Having a publisher isn't always essential. Developers come under a lot of pressure to release games on time and often standards are sacrificed in favour of deadlines and commercial viability. Then along came WiiWare, an online download service that negates the need for a publisher and allows developers to fully express themselves. LostWinds is the perfect example of what can be achieved when developers make the game that they actually want to and our discussion with with David Braben (Executive Producer), Steve Burgess (Designer) and Chris Symonds (Artist) gives us a fascinating insight into how it all came about.
How and when did the idea for LostWinds first come about?
David Braben: The idea was first proposed on Frontier's Game of the Week forum. It was in 2005, when the Wii controller was first announced, though it was called the Revolution then. At that time, the concept was gradually nailed down, as was the art style, with concept art setting the style for all sorts of elements of the game including Mistralis and Toku. LostWinds was one of several ideas on the Game of the Week forum that kept coming back to be discussed over the next year or so. The presumption was that it would be a disc-based Wii game.
Chris Symonds: It's based on the idea of the wind. It came very naturally to have an indigenous culture that lived in high environments, and we immediately centred it to an area thinking of a Tibetan culture. And so there was a cultural influence from those areas.
Can you give us a rough idea of how development progressed from there?
November 2007
DB: Out of the blue, in late 2007, Nintendo invited us to a mysterious meeting in London to explain their plans for WiiWare. We were delighted that their ideals for WiiWare were almost exactly fulfilled by LostWinds, allowing developers like us to create something innovative specifically for the Wii. We went well prepared, and took a copy of the LostWinds concept doc to the meeting. The chance to be a launch title for WiiWare was too good to pass up.
December 2007
SB: We knew the idea for LostWinds was an appealing one, but there's no substitute for actually playing a game so we did a gameplay prototype, with big blocks and a static 2D image of Toku being blown around between different height boxes by the Wii Remote. That only took a small amount of time to do, but was invaluable in convincing us that the game would be fun, that it would feel satisfying. After that, it was full steam ahead.
January 2008
SB: Puzzle design kicks off in earnest. We work out which ideas work the best for puzzles and how the ideas can interact to make more complex puzzles.
February 2008
DB: We talked to a few journalists at GDC (Game Developers Conference) in San Francisco and showed a video and a few screenshots of LostWinds - the first time anyone outside Frontier or Nintendo has seen the game. They like it!
April 2008
DB: All artwork and level design is finished, the script is finalised and it goes off for translation. We submit to Nintendo for an early 'health check' on the game - and it does pretty well.
Mid-April 2008
DB: We finish the game and submit to Nintendo for final approval. It was a really tense time watching for feedback.
May 2008
The game ratings are back, approval is back from Nintendo (yay!) and all Nintendo Channel and Shop Channel images and videos have been supplied. We sit back and wait for the big day!
You make it sound easy. Something must have gone wrong?
DB: We had a heart attack one day when Nintendo of Europe told us they couldn't accept our submission because we had supplied the wrong product code to them. It was supposed to be WLWP but they told us it had come through as WLWF. We were terrified this meant that we would miss the chance to be a launch title. Then, when we were at our wit's end, we noticed that the Nintendo software that displays information about the submission had quite a short window to display the 4 letter product code, and it was cutting off the rounded part of the 'P' to make it look like an 'F'. To be fair, Peter in Nintendo's testing department (or 'Feter', as we now call him) was very gracious in admitting the error!
Have you got any other interesting stories for us?
DB: I think it's really interesting how LostWinds came about. At Frontier we have long encouraged debate and discussion on game design and have an internal forum dedicated to sharing ideas and opinions under the name of Game of the Week. The scope ranges from one-liner game ideas like 'we should do games about monkeys with detachable limbs' to fully-fledged design documents.
The idea for LostWinds dates from the time that the Wii was first announced, when we were brainstorming design ideas that made good use of the Wii controls. There were those among us that were keen to see the revival of some of the great platform game mechanics. As time went by we felt more certain that LostWinds would satisfy a demand from Wii owners for something innovative that delivers deep, involving gameplay.
SB: I think the key to LostWinds is that it was designed solely with the Wii's controls in mind. The whole point of the game is to allow the player to use the Wii controls in an intuitive, satisfying way. The ideas came when I was watching the trees on a windy day. I remember thinking about how many ways the wind manipulates things, and if only there was some way to become the wind in a game. I then applied this train of thought to the Wii controller.
CS: The visual design of LostWinds understood the Wii's limitations and its strengths. The slightly dream-like look of the game works well with the screen resolution. Objects with chamfered edges for example greatly reduce the pixellated silhouettes you might otherwise get, and the slight camera 'bloom' and soft focus also helps soften the look of the scene.
DB: The lead designer and artist had very strong visions for the characters and it was tough squaring the circle. Toku had to retain an innocence and vulnerability whilst also having 'action hero' aspects. We'd always have one of them jumping round my desk trying to show me what they wanted!
One of the best moments came when coding the vortex effects. The vortex is an advanced wind power that allows the player to suspend objects in a fierce circular wind, which can then be used as projectiles to smash tricky obstructions.
We'd just finished coding the effect and were testing it for the first time. We were doing this near one of the flaming torches. The first time we tried it, one of the cursor wind trails caught the flames and we ended up with a spectacular Vortex that appeared as an amazing fiery circle. Our jaws dropped - we didn't realise it would do that!
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tenho que encontrar a ultima para ver se ha algum nivel especial ou qqr coisa assim...mas duvido...
