We would like to say that the Piccolo Studio team “makes” the game. We believe video games are the most powerful medium for telling stories. And as game directors, Jordi Ministral and I enjoy telling video games through gameplay, which is what makes this medium so special.
Released Arise: A Simple Story Three years ago, we collaborated with Private Division to release our newest game tomorrow, May 23rd. after us.
Arise: A Simple Story It was a gentle lullaby that toyed with the mechanics of time to explore the memory of an old man who had just died. Based on practical experience, after us It’s closer to a conceptual opera. This is a story of heritage and hope through spectacular and atmospheric landscapes. The story of Gaia, the little nymph, is told. She explores a metaphorical and surreal version of Earth where humans have ruined all life forms in order to save the souls of extinct animals.
Difficult to fit due to the game design process after us in a particular genre. It is a mix of platforming, puzzle solving and action. But the individual nature of these elements and how they fit together are far from genre conventions.
“It’s intentional. When we design a game, what’s at the top is the feelings and emotions we want to express. As we go into execution, we find game mechanics that emphasize those. Then, We place them in an artistically designed organic world and spend hours tweaking until everything fits together,” Jordi says.
Sometimes in video games, and it happens more often than we think, there are times when a potion we concocted doesn’t work and we have to start over. But most of the time it does. Here at Piccolo, we strive to come up with ideas that defy the traditional rules of game design.
Whale hunt case study
Let me give you an example! Gaia’s goal is to save the souls of the last extinct animals, including the majestic humpback whale. We want players to feel what this whale felt in his final moments. Feeling hunted. To do so, place the action on the bottom of a dried up ocean. The wreckage of huge, rusting oil ships dot the ground and sky above, and float in the air. Gaia is surrounded by patches of toxic oil that pollutes the ocean floor. she starts running A giant harpoon then launches an attack from the sky, aiming at the approaching Gaia. A feeling of sheer panic overwhelms me.
Traditional designs clearly defined when the harpoon would fire, how it would attack, and what you could do to avoid it. “It’s the basics of the game, but it’s not what a whale feels like when it’s hunted. She doesn’t understand what’s going on. While Gaia runs and jumps, the harpoon hits her.” The danger is not something she can control or predict!” explains Jordi.
In fact, we intentionally blurred out how the harpoon works, how it moves, and how it attacks. There is no clear pattern for avoiding them. Sometimes you don’t even see them coming. And, sure, sometimes it kills players without fully understanding what happened. I know this raises a lot of red flags in traditional designs, but it works if done carefully. When this happens, it becomes much more powerful than traditional approaches. Because the (apparent) lack of clear rules makes players feel what they would probably feel in such a situation.
We prefer to draw inspiration from other media such as movies, novels and comics. Therefore, this “scene” was based on Akira Kurosawa’s famous last scene. blood throne, a lone character being shot with arrows by a large army. We wanted to recreate that same heavy feeling of inevitable danger, unpredictable impact, and nerve-wracking pace of attack.
Emotional rather than mechanical rewards
But it’s not just about dangers, enemies, or certain scenes. We challenge traditional game design in a broader sense. Rather than giving players mechanical rewards, games bring emotional rewards.
after us It features eight main animal souls that must be found and rescued, but there are 100 additional “optional” souls that can be released. When you rescue an animal’s soul, it populates the world with individuals of its species. To free your soul, you must explore a mysterious world. after ussing to find hiding places or solve environmental puzzles.
But releasing them does nothing from a mechanical point of view. “There are no points, no powers, no XP. The reward for releasing animal souls is…freeing animal souls! And experiencing a world where animals roam,” Jordi smiles.
For us, and hopefully for many players, this design works. After all, what better reward than emotional reward?
after us Now available on Xbox Series X|S.
after us
private sector
$29.99
Give life on Earth a second chance by exploring a surreal, post-human corner of the world in this inspiring tale of sacrifice and hope. You play as Gaia, the Spirit of Life, navigating amazing platform environments in an abstract world to rescue the souls of extinct animals. The last whale impaled with a harpoon, the last eagle caged, the last deer cornered – after knowing their final fate, resurrect these creatures while searching for the rest of their lives in the wilderness. Survive encounters with the dangerous oily devourers that roam the . Only you can bring life back to Earth in this inspiring journey from the creators of the critically acclaimed Arise: A Simple Story. Key Features: Gaia’s Journey: As the last animals died, her mother used all of her life force to save their souls trapped within her vessel. Gaia’s quest is to rescue their souls and bring them back to her mother’s ark. Gaia’s traversal abilities allow her to glide, jump, and dash to explore new areas and avoid dangerous traps. Also, her special gift gives her the power to clear. Use the world-devouring oil to confront the hungry greedy and free your soul. • Vast, Surreal Worlds: See stark landscapes depicting the destructive relationship between humans and nature in beautiful demonstrations of abstract artistry through Gaia’s eyes. From dying forests to crumbling city centres, parched seabeds and polluted skies, each environment presents new challenges for Gaia, spreading life and beauty along the way while devourers. presents different versions of the wake of the destruction of the . . • A Tale of Contrast: After Us presents a solemn view of a world destroyed by human influence. As you guide Gaia’s Light and discover the cause behind the destruction, you will know the fate of the Devourers, who are not only agents of extinction, but of progress, love and hope.
