"The mother-daughter relationship in that movie and the performances, just the way that it was so empathetic about those characters and the difficult relationship they had without depicting either of them as being right or approaching things the way they should in every situation. And tonally for Tess and Opal's relationship? Look no further than the acclaimed Lady Bird. "We really love that idea of the player having this central agency of saying, 'I'm going to explore, I'm going to find what I'm interested in.' And then, 'I'm going to start this dialogue that then I have this presence'" within the story, he explained, emphasizing the "sense of exploration" the Campo Santo game invoked. While much of the locations and puzzles players will solve on their adventure are understandably preserved for the full game, Gaynor did offer some thoughts on Open Roads' influences, noting certain games in the genre the studio helped popularized like Firewatch really impacted and excited the team about what could be done. To have these points along the experience where you might arrive at one of the places you're going to explore and just, the weather, the time of day, the tone, the mood of the place, sets its own foundation for what the experience there is going to be like," Gaynor explained of Open Roads' multiple location design choice. "It allows us to contrast the place you're now exploring to where you came from. On top of that, the duo is losing the house they lived in with her, grappling with their grief, and setting out to "explore some family properties that Opal had spent time in when she was younger, look for clues that might've been left behind in places where their family had spent time when these events were occurring. Players will be seeking to uncover the mysteries of Opal's mother/Tess' grandmother, who, following her death, they discover may have had some relationship with a man who wasn't Opal's father. Open Roads looks to be following in the first-person storytelling footsteps of its predecessors, but rather than confined to a single place like past Fullbright Games, it will, quite literally, have you hitting the open roads. So she can have that perspective of, 'Oh, here's what this means to me,' in this divide between both their ages and their roles as the kid and the parent and that power dynamic," Gaynor explained, explaining that, after years of impressive Dad games like God of War, The Last of Us, Telltale's The Walking Dead, and more, the studio was excited about exploring a story that "centers on a mom and her relationship to her daughter." "You're exploring places that your mother had been when she was younger, but you've never been there before. And as Gaynor explained, the two will be going on a journey to uncover secrets of Tess' recently passed grandmother and the life they never knew she led. That other character is Opal, played by Russell, who is the mother to the protagonist you'll play as, Tess, played by Dever. And so the starting point was, what happens if we make a Fullbright game and there's another character in the room with you, and they're reacting to what you find, and you can talk to them about what it means to you and what it means to them." "The central relationship, it arose out of the starting question, which is always, 'What is the player doing? Why is this game interesting and engaging to actually interact with and have as an experience?'. "A big part of Open Roads is discovering this character relationship from the inside, by being part of it, which is not something that we've done before," Gaynor said. And one of the biggest ways Open Roads represents a departure from the studio's past games is by simply having another character with you throughout this new story. From our discussion, it sounds like Open Roads builds upon the first-person exploration of the studio's past games, hallmarks of the "walking sim" genre, but with new story and design choices that continue to build off what they and other developers have done. Thankfully, Fullbright co-founder and Open Roads director Steve Gaynor recently spoke with IGN about how Open Roads represents another evolution of the studio's penchant for telling emotional, layered stories in unexpected ways. But beyond a trailer that showcased a distinctive mix of art styles, teases of a story that would dive into a family's history, and some impressive star power with Keri Russell and Kaitlyn Dever leading the cast, it's remained a mystery. Fullbright, the acclaimed studio behind Gone Home and Tacoma, unveiled its newest narrative adventure, Open Roads, at the 2020 Game Awards.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |