Here at Piccolo Studio, we would rather say “make” games than “make” them. Our logo features a needle and thread that symbolizes just that approach.
Our next project, After Us, which will be released on May 23rd, will tell the story of Gaia, a tiny nymph brought in to explore the outside world for the first time. The universe is a surreal version of Earth in the distant future, after humans have wiped out all life on Earth. It’s a strange, quirky, but ultimately enchanting world where everyday objects float, some small, some gigantic, and layers of dangerous oil fouling the land.
This third-person adventure combines platforming, puzzles, and combat in an unconventional way. The world is rich and divided into 10 different biomes. “Part of the game relies on puzzles, part relies on exploration, other parts relies on combat. We often switch between traversal sections to keep it fresh. says Jordi Ministral, co-director of the game.
An organic approach to platforming
We spend a lot of time creating unique experiences. How do you do that? We start with a vision, a holistic idea of how we want our players to feel. Then take the rules of a particular genre and twist them. At its core, After Us is a 3D platformer. Still, we intended to have a lot of features that are often avoided when developing a platformer. A camera far away from the main character, a lush world filled with artistically scattered assets, and a lack of rigorous metrics. A designer’s nightmare, right? However, we have found a solution that has been very effective in creating the organic experience we envisioned.
As a side note, Gaia’s movements are easy to perform. You can easily connect in a comfortable flow. The scale of the world is enormous because it runs at a super high speed of about 70 km / h! “Players use up content so quickly that in the end he ended up in a 100+ km environment!” Jordi explains. It is also quite vertical. The hero can double jump very high and has a good balance of agility and weight in the air. Combined with gliding, the fall is easier to control. These motion he mechanics are precisely designed to traverse the organic world without strict metrics.
The innovative features of the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller add another layer to this aesthetic experience through haptics. Animals can be greeted and petted by sweeping the touchpad, and triggers provide resistance and vibration when performing Gaia’s Burst of Life. The light below the touchpad also reflects the life bar, turning green when your health is perfect and red when your vitality is depleted.
Choices That Bring Aesthetic Opportunities
Because of our design approach, environmental artists had an important role and freedom to shape the world. Debris and trash everywhere, floating objects and cables running all over the place…something you usually avoid in a 3D platformer. To make things even more difficult, dynamic camera systems often frame the world from a distance to enhance the contrast of small characters in epic environments.
“We rarely use these cameras in games because collision handling is hell. The camera system is smart enough to get close to the protagonist when it counts. However, it required many iterations of the right combination of camera collisions, dithered materials and transitions to create a smooth and aesthetic experience.
environmental storytelling
In a world that’s so organic and doesn’t have a clear metric-oriented configuration to guide you, you might think you’re just lost. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It uses a variety of elements to suggest course in subtle yet recognizable ways (lighting, color, architecture, statues, props, etc.).
Plus, there are authentic stories and design elements. They tell the story while guiding the player. A landmark example is the thousands of statues representing humanity. They make a recognizable path without resorting to usual solutions. But this required dozens of iterations for every scene. I had to carefully place the assets and “compose” each section.
Finally, the game constantly teases what you play next on the far horizon, using verticality to twist your path. Sometimes it feels like a maze, and sometimes you are suddenly in a big open landscape. The game is always contrasting. And when it all comes together, players are seized with a sense of freedom that is rare in platformers.
After Us launches on PS5 on May 23rd.
