From the first moment I played a sword in the Summer Game Festival Play Day, I knew it was like a game journey, which came from this amazing game that was born years ago when I was playing the latest game from Matt Nava’s game studio, giant Squad.
I played the game. You start as an unknown character in the sand. You start to surf through sand, such as a snobor in SSX. Except that you are not riding a snobboard. You ride on the sword, gliding over the sand as if you are on the hoverboard.
Surprisingly, the experience of snobwarding was inspired by the creative director of the game and the founder of the giant squad, Matt Nava. He told me that he was impressed with both the Snobroder and the Surfor and the speed. When you are at that moment, he said that these extreme games become meditation. It is about returning to nature and connecting it.
We have seen such games in flowers, where you turn a city from gray to greenery, traveling when you pass through sand, and other peaceful sports. The sword’s sword has photos of the company’s previous games, paths and Abuzo. While you run the sword as a mysterious character in the sword, you do not use it in violence. As a role, you are looking for something, but I did not learn what it was in my short demo.
This game has beautiful music, but you play the game quietly. There is no dialogue. No telling story. This is like a video game version of a poem, or a silent movie. In the game, you move around, solve the puzzles, and when you do this, you turn the sand into seawater. This is a very satisfying experience.
I noted that it is strange how the Dev Squad is struggling with the game with the game, while the rest of the industry is struggling for financing, high costs and changing gamer tastes. But Nava revealed in our conversation that the giant squad was on the verge for a while until the PlayStation supported the company. It was an interesting chat in the middle of a very chaos -based demo day at the Summer Game Fest.
Here is a modified transcript of our interview.
Games Bat: What are some inspiration for this? I feel like I’m watching a lot of trips here, and your first game.
Matt Nawa: And even the indifference, which was our game after that. It was all about really fast and speeding. They are all of these ideas. But, in fact, this inspiration is just by becoming a snobbrider and surfing yourself. When you are actually doing this equipment, you are moving fast, and it is extremely, but there is really such meditation. I am really interested in the meditation of these extreme sports, the spiritual aspect. Usually when video games photograph extreme sports, it is much more about its surface level. This is not the real reason why people go back to surf. You want to be in nature. You want to connect with nature. You want to discover.
There is a magical thrill you can get. We are trying to get this game. Take motion and speed, but let you go into this flow state and connect the scene.
Games bat: Is this all silent? No one is speaking, no story?
Nawa: Yes, there is no dialogue in the game. Surely the characters. You will meet another mysterious character along the way. There will be a story that you make your way in this world. There are many different biomes to discover beyond sand. You will see in the trailer we have just presented in the showcase. There are snow areas and other things. We are telling the story with a kind of environmental story.
Games Bat: Do you still need a statement designer for this?
Nawa: Oh, yes We have a writer in this game. This is comedy. We like, “Well, don’t write any words, but please help us.” This is great. In the latter version, you can find and read more about the world’s backstury. You will be able to read some small poems about history. This is very funny, the way we do.
Games Bat: Is it all connected to your past games?
Nawa: All our games are somehow connected. What we like to do is let players come with these contacts. We will definitely offer them some indicators and things. But we never spell how they connect. We have a way of being and Abuzo. So if you have played this game, you will recognize some things. Certainly, you will see this integrated place.
Games Bat: Animation and Environment, it seems that these are both areas where you already know what you are doing. Sand and sea. Was there something that was very familiar with doing so, or did you have to learn more?
Nawa: It’s funny. I thought, “I played sand. I played water. It would be easy.” But then we added this new thing, which is that the region is mobilizing. It is moving forward in every frame. This meant that we had to invent this new tech. This is a very customized piece of technology we have made so that you can move forward with this wave at a speed. It was familiar, but also a new challenge. It was a lot of fun.
Games Bat: What time do you have in mind? Is this schedule for release yet?
Nawa: Yes, it is coming out soon on August 19. We have to finish this. We are close.
Games Bat: Which platform is it going?
Nawa: It is about to take place at PS5 and PC, steam and epic sports stores. The first day on PS5 will be on the PlayStation Plus service.
Games Beat: Do you learn a lot about the main character, or does he remain mysterious?
Nawa: She is very mysterious. You get more information about what you read in the game, these small pieces. She is like this empty suit of coach in the beginning. You saw the drop hit him and made him alive. He is like this empty creature. He is looking for something.
Games Bat: How do you compare development with past plans? Is it faster forward?
Nawa: Every sport I make takes about three or four years. This is almost four years of work so far. We started it during pandemic illness, immediately of misconduct. After. It was the first game we started from the team. We had to do all this. The team gathered. It is amazing what they have drawn.
Games Bat: How many people are there now?
Nawa: We have 16 or 17 people. A medium -sized team.
Games bat: And it’s deliberate?
Nawa: This is our identity. We like to keep it short. We are a close group of friends, mainly, weird games.
Games Beat: Here is a sword, but usually your games have been non -violent. Do you have to use the sword?
Nawa: It’s funny. The first game that I made with a sword, we are not doing anything or anything. There are things you have cut. You have seen a little – what I call sea seeds, where he communicates and collides with it and water comes out. Later there is a kind of opponent you meet. There are moments of script. But yes, there is no moment of fighting in the game for a moment. It’s really about movement. The sword is part of the lore.
Games Beat: Do you consider it something that anyone should be able to know about? Is this a failure if no one knows what to do next?
Nawa: When we designed the game, one of our major challenges was that you really could just play and discover how to play without need to see anything. Only when you go, we secretly teach you things. In the beginning we show a small text that tells you how you jump, etc. But we do secret things like – if a player already jumps before we show them this text, we don’t just show the text. We understand that you already know how to jump. We don’t have to tell you. We are trying to get out of your way and let you stay in the game, don’t remember you are playing a game.
Games Bat: Is this your own engine?
Nawa: This is an unrealistic engine 5, but our team is unique in it, though we are very small, we do a lot of customs rendering. It doesn’t look like all other unrealistic engine sports. It has a very unique visual way, and it is really due to the customs that we have placed on the unrealistic.
Games Bat: What is difficult to do?
Nawa: The biggest challenge is to feel the movements of this character. We are working on how to get away from the jump and to communicate with the movement of waves. We do something like you go fast on the sand. You go faster on water. You go slowly on the tile. Without controlling the player’s Any speed, you automatically go to the speed that feels fine everywhere. Just make sure that when you are moving, this is all right. The thing we have continued for four years.
Later in the game you are going to discover an environment that has snow and lava. Some very unrealistic environment. We are taking the scenes you’ve seen earlier. You have seen the desert scene. You have seen water. But not like that. You have never seen a mountain of water. You have never seen the region moving like this. There will be places you don’t expect to look at such a game.
This was the biggest challenge when I was preparing the game. I will bring a piece of concept art. “Imagine this dynamic. Imagine to move these waves.” “You’re just showing me a picture of the desert.” You have to look at it. But once you do, once you feel it, everyone says, “Well, I got.”
Games Bat: How did you finance the game?
Nawa: We are partners with Sony. Sony has been our financial supporter. He has been a great partner. He understood the game soon and believed in us, believed in the team. In the past we have made a deep partnership with them. We worked with them to send Abuzo as a console special day on PS4. He has always been a close friend of the studio. He has an excellent team in the PlayStation Indies.
Games Bat: Have you said how well your past games have done so far?
Nawa: I don’t have that number, but the good thing is that it is enough for us to walk. They have been successful. We still need to get funds from big companies, but each of our games has got its fan base. We put our trailer and we have a disagreement. Everyone was going crazy. It is really fun to see this. They are already doing a new fan art, which is a great enthusiasm for the team.
Games Beat: It seems that you are taking some steps here, even the rest of the industry has struggled.
Nawa: It has been a difficult time with many studios closed. We were on the edge for a while. Last year was really rough. We fought hard and hard. Sony really came in and helped us. They made it so that we could continue and end the game. We are grateful to them that they have helped us to make a really difficult time.