Interview | Woven: Not Just Light and Fluffy

Adam Riley, Cubed3: Can you start by introducing yourself/yourselves and let us know a bit about your development background?

Vincent da Silva, Digital Forest: We are three Dutch guys who all have a passion for games. We know each other from work. Matthijs and Dominic both run a game company together called Alterego Games. Matthijs and Dominic have been successfully making computer and tabletop games for more than three years. Two and a half years ago they met Vincent, a freelancer who has a company called Digital Forest and has been in the running as a game developer for over 16 years. We really got along and were doing projects together for two years. We all have our own expertise, which we try to combine optimally in Woven.

Matthijs: I'm a psychologist and storywriter, working on Woven's story, narration, game design and community management.

Dominic: I'm the programmer, game designer, and user experience designer, working on the main programming of Woven, special effects and user experience.

Vincent: I'm the programmer, visual designer, and game designer, working on 3D modelling, level design and gameplay.

Cubed3: When did you start with the idea for Woven, and what made you decide to go with a thread-based environment? Did the likes of Kirby's Epic Yarn and Yoshi's Woolly World nudge you in that direction, or was it already an idea floating around in your mind?

Vincent: The central mechanics came first. These were based on a game that I made 15 years ago. In this game you could combine creatures to make a super creature. Their limbs would have their own abilities, and by combining the body parts you could combine abilities. In 2011, I started building a new game with a small team called 'The Stuffies.' In this game, the concept of a woollen world was born. The main game mechanic of this 15-years-old game was redesigned for this game. Creatures could be combined by collecting animals and rebuilding them in a machine. This has been applied to the entire world to make the characters fit the environment.

In short, the art style has evolved from the game mechanic of customising and combining creatures.

Vincent: We want Woven to be a laid back game where you can explore at your own speed. We want Stuffy to be a free spirit that decides for himself if he wants to go somewhere or not. In Woven you control Glitch, and Stuffy follows. This is why we ended up with controls that come closest to a point and click adventure. We think the combination of 3D and point and click controls work well together.

Cubed3: We've seen Stuffy the Stuffed Elephant and his transformation into a rabbit. What other animals can be expected? We encountered a scarily large snake and plenty of vultures in the demo - presumably they're a lock in?

Vincent: Stuffy and Glitch will encounter loads of creatures in our game. Basically there are four types of creatures. There are small critters, like the prairie dogs, birds, crabs, and fish, which you can't communicate with. There will also be intelligent creatures, like the snake, that could be of help, but could also be an obstacle. We can't give away too much, but think of creatures like a giant squid or a huge eagle. Most importantly, you will encounter creatures of Stuffy's size, which Glitch can scan and will give you the blueprint to change into. These can be all sorts of animals, like cats, dogs, flamingos, turtles, and many others. Finally, there are metal creatures, like the giant spider. We will keep this a secret for now. Basically, they are a real threat and need to be avoided or defeated.

Cubed3: Will you also be considering allowing for Glitch to scan certain inanimate objects (or will special hidden fabric types be available) to use camouflage skills for certain puzzles later on?

Vincent: Both are very good possibilities. We're still working on all the game mechanics. Glitch will definitely get many more things to interact with. There will also be different things to collect, other than just fabric types.

Cubed3: We saw a scary looking metallic spider at the very end… Are there going to be boss battles that require certain skills in a reactive setting, or will they be more on the point-and-click battles side of things (i.e. a bit slower in pace, sometimes even done in an almost turn-based style)?

Vincent: There will be more action and more thinking puzzles and battles than we showed in our pre-alpha demo. Sometimes you will have to be clever and trick your enemy, other times you will need to be quick. Other puzzles will be more rhythmic and will require a combination of skills in the correct order.

Cubed3:  The only time frustration kicked in was during the scene with the snake and not being able to get past despite us thinking the fabric chosen was similar to that of the snake's. The frustration crept in from having to slowly point-and-click to eventually get to the transformation pod, change, return, find it was wrong again, and then repeat the process. Given this sort of scenario, how important would you say the placement of the transformation pods is?

Vincent: It will be crucial to keep a positive experience throughout the game. The snake puzzle has been one of our toughest challenges to get right. We want to be clear in your goal, but at the same time not make it too easy. There will be more direction given in the final game, in the shape of Glitch keeping a logbook where you can get a better idea of where to go.

Cubed3: During the demo, we only tried out the keyboard and mouse combination, and sometimes controlling the camera seemed a bit too 'loose.' How do you combat complaints like this? Add in a camera sensitivity option, or just tweak as best as possible based upon user feedback?

Vincent: The controls are one of the most debated subjects by our users, and is, therefore, also the thing we've been working on most. We're trying to improve on our current controls and also try out new ones. So far, in our opinion, the best way at the moment is only using the mouse and not keyboard. When the game is finished, our point and click controls will make more sense since there will be much more interaction that relies on it.

Cubed3: Speaking of feedback, how's the reaction been so far from those that have tried it? Any particular constructive criticism come in that can be of use during development?

Vincent: The reaction has been fantastic! Almost everyone has been very positive, and we feel really blessed to get such praise. Most constructive criticism has been about adding more interactivity and to give more direction to the player, which are both planned and subjects that we will tackle in our game.

Cubed3:  Whilst obviously we really want you to hit the Kickstarter target, do you have a contingency plan in place for if the target isn't met? Would it just cause a scaled back, delayed project in the end?

Vincent: Of course, we would love to see Woven completed no matter what happens. If we fail to make the Kickstarter campaign, though, we will have to prioritise things. We will need to focus on a stable income first, and pick up Woven when we've got the breathing space again to spend time on it. We hope to not put it on the shelf, though.

Cubed3:  Many indie developers now like to do cross promotion to support their projects, so could we possibly see some cameo appearances from other popular indie characters along the way?

Vincent: We don't have any indie developer cross promotion work planned at this moment, but anything is possible. We're always open to interesting collaboration ideas!

Cubed3: What platforms are you looking at supporting? Do you have a step-by-step plan of attack? And if Nintendo systems are on the cards, will you skip Wii U/3DS in preference of the upcoming NX instead?

Vincent: Currently we're only working on Windows Steam support. Depending how well the campaign goes, we're considering building it for Mac and Linux, as well. We're looking into controller support for PC and are intrigued about making it for consoles, but our focus at the moment is on getting our Kickstarter successfully funded.