Crashlands - Interview

From the Hip Toss interviewed Sam Coster about Crashlands.

Crashlands harkens back to a time in video games where unhinged joy and curiosity were central, and discovery and wonder were the norm. Were you aware that you might elicit this reaction from others?

Sam: Nailing that joy, awe, and sense of wonder is exactly what we were aiming for, though interestingly it’s not something we felt we had direct control over. The overall structure of the design is meant to firmly root the player in an exploratory mode, and all of the design choices flow congruently into that.

Art and sound wise, we just did what we do! I don’t think it counts as an art style if it’s the only one you can execute. It’s just what we do — make goofy, fun stuff that makes you go “WHAAAAAAT IS THAT!?”

The creatures — they're full of personality. What was your process for creating Crashlands’ wildlife? Were you specifically inspired or were Wompits and Glidopi lingering in your heads all along?

Sam: Most people are kind of shocked to find out that we completely lack a concepting/build-up workflow for the art and story. It’s generally built out of necessity. With the Wompits as a good example, they were the first creature in the game and we knew we needed a simple attack mechanic so they wouldn’t overwhelm new players.

With that, the requirement was “We need a creature that does a circular attack pattern every so often.” Then, I went away for 4 hours or so and made this one-legged cow hippo, and that was that! All of the creatures are driven from mechanical necessity, and then we retcon their story/lore afterward.

Thanks Eye.