel _ was obviously a huge game for you and is always considered one of the best games of its kind. What were the teachings that they have moved from his development and reception? Heaven?

I came to Thatamecompany at the beginning of 2017 himms development. Reise was the game that inspired me to work on my indie game zwillinge - a journey from two stars 6 years ago and after shipping to TGC. I remember the day I've played for the first time reise and was so touched by the artistic level that reaches it. In these years at TGC, I definitely learned more about it RAND and its design philosophy and practice.

TGC was constantly striving to develop timeless games that can inspire people to positive changes. I think there are two important parts to achieve this goal himmel - First, the story of the game or, as we call it, the narrative arc; And second, the bonds of the players among each other.

In reise, _ TGC created a dramatic bow to deliver the catharsis. It's like conducting a symphony. You want all different instruments to play the same music sheet. We want all disciplines, music, audio, art to game design, together. If everything stands with each other in resonance and causes an emotional catharsis, people tend to think about the events. This self-reflection is when the positive changes occur. We have learned this from _reise and we have certainly built on this experience to create the core loop of the game himmel.

We also learned how to build a positive relationship between two strangers that have just met. "If you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail." If you give the players a gun in a video game, there can be nothing good. To maintain positive relationships, it is important to take out the tools with which people can harm each other. Reit, for example, does not offer physical interaction between players, so they can not hurt each other. It also restricts communication to a musical reputation and does not show the name of the other player so that there is no chance for toxicity languages. In addition, you would like to provide the players tools with which they can help each other. The two players in reise will recharge each other, so that the energy floats, which is for players who hold together is a beneficial situation advantageous for both sides.

In the himmel social dynamics is much more complex. We allow the connection of up to 8 players, which represents a much more complex momentum. We also offer the course of the relationship, making plenty of intimidating interactions between players, including handsets, chatting etc. The rule not to hurt each other and use each other, however, is still true for all our designs. This shapes the relationship of the player to a friendly. As a result, one of my colleagues from the community team told me the himms The gaming community is the most positive and courtyard that she ever saw in her career.

In terms of the reception, we were inspired by players who told the stories that they are stirred to tears, such as situations in which someone showed empathy, helped them and even sacrificed them for them. We have designed himmell With these player stories, you should create the rules and space to encourage people to take care of each other. But we do not force these moments. We understand that relationships are only real when you have the choice. In reise We did not forced the players to stay together. You could go if you want. People who decide to stay with them are people who really want it.

"I would like to think about it himmel as a place where you can experience childhood again if you can make friends with other children running around on the playground without judging if they are rich or poor. "

Games on mobile devices often have difficulty find the perfect balance between monetization and progress. Which approach did you find this balance? Heaven?

I think a good approach is based on a clear goal. Money is not our goal, but a way for us to achieve our mission, positive changes for the players, the game industry and the company overall. Therefore, we always put the players in making decisions. For example, the core content of himmel is fully playable without paying. We intend to be an integrative game for everyone. I would like to think about it himmel as a place where you can experience your childhood again if you can make friends with other children who walk around on the playground without judging if they are rich or poor. There are people from less developed countries or regions, children, students and many others who can not afford paid content. We want you to enjoy the entire emotional journey, and we want you to be part of the community of players without feeling others inferior. Even for the paid content in the seasonal events, we offer gift options for the generous people who want to help their friends who can not afford the passports so that players from around the world have the opportunity to enjoy the same game together.

We use ourselves for conscious issues and generosity to other players. We do not want our players spend a crazy amount of money and ruin their lives. We also do not want you to play unhealthy long hours. Therefore, we limit the amount of loops that you can run a day. We try to avoid the monetization with negative emotions, impulses or unhealthy addiction, which is unusual in the modern world of consumption. We just want people who really enjoy the game spend money for the game. When players are tempted to pay for something they will regret, this is a failure, no success for us.

Now it may be easy to say this, but before we started the game, we had no idea if it would be a total failure or success as a company. It turns out that players who love the game really want to support us. When we started himmel We have received countless feedback from our players that they love the game so much, and we complain about that they can not find out how they should pay and support us. I admit that we are not the smartest in terms of monetization. But the fact that we are still able to maintain it after the first lunch of the game with this enormous amount of love and support of our community to grow and even further grow, shows me that we really care about the players and offer them true values , The good karma will return.

In this sense, we improve the experience of himmel as a lively service we always ask ourselves: Would the players be happy about this change? Which value do we offer you? Does this make the gaming experience more pleasant? Does it promote positive behaviors such as generosity, gratitude, collaboration, empathy and altruism among the players or triggers toxicity in the community?

is a free model something you want to explore in the future for your games?

I think so. As already mentioned, inclusiveness is one of our most important product values. As a creator, we all want the people to enjoy the work created by us.

Are there anything in the coming console and PC versions of the game you want to improve content, or is the focus rather than ensuring that the game is well optimized for each system?

In addition to the previously announced, we can not tell anything new. Our first concern is always how this would affect the experience of the player and the community.

_ Sky: Children of Light _ recently started his fourth seasonal event. How much long-term plan do you have for support after the start? Can you perhaps tease some of the things you have planned for the coming seasons?

We have our annual plan internally and expect many, many years himmel into an even more beautiful and more vibrant world. We really care about the community, in which so many players have shown enormous commitment and support. We also introduce to expand the team so that we can continue to provide high quality content and timely updates to serve our beloved gaming community.

The next season is currently under development and we have further seasons in planning. We listen to the feedback of the community to our previous updates exactly and look forward to improving us himmel with players together.

"We have our annual plan internally and expect many, many years himmel into an even more beautiful and more vibrant world. We really care about the community, in which so many players have shown enormous commitment and support. "

When the next generation consoles come to the market in just a few months, consider PS5 and Xbox Series X-versions himmel: Children of Light Also?

We have no details that go beyond the announced. In general, our goal is the himmel could be accessible to as many players as possible. But we are also a very small team that has to learn more and more how to operate an online service. I think it is also important for us to keep the team focus and done things step by step. ****

Downward compatibility is something, whereupon both new consoles are pretty strong. Which influence will this in your opinion have both from the perspective of developers and consumers?

I think it's great news for both sides. I believe real masterpieces are timeless and should not be outdated, just because new platforms come out or receive the operating systems updates. Many masterpieces of games that touch the deepest level of human hearts were released towards the end of each console era, while early games of a new platform are usually display objects of technology. This is a natural business decision as it is less risky to use the quantifiable statistics of the new platforms rather than leaving the non-quantifiable craft of creative minds. With the backward compatibility, developers formerly want to invest consolate titles in the event of an effort in the emotional experiences, as they will compete with the lasting masterpieces of the previous era.

On the other hand, this will probably be good news for many Indie developers. We all know that porting for a small team that fights for survival can be time consuming and expensive. If you could focus your energy more on the gaming experience than on the technical hurdles to port the game to new and old platforms, I think that this is a liberation for many indie teams with creative mind. For players, it may be much easier to upgrade to a newer platform or buy their first console, as they do not have to say goodbye to many games they love, and have to worry that not many games played on the new platforms can become.