Duskfade - Weird Beluga Studios

Duskfade is one of the most highly anticipated indie titles in video-games, we sit down with the Lead Designer and Narrative Designer to delve in to this stunning 3D Platformer, which includes some brand new details about the game.

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Transcript

Simon Hill (Host): 0:01

Hello and welcome to another episode of Gone Gold with me, Simon Hill, esports host, industry presenter and TV personality. Yes, welcome back everyone for our third episode of Gone Gold. Before we get started, I've got a very special announcement. As at the time of recording this, I'll be heading down to Surrey to one of the most iconic, exciting and most respected studios in the industry to record a very special episode of the show. They have a really super rich history with multiple award-winning titles. I'll be heading down to sit with the game designer and the dev team behind games such as Two Point Hospital, Two Point Campus and their latest success, Two Point Museum. Yes, I'll be talking to the team at Two Point Studios about everything from then to now. Super excited. I can't even begin to put it into words. Also, thank you to everyone who tuned in to our previous this episode with BAFTA nominee Samantha Bayhart who gave such an open interview talking about her time filming and performing as Karlak from Baldur's Gate 3 to her experiences hosting the future game show with Ben Starr and acting alongside Michael and Trevor from GTA 5. Don't forget to hit the download button on this episode, which will help boost the show through the charts, as well as giving a little rating on your chosen platform. Let's get into our next conversation, and this is a first for the show. I sit down with a narrative designer and lead artist at Weird Beluga, who are currently working on one of the most anticipated indie titles in the industry, Duskfade, a stunning new take on the 3D platformer that mixes nostalgia with emotional storytelling, visually striking and one that has already gained a cult following. We delve into the development and we're also treated to some brand new announcements in this episode. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Gone Gold with Weird Beluga Studios. We are back for another packed episode and this one is a very special insight into one of the most anticipated indie titles in the industry right now. A love letter to the classic action platformers. Accompanying the striking visuals, eye-catching art design and nostalgic sounds will be a deep, emotional, rich story. Welcome to Duskfade and joining me on this episode from Weird Beluga... Hi Simon, it's so nice to be here. I'm

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 3:14

very, very excited, both of us, to get people to know the game a little bit more. I'm Ricardo, I'm the narrative designer here in Beluga Studio.

Diego (Art Director): 3:23

I'm Diego, art director of Duskfade and co-founder of Will by Luca.

Simon Hill (Host): 3:29

Let's kick things off with asking how you're feeling. There's a lot of hype, a lot of buzz around Duskfade. After you put out the announcement trailer last month, how has it felt seeing the community and the industry reaction to the trailer? It looks incredible.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 3:44

Thank you. Thank you so much. We're so excited. We couldn't be happier with the reaction of everyone. Comments, videos they've been making, just the opportunity to be here in a podcast is also great. So we're very happy that people are liking the game, are catching on the references we have, but also liking that it has its own personality. So yeah, we couldn't be happier.

Diego (Art Director): 4:10

Yeah, the hype was much, much bigger than we expected at the first time. So people are talking a lot about the video game, so it's great.

Simon Hill (Host): 4:21

It's been a fantastic reception. I've seen there's a few fan accounts popping up already and the release isn't until next year. So that must be really flattering to see as well. Having these

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 4:31

accounts

Simon Hill (Host): 4:31

popping

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 4:32

up, it's been also great. For example, the Gamers Joint has submitted a video speaking on the trailer and even exclusive seven-minute videos. uh gameplay uh it's also been great and we've got some people so because we're from spain so the the people from spain there's some accounts there also that are appreciating uh an indie studio coming from from their country so yeah it's been crazy it's been literally crazy

Simon Hill (Host): 5:04

Honestly, I can't wait to see where this goes. I'm really looking forward to seeing more on it next year. But let's get into the design, the development, the inspirations of the game. And the art design in particular has caught the eye of many. It's almost got a nod to Kingdom Hearts. What were the inspirations behind the beautiful art style?

Diego (Art Director): 5:24

Some of them was like Jak and Daxter, Spyro, the old school, early 20s video games, also Ratchet and Clank

Simon Hill (Host): 5:36

So some real old school inspirations there with also a modern twist. And for anyone that's still a little bit unaware, Duskfade is a new 3D action platformer. It mixes nostalgia with modern gameplay. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, platform games were at their peak. You had titles like Banjo-Kazooie, Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, as you've just mentioned, Jak and Daxter and so many more. How are these studios bringing together that nostalgia nostalgia to Duskfade whilst also adding your own modern twist, Ricardo?

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 6:12

I guess we really wanted to make a platformer because in Wirbeluga we like to do games that we ourselves want to play. So we really wanted to make a platformer after our previous game. And yeah, we got things we love from the big era of the platforming games because they got a little bit forgotten and we want to rescue them. a bit. So we got things we love from here and there, and then we put our own twist with a much faster movement, some more modern combat with the role you can see maybe in Dark Souls or the grapple, which is very popular in games right now. So there's some mechanics that feel new. And there's things that you can tell there from the good old times.

Simon Hill (Host): 7:00

From the good old times there, Diego, what inspired you when you were getting into this project? Pre-production, you're all talking about what's coming next and what you're going to do with this title. What inspired you to passionately get involved in this project?

Diego (Art Director): 7:16

Yeah, how I say the... video games we played have a very hit in us, also the movies we like, even the music, also the place where I live is very natural, we have woods, so I try to implement these things in the art style.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 7:42

He and our other colleague Tommy, they both started more or less this prototype and this adventure on their own at first. So I mean, they gave it birth. So he was there from the beginning. little bit later so it's it's a passion project

Simon Hill (Host): 8:02

talk to us about the world that we're going to explore in dusk fade from the trailer trailer alone it looks very rich colorful alive what can you tell us about the world we're going to be living in with this game

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 8:14

okay so yeah about about the world about the story there's not much out there yet we've uh yeah we've given some information about like mechanics gameplay But the story part and the world part is something, it's a bit of a secret right now. But of course, being the narrative designer, I want to be able to speak more about it. So yeah, first of all, yeah, it's colorful. That's something we wanted to change from our previous project. We wanted it to be very bright, very cheerful, even though the story can get a little bit uh sad uh maybe sometimes we wanted to make a very colorful and happy game cheerful that accompanies the the tone of of the of the story and also of the of the movement because you're all the whole time jumping dodging uh rolling grappling so that that kind of vibe is goes very good with with the game and yeah also we have a lot of like natural spaces especially uh diego is amazing doing scenario so yeah the art is everyone has seen very beautiful

Diego (Art Director): 9:27

yeah i did uh some mix up of things like uh the forest and cosmic things a lot of variety of yeah there's a lot

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 9:38

of natural stuff there's a very uh strong theme of yeah like cosmic stuff and and stars and the sky Yeah. And of course, everyone's been a little bit like investigating, hey, what's the sword? Why is the sword this way? Why are there like so many gears and so many clocks everywhere, the clock tower? That's also something very important. And each environment will have a lot of those things. So it's a mixture of like nature stuff. and yeah clockwork and some sort of mix between magic and steampunk

Simon Hill (Host): 10:20

wow i mean you're getting me excited just listening to how passionate you sound whilst talking about that and i i think as well when you're ready to talk about this narrative side send me an email let's get you back on for a little side uh a side episode and we'll go and deep dive right into that narrative as well

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 10:37

we'll do we'll do but we can talk about it a bit right now don't worry

Simon Hill (Host): 10:42

We've got a little bit that's already been spoken about, which we will dive into. Before I move on, I want to ask this question. What can you tell us about the clockwork bird seen in the key art? I think there's a little bit of gameplay out there already that includes that clockwork bird. Is this a companion? Is it a character? Will we have a potential pet? What can you tell us about it so far?

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 11:05

Well, if the cuckoo heard you say pet, it would be very angry. Because it's got a very strong character. No, no, it's the secondary character. Basically, even main character, you could say. It's very important for the protagonist and for the story. It will be with you the whole time and it will be very important for every bit and every scene we have.

Diego (Art Director): 11:35

Yeah, like all video games of platforming have a side companion.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 11:41

Yeah, we didn't want to make it just a pet. We didn't want to make it just a funny companion. We wanted to give it a little bit more of importance.

Diego (Art Director): 11:53

Yeah, if you're thinking Jack and Daxter, Daxter have an important role in the story.

Simon Hill (Host): 12:01

So there's going to be gameplay elements with... Cuckoo, is that the name of the... Cuckoo, yeah, it's a cuckoo bird.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 12:09

Cuckoo's the name. So

Simon Hill (Host): 12:10

we're going to have gameplay elements and that's going to impact on what we do within the story and within each level design or realm, as I believe we're calling them.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 12:20

It's going to affect in some parts of the gameplay, though the main focus is on the protagonist. But it's a very important character for the story.

Simon Hill (Host): 12:31

Let's talk about the protagonist. You play as Zirion, who is a young workship apprentice. What can you tell us about our protagonist and what can we expect when we go through this journey with him?

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 12:45

Okay, so Zirion is the cheerful... young lad jumping around being happy until something very sad happens to him and his family and he will have to save his sister from some danger. He's young, he's excited, even though he's going through all these dangers, he's very excited. He's also very happy to have Cucu on his side. You will hear him screaming and laughing the whole time. He cares about Cuckoo, about his sister, about every neighbor of the town you'll start in the game. And you'll see him especially grow up. That's one of the main themes of the story. You will see him from this... happy, how could you say, naive sort of guy to someone more mature and responsible.

Diego (Art Director): 13:50

How Ricardo said, he's a very

Simon Hill (Host): 13:53

innocent

Diego (Art Director): 13:54

boy that

Simon Hill (Host): 13:56

has

Diego (Art Director): 13:57

to learn a lot in the way to solve the things that the world is happening here. So... I can't say much more.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 14:10

Yeah, he will be tricked. He will be tricked by someone quite a lot. We joke within the studio, we sometimes joke like he's our dumb little boy. But we love him. And then, yeah, about the design, for example, the rat tail he has, that most people have noticed that that's Jim from Treasure Planet, which is a... film we love.

Diego (Art Director): 14:38

I thought in the beginning nobody will notice that the ponytail is from that

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 14:45

movie. Everyone knew it, which is great because we love it. It's an underappreciated movie. Yeah, it absolutely is. We can give it some justice. Designing Thirion was very difficult. From the prototype teaser trailer we released early on and then Until now it's changed quite quite a lot for the better, but it was it was difficult

Diego (Art Director): 15:13

At the beginning we have that model of theory and that have some technical issues because it doesn't will work with cinematics We need to redo him twice two times or three times But I think the the final result is nice.

Simon Hill (Host): 15:33

Yeah, it looks stunning and he looks really engaging and really approachable. Someone you can connect with. So you talk about him being naive and a little bit funny, a little bit silly. Are we going to get some light-hearted dialogue in there with him whilst you're going through these realms?

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 15:51

Yeah, there will be some very emotional scenes. There's a lot of talks between him and Cuckoo. which are very beautiful. He's very naive and a bit dumb. And then Cuckoo has a very strong character and gets angry easily. So there you have a little bit of a dynamic, which is very fun to watch. And then there's also with some other characters, his sister, his grandfather, which is another important figure in the game. There's also going to be some emotional moments there. we've talked about at the beginning that we wanted to do like platforming, like the ones from before, but without a basic, let's say, story of, hey, you have to save this person and that's it, or save the world. This is more personal, more deep, and I think more people can relate to that.

Simon Hill (Host): 16:53

Let's get into what we can get into then. I know at the moment you're not fully able to go into detail about the story, but from what I understand, you can give us a glimpse now of the overarching narrative. You've touched on little aspects there. When we turn on the game, from what you can reveal at the moment... What is the overarching narrative we're going to experience when we get in there? We've heard about the emotional side, the attachment, and our protagonist. How does all that tie into the narrative?

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 17:22

So this story is also very personal for me because the base of it, how it started, is when my grandfather passed away. And that's something that's going to happen in this game. Well, it's already happened before the game started. And you learn... How did it happen? The relationship between this grandfather, which is named Tristan, and Sirian and his sister. And that's the moment the story starts. The sister, Alira, doesn't manage the grief too well. and something happens, there's an accident, and Thirian will have to go through every corner of the world to save her sister that's now trapped in this clock tower we see on the trailer. So very, as I told, very emotional, very deep moments about family loss, and it's based on a real life experience. So I've cried a bunch while writing the script.

Diego (Art Director): 18:27

I really think people can empathize with the story you are writing I

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 18:37

remember when we did the voice acting for some of the scenes one of the persons as well that was in the booth started to cry a bit with one of the scenes. And I was like, yeah, I did it. Those real tears. Which was, yeah, was very, very good for me. I was very happy about that.

Simon Hill (Host): 19:03

Yeah, beautiful moment I can imagine, yeah. What an incredible, also brave way of telling that story. Ricardo, it's very personal to you. It's something that I myself have also experienced in a similar way. But that must have taken so much for you as a writer to go into and then be able to portray that onto your next project.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 19:29

I don't think so. I think it was easy. I loved my grandfather and I love talking about him. I remember him fondly. So... pouring in all those emotions into the story, it was like being with him again a little bit, passing time with him again. So it was not that hard. And yeah, we all experienced loss. So everyone can imagine how it feels. But it was fun. I've talked with my mother about the story. I also have a little sister. In this case, Thirian is the little brother and the sister is the older one, which is the reverse case. But I also have a little sister and we get along very, very well, even though we used to hit each other a lot when we were kids. And all of that stuff has gone into the script, but I think That's the easy part.

Diego (Art Director): 20:35

In that way, Ricardo, I think you are making your grandfather eternal because you are putting your memories from him in something that will be for the people. It

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 20:52

will be there and I'm happy about that. And literally that theme about your grandfather being there forever and in your memories, in your heart, in what he has taught you, that's literally on the game. I've said that that's a line from the game, so there

Simon Hill (Host): 21:15

you go. We're going to get the opportunity to explore, battle, traverse, even rail-grind through this beautiful world and environments that you and the team have created. In terms of combat, how broad and vast is the combat system in Duskfade?

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 21:30

So, I think, first of all, Duskfade is... It's first a platformer, and then... it has combat. So platforming is the main part of the game, which doesn't mean that combat is left behind. It's very fun, but it's not super, super deep with combos. We like to keep it simple, fun, engaging, quick, so you don't end up battling the whole time. There's a mix and there's a flow. This is a curve of interest between some big platforming parts, then you get to combat, then you get to the platforming. So you'll expand your moves with new gadgets, with new abilities that will serve you as platforming abilities and also as combat abilities. So yeah, it's not the deepest, but that's our focus, to keep it simple and fun and quick.

Diego (Art Director): 22:31

yeah we always wanted to keep it simple but make synergies between them their elements and create a fun stuff with the combat we have a lot of enemies but they are pretty simple but between them create synergies and funny moments exactly

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 22:55

and enemies are very very fun just to watch. Some of them are cute, some of them are scary, some of them are funny.

Diego (Art Director): 23:03

Some of them are stupid.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 23:05

Some of them are stupid. And that's so great. Some of them have really funny animations. It's... Tacoma's looking great.

Simon Hill (Host): 23:14

We're going to come up against different kinds of enemies then, I assume. There's going to be lots of different versions. There's a lot

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 23:19

of enemies. We have bosses, of course. For example, in those bosses, we like to combine the uh the pillars of the game so combat on one side and platforming on the other a boss doesn't mean you're only going to be hitting the boss with your sword or with your gadgets you will also have to move around and find your way maybe to uh a critical point or he is out of reach so you have to get to it, that sort of stuff.

Diego (Art Director): 23:49

Yeah, in every world we teach some new mechanics to the player and in the boss we do like an exam to the player with the new mechanics learned.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 24:04

For example, I really like how we didn't think about this as a mechanic, let's say, But I love seeing Diego or Tommy or Esteban, the game designer, how they use the attack to stop their momentum and be able to reach a little bit further with more control. So maybe they jump, double jump, they dash, and then they hit the air. So they get some more centimeters, and then they get onto the platform. It's not necessary. Because maybe they've jumped over two platforms, but they did it quicker. And that's one

Diego (Art Director): 24:44

way. It's organic and natural to make it.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 24:48

Yeah, there's a lot of ways in which you can do it the easy way. But if you're good enough with the movement, then you can do it much, much quicker. Everything. So maybe speed runners can enjoy that.

Diego (Art Director): 25:00

We talk many times that our game is not about precision platforming, it's more like about momentum. Keep your flow and momentum and make tricks in the air.

Simon Hill (Host): 25:15

And with the platforming side, we've mentioned some of the amazing titles, you've already mentioned Jack and Dax there, we've mentioned some games like Kingdom Hearts. when you're going through these platforming aspects in dusk fade are we going right back to the late 90s with a modern twist of your own into the platforming style of the game

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 25:36

i would say it's a mix between some getting these gadgets uh that have been for example the rail the rail grind uh that comes from ratchet and clank uh and we want to make it a little bit faster. But the basic mechanic is there because it worked. It's fun. And we want to make some sort of homage for that sort of stuff. But then, yeah, double jump, dash, those feel a little bit more modern, more new. You have a lot more of control. They are faster. I think I talked about the grapple before. It's also something that's a bit more modern, even though There was grapples in some of the old games. Now it's like, in the recent years, it's become very popular. Every game had a grapple. Yeah. But it's so fun. It's like, yeah, we want to have a grapple also. So, yeah.

Simon Hill (Host): 26:34

And I've seen some of the footage where you're using, is it a sword? Is it a clock hand? What mechanism? It's a clock hand. So we're revealing that now. We can

Diego (Art Director): 26:45

finally say,

Simon Hill (Host): 26:46

it's

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 26:46

a clock hand, yeah guys.

Diego (Art Director): 26:47

Yeah, the thing that makes it special is it transforms in different clock parts. gadgets that can hit in different ways the enemies, like a gear axer or something like that.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 27:05

Yeah, the grapple, the chains you see, those are... Yeah, are they weight? Yeah, the weights of the clock, for example. yeah it's every everything is very clocked in as you can tell

Simon Hill (Host): 27:16

throughout various realms your clock hand will change into various parts to use as a weapon what was the inspiration behind that was that taken from another game or was it something that you thought you know it'd be really cool if we had a clock hand then a clock weight then a chain is this something that's developed over time

Diego (Art Director): 27:38

in the beginning I thought in Kingdom Hearts obviously because I like how he's handling the sword and everything but then I thought how to introduce that thematic in our video game and I thought in the clocks and I thought that it will be cool to have the clock hand like a weapon and then we built everything around that

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 28:09

yeah that was more or less the beginning the clock tower and the clock handle and then everything clock related went right behind.

Diego (Art Director): 28:16

It's like, what happens if we put a clock in with this thing? And we have many things with clock.

Simon Hill (Host): 28:27

Talk to us about some of the environments we're going to explore. There is bright colours, there looks some darker worlds that we're going to touch into as well. How varied are the environments within the game?

Diego (Art Director): 28:41

Many, many, many. I

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 28:47

can tell Diego's picture and all the work he has to do making all these worlds so beautiful because they have so many details and they're so beautiful, but they require so much work because we have a lot of different biomes. The way we designed them was thinking of the main sort of, or the end sort of world, which everything takes place in the same world, but yeah, like the end aesthetic of the level, and then in the game you start, more or less the whole time, from a central hub, which is a cute little town called Tick Town. Again, clocks. Brilliant. And then there's a transition between the tick town and where you end up. So for example, with most of what you've seen is in the forest. So there will be in this level, in the first level, you can say you end up on a volcano. So there's a transition between going outside from the town, going outside from the town to a forest. Then like the forest has suffered a little bit from being right beside an active volcano. Then there's some like You go through some caves and then the volcano. So even though it's in the same level, there's a lot of change in the scenarios. And that's just one level. How

Simon Hill (Host): 30:21

has that process been for you, Diego? Like Ricardo just said, you're picturing everything in your head and there's probably still a few things that you can't quite talk about at the moment. But what you've managed to create, help build, what's the process been like for you?

Diego (Art Director): 30:35

Well, in the beginning we need from game design narrative side some original idea because I need to figure out what I have to build, I suppose like a volcano. Then I look for a lot of references on the internet, books, movies, music, everywhere. And in that point you get many new ideas. and so you can start to work and mix things talk with the team ask them what they think about the new environment and after then you can add new details and go more in detail

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 31:27

there's a lot of we talk we were the whole time on discord because we don't we everyone works Yeah, works from home. So we're the whole time on Discord talking to each other. And there's a lot of brainstorming together and seeing about what everyone on the team is hyped about. And then once we have a decision, then it's all in. Our concept artist, Marta, she's also great. She has the most beautiful and crazy ideas. she's helping a lot on yeah like making a lot of options and different drawings and then we go into making them on on 3d which takes a lot of time

Diego (Art Director): 32:11

many times i work in secret for a day or something i prepare some some stuff because i i always want to see the final result instead the middle middle way so i prepared some cool music i i record some traveling cameras and i i saw to the team next the next day yeah

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 32:39

but he he used to do that since i know him from college like he disappeared he said he works he works at night he's like a genius but you know in in a weird fantastic way he works at night and then like does everything and then the next day with with zero hours of sleep he comes and hey guys this is already done it happens it happens and he did it with on college i remember he did the same with um like more most of the enemies of our previous game he did that and now 20 enemies in one night i was like dude are you okay

Diego (Art Director): 33:20

but it's crazy Yeah, I have got like pics of creativity.

Simon Hill (Host): 33:25

That was Clid the Snail, I'm assuming the title you're referencing there. Yeah, that was Clid

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 33:29

the Snail, exactly. And right now in our meetings, for example, every time we know Diego has to show something, everyone's super excited. Everyone goes there and we say it's like movie time, movie time. So we know that day we get a movie and he's made some crazy edit with arcane music or whatever show he's watching at the moment. And then we get to see, instead of seeing the level just normal and he could play and just share, he makes this like, montage

Diego (Art Director): 34:06

yeah it's more like experience I want to transmit the feelings I want to transmit to them

Simon Hill (Host): 34:13

what a beautiful way to work though and be surrounded by so many supportive colleagues that even though this is sort of a fantastic genius way of working also just kind of throwing everything at once and everyone's so supportive and looks forward to that and that sounds to me like how this project has come together for you

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 34:33

oh yeah yeah totally Even though Diego comes and he's like, yeah, this is already done. There's so much feedback involved and iteration. Sometimes we hope that, yeah, I just wish this is perfect on the first try. It never is. There's a lot of iteration. But everyone loves the game and loves the team and is so hyped about everything that... a lot of new ideas come and and it's also sad that sometimes there are good ideas that doesn't fit some of the things and we have to discard them but yeah it's it's a we're a team there's teamwork if there's no other way of doing it

Diego (Art Director): 35:17

also in in our team every every single voice counts so we are uh uh We are 15 people right now, but everyone can participate and give feedback so we can make a video game together.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 35:38

Sometimes our daily meetings take very long. Very long, yeah. But it's also weird because... Sometimes it's because of discussing this very specific mechanic we can get to work completely and we have to go back and forth talking about this. Sometimes it's because the animator has made an animation that's very fun and we end up like 20 minutes talking about it and how he could make the next one even funnier. We have a lot of fun and everyone gets to talk and to show their work.

Simon Hill (Host): 36:15

How does that feel to be in such a supportive environment? Gaming and making games is a very difficult role within itself, but also being able to capture these moments as a studio must be really rewarding for you.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 36:31

It's great. I mean, going every day to work even though, yeah, everything is not as fun and as happy as it seems because right now, making video games has always been hard. Right now, the gaming industry is not on its best moment. So it's hard. There's a lot of stress. There's a lot of moments with low creativity, frustration, but being surrounded with colleagues and friends, especially I feel like Very, very lucky because Diego and Tommy, which are the co-founders, are my friends from college. So we're very, very close. And now with the new members of the team, we're starting to build a very nice family. And yeah, being able to work with them and talk the whole time. Yeah, as I told you, we're the whole time on Discord.

Diego (Art Director): 37:26

Yeah, many, many times. Many times we play video games after the work. In the same place we make the meetings for work. We have channels

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 37:42

for our serious stuff and right below is the off-topic with the most horrible brain rot memes you can imagine. Maybe it's not the most healthy thing to do, like being eight hours on the computer with the headphones on and making a video game. And then, yeah, okay, I'm done with work. Let's go play another game.

Simon Hill (Host): 38:09

One thing we love to do on this show is bring our listeners closer to their favourite games and characters more than ever before. Are there any fun behind the scenes development stories you can share with us whilst you've been exploring this new world you're creating? Diego, I'll go with you first.

Diego (Art Director): 38:27

Well, I can't remember anything especially. One thing we like to do... is when Animator makes a new rig. It's like the skeleton of the new character. We say, how about we put Thurian into this skeleton and play as him? it breaks everything and happens a lot of bugs and Sirian becomes amorphous thing

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 39:05

completely broken Sirian ends up with a skeleton of a chicken and then you go around with this horrendous thing jumping and dashing all around I don't know, it's something we do a lot with the animations and the rigs we get And also, I don't know. Well, obviously, we've met outside because we're all from Spain, but each one is from one part of Spain. But we've come together in Christmas and some important meetings. We've come together in Barcelona. Some of us were also in London. So even though I can tell a lot about what went on during those trips on the off hours, We can tell we have a lot of fun together. We've gone out to dinner at night. It's very fun.

Simon Hill (Host): 39:58

Before we wrap up, let's touch on what you've been touching on throughout the interview, which is that you guys are... from the same college or you've you know been in contact for a while for anybody listening who wants to get into games this next question is for you and you'll want to pay close attention to it in 2019 you began your journey and boldly submitted your project at the time into the playstation talent competition you walked away with multiple awards back then you followed your dreams and now we're all looking forward to something you're creating once again and with the support of of Fireshine Games now. How do you sum up your journey so far as a studio and how does it feel to see how far you've come back from 2019? It's

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 40:49

been such a long time and so many things have happened. We're very happy where we are right now but it's definitely been a bumpy ride. When we started Clit during college while we were studying was hard and like not knowing how everything works. Like we knew how to make games more or less, but everything outside of that, it's like the industry and contacts, it's so difficult. But it went okay. It went good enough that we could make, that we are making this new project right now. So I think it's the grind. We keep moving when things get difficult. keep on it

Diego (Art Director): 41:36

just keep moving work hard and at any time you will reward it by your work and again it will be difficult yeah yeah you have to learn a lot a lot of things technical things hard skills soft skills for make video games but it's great when you you see your character moving around and people likes it's great

Simon Hill (Host): 42:02

have you had time to appreciate how far you've come in those five years six years since you began your journey

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 42:11

of course we we talk about this quite often the especially the three of us like yeah remember when we did this or maybe when some things are similar from one game to another and and it's crazy how we've improved also like a lot of time has passed and and in us we're friends in our lives and we see each other in different moments of our lives. And it's also nice to see how we've grown inside the industry and outside as people. But yeah, for example, there's some interesting fact that the last level of Clit the Snail before something changes during the game, but basically the last level was the volcano and now We don't like, it was by accident, but now the first level of task fate is the volcano. It's very difficult. We did it so much better. We're so proud of how the volcano turned out.

Diego (Art Director): 43:12

Is it the same world?

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 43:14

No, no, no. Or maybe it is. I don't know. I will think about it.

Diego (Art Director): 43:20

Maybe people also look for a snail in the environment. Maybe there's some snails hidden.

Simon Hill (Host): 43:28

Well, I mean, look, the game sounds amazing. The first teaser came out a year ago and you mentioned it earlier. But the difference in what we're looking at now... when you revealed the announcement trailer a month ago is night and day and you should be so proud of what you've achieved in just a year. So I can't wait to see what we're going to see in 2026 when the game eventually comes out. What do you want fans and listeners to take away from this? Because I can go on record and say now this has become one of the most highly anticipated indie games in the industry and you can see that all over the internet.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 44:06

Basically, we're very, very thankful that everyone's loving the game right now. The first teaser, it's changed so much because the first teaser was just made by Diego and Tommy. So it was...

Diego (Art Director): 44:20

Yeah, in the beginning, we were two people. We got more resources and visibility. We are proud also of the way we used them. I think the result is nice.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 44:36

And about the audience and everyone commenting on the game and posting things, we just want to say thanks. Keep being there. It helps us so much knowing that people are excited about the game. We also can't wait to... to see like every time we make a new level, we are all the time, okay, this is so much better than before. And we get excited ourselves. So knowing that there's people there backing us up and just a comment on a YouTube video, just a follow on our Instagram, we know there's people excited for the project, as excited as we are for it too. to be released finally.

Diego (Art Director): 45:18

For me, it's like a dose of dopamine. Every tweet, every comment in YouTube channels is nice. Because you know you are connecting with the people, with your video game.

Ricardo (Narrative Designer): 45:32

And especially with this deep story and emotional and being able to connect with everyone is great. It's very beautiful. We're very grateful. And what's the final message? We'll make some announcements soon enough. We can tell right now, sadly. But there will be. You will not have to wait a lot. And we are all the time posting on Twitter, on Instagram, new stuff, new gameplay, new concepts, some facts about the game. So if you stick there, you will... be able to know more about the game. And there will also be some big announcement that we will be able to do the near future i

Simon Hill (Host): 46:22

hope what an incredible insight into one of the most highly anticipated indie titles in video games right now dusk fade fantastic to have the team on from weird beluga studios huge thanks to those guys and also to fireshine games for helping make this all happen and we did get some really cool insights some new little reveals new little tidbits to thrive on there we now have confirmation that it isn't a sword it is a clock hand that can transform into various weapons and you can also by the sounds of it upgrade those weapons as well as you go through the levels and through the game we also got a little bit more insight into the narrative and the characters the protagonist so really thankful to weird beluga studios there for supplying some amazing information and i can't wait to hear more looking forward to getting them back on the show before launch which is in 2026 can't wait to see more right Don't forget to leave a little review or a little rating. That helps us climb the charts here at Apple Podcast Charts, Spotify, whichever is your chosen platform. Leave a review, leave a comment, and it all helps us climb those charts. It also helps me be able to then approach more guests. And if you want to hear from a specific person within the video games industry, whether that be a developer, a character, an actor, whoever it might be, leave those comments. As I said earlier on in the show the next episode we'll be hearing from Two Point Studios where I recorded that episode in full down in Surrey at Two Point Studios in their stunning streaming room it's all very professionally done and I can't wait to share it with you until then you know what to do hit that subscribe button and we'll be back with a brand new sparkling episode with Two Point Studios next week see you then