When it comes to game development, many developers often prefer sticking to what they know best (although there is merit to experimentation). FromSoftware, for example, has spent years perfecting itsSoulsformula with titles such asDark Souls 3andElden Ring. For Wolfeye Studios president Raphael Colantonio and CEO Julien Roby, that specialty is immersive FPS RPGs withPreyandDishonoredboth created during their extensive tenure with Arkane. Now Wolfeye is working on a brand-new game that follows the same basic principles.
Game Rant sat down with Colantonio and Roby to discuss this new publicly-untitled project. Among other things, they shared their thought process behind creating immersive worlds, and the importance of properly communicating a game’s mechanics. From AAAs toindie gameslikeWeird West, Wolfeye’s debut title, the pair have worked on a wide range of titles and are keen to put that experience to good use with this new project.
Wolfeye Studios' New Game is Comparable to Prey in Terms of Scale
Game scope runs the gamut, where even a two-hour experience can offer someone something profound, but “how long to beat” is always an important question for a reason. It communicates scope and depth. Bigger does not always equal better, but in the eyes of some, there’s a correlation between the two. When asked about the size of the new project, Colantonio said its scale was comparable to one of hisprevious immersive simsPrey, albeit with more freedom. Specifically, he cites how long it’ll take to beat and its replayability as comparable toPrey,“but in a different structure though - more spread out, more of a large sandbox.” He also stressed the importance of the player understanding the game’s mechanics, and how that can really make or break some special moments.
“The best immersive sims bring these unique moments where you feel like you are actually in that space for real. You’re doing things, making choices, and some things happen to you that don’t happen to any other player. This is incredibly powerful, but it’s no good if that only happens to a small number of players. If you don’t teach the players what to do or how far they can push the mechanics, that will be wasted.’’
Wolfeye Studios Says Robust Tutorials Are Key to Understanding a Game’s Mechanics
In-game tutorials have changedseveral times over the years, with many developers now choosing a more hands-off approach, allowing the player to find things out on their own. While this has its merits, Colantonio’s point is extremely important. If a game’s more specialized mechanics are not properly explained, this can result in the player completely missing some of its most innovative moments, meaning the developer’s hard work can go to waste, and that is just not something that they are prepared to risk. Roby further explained,
“There’s a funny story about this from our last game, Weird West. In that, you could kill absolutely anyone and still progress through the game, but people have been trained in games that don’t support that kind of thing. We saw some posts on Discord, where we were engaging with our community. Someone was like ‘Oh, I killed this main character. Now I need to restart the game!' Essentially, the person thought they killed a story character, the game was broken, and it must have been a bug. We were like, ‘No, continue playing!'”
Weird Westreceived praise for the level of freedom it gave to the player, including the ability to kill key NPCs along the way. If this new project is adopting a similar approach to mechanics, fans can expect to be given the same amount of freedom to make decisions that may, on the surface, feel game-breaking. Hopefully, the strength of the onboarding experience will put these fears to rest, and ensure that gamers know exactly what to expect when starting their journey inWolfeye’s upcoming immersive sim.
