The developers of indie project The Realm have expressed an interest in bringing the project to Nintendo Wii U once the initial PC/Mac version is complete. Cubed3 caught up with Lantern Interactive’s Tom Szirtes on the Kickstarter campaign, the game’s inspiration, puzzle mechanics and breaking the barriers of point-and-click conventions.
Cubed3: Please tell us about Atomhawk Design / Lantern Interactive and your team
Tom Szirtes: Atomhawk Design, led by Creative Director Ron Ashtiani, is one of the game industry’s leading art design studios and has worked on titles like Devil May Cry, Dead Island, Driver: San Francisco, Mortal Kombat and many more.
Lantern Interactive is a new start-up run by Tom Szirtes, an industry veteran who has worked at companies like Sega, Eidos and Computer Artworks. Tom, Ron and lead designer Andrew Curtis met at Computer Artworks whilst working on the number one selling game The Thing.
Cubed3: Please tell us a little bit more about The Realm concept and how it came to be.
The Realm started off as an internal art project at Atomhawk that they were doing in their spare time. When Ron met Tom at GDC last year, they discussed the possibility of making a game around it and since then they’ve been working with Andrew on developing the game.
Tom Szirtes: The Realm follows a young girl called Sarina, who embarks on an epic quest to save her dying mother. On the way she befriends Toru, a giant stone golem, and the unlikely couple go on a treacherous adventure together, across wild and beautiful lands. The Realm is set in the far distant future, when the world has been reclaimed by nature. Once proud cities now lay abandoned; overgrown with strange plants and twisted vines. Magic and mysticism has returned to earth and there are strange creatures lurking in the forests. The environments of The Realm are subtly based on real-life locations from around Atomhawk’s headquarters in the North East of England. It’s an imaginative evolution of the point & click adventure.
Cubed3: The two lead characters seem really intriguing; please tell us about them and their relationship.
Tom Szirtes: Sarina is a headstrong girl who is embarks on this quest to save her mother, whilst Toru is a giant stone golem who has been asleep in the forest for hundreds of years. When they first meet, Sarina is quite afraid of Toru, but throughout the game their relationship develops. This is an integral part of the gameplay as well as you have to use the unique abilities of both characters in order to solve the puzzles.
Cubed3: There is a hint of Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbour Totoro in the storyline, was the 1988 classic an influence?
Tom Szirtes: Not directly by that film but the game is indeed influenced generally by Studio Ghibli. We like to call The Realm‘s style ‘Eastern Heart, Western Art’.
Cubed3: Are there any classic point and click games that you’re most fond of?
Tom Szirtes: We loved playing games like Monkey Island, Beneath a Steel Sky when we were young, but we are influenced by games like Machinarium, Tiny Bang Story and games like Ico.
Cubed3: If you could work with any other point-and-click developers, who would it be and why?
Tom Szirtes: Well the obvious ones would be Revolution Software – we actually know Charles Cecil and his team fairly well who are working on the new Broken Sword game. Also the other would be Double Fine, love their quirky work and look like great guys to work with.
Cubed3: The Realm is pitched to “re-imagine the point and click adventure”. Which elements of the genre have you brought to the game?
Tom Szirtes: Looking back at our long standing love affair with the point-n-click adventure genre, there were so many things we loved from classics like Broken Sword, Monkey Island, Beneath a Steel Sky, Blade Runner and contemporary games like Machinarium, Drawn, Tiny Bang Theory etc., but there were two aspects we wanted to change for The Realm.
The first was inventory management (that often resulted in systematically testing all inventory items on anything vaguely interactive) and the second was pixel hunting (the act of clicking every pixel on screen in the hope of revealing a clue to a puzzle that’s been haunting you for three days!)
From the beginning we decided to focus away from these activities and instead on the wonderful potential of the main characters Toru and Sarina. We posed the question: “What if the characters relationship and their individual abilities is a big part of the puzzle? What if the decisions the player makes throughout the adventure effects the way the characters relate to each other, the world around them and how their abilities evolve?
For navigation puzzles we’re dealing with a classic asymmetrical pairing: Power and resilience for Toru verses the agile and compact Sarina – the perfect team for smashing through the environment or squeezing through gaps.
For basic puzzles we use a system where interactive objects (Elaborate switches/dials, objects that need repairing etc.), highlight when one of the characters is near (removing the need to pixel hunt). Approaching an object will then present the player with a number of contextual options. In many cases Sarina will need to teach Toru new actions by demonstrating them to him (e.g. Push, Smash, Shake, Carry, Drop etc.). Teaching Toru new actions will unlock new paths, collectibles and gameplay opportunities.
For more involved puzzles you’re not only dealing with the interactive objects in the environment, but also how Toru relates to the world emotionally. He may be scared, angry, excited or distracted (mainly by goats!). Sarina must deal with these things swiftly to strengthen the relationship and bring things under control.
For harder puzzles as well as there being more steps and more to consider, it’s possible to choose the wrong option during the puzzle sequence. In some cases this may result in a loss of trust between the characters, a change in emotional state or something much worse (Eeek!)
Cubed3: Without a doubt The Realm looks absolutely stunning. What influences played a part in the art style?
Tom Szirtes: Thank you. The art was a result of team effort at Atomhawk, everyone in the team has their own influences and they all brought it together to create this amazing unique look.
Cubed3: What was the reason to have a 2D artwork style instead of the polygon intensive approach of today?
Tom Szirtes: We are really just playing to our strengths, Atomhawk have some of the finest illustrators and designers in the world – therefore it made sense to do a 2D art game. We are using 3D technology for the characters but subtly so that it doesn’t detract from the lovely hand drawn feel of the game. It’s an intrinsic part of the style and one we think people will love.
Cubed3: We’re big fans of Richard Jacques’ work here at Cubed3. What sort of musical score do you feel will fit the world of The Realm?
Tom Szirtes: We want the Realm world to be beautiful but also mysterious and filled with wonder and danger. I think Richard will do an amazing job for the project.
Cubed3: You mentioned to Cubed3 recently that you would love to consider Nintendo Wii U. What aspects about the GamePad do you think could work well with The Realm?
Tom Szirtes: This game was designed at the very beginning to work on touch screen devices – it’s how we imagined the game to be interacted with. We wanted the player to touch the world, become immersed. That’s why we think Wii U would be the perfect console to take this game to.
Cubed3: With iPad/Android versions considered, would there be a chance of a Nintendo 3DS or PS Vita version?
Tom Szirtes: I think Nintendo 3DS might be a bit difficult to fit all The Realms beautiful graphics into, but PS Vita is possible though. We are open to considering any platforms – as always it a case of business and opportunity. Our main goal at the moment is to reach our Kickstarter target and finish the game for our backers on PC + Mac. As soon as we have done that we will be working on new platforms.
Cubed3: Are there any Nintendo games that have helped shaped the direction taken in The Realm? Are there any the team play during that vital tea-break, say Mario Kart?
Tom Szirtes: I’m a massive fan of Nintendo, for me they manage to capture a magic in their games that very few other companies can do. Personally I loved playing on my Gamecube games like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Starfox Adventures and Metroid Prime.
Cubed3: The Realm will no doubt be a success. It is early days but are you planning on expanding the concept into a franchise/series?
Tom Szirtes: Well thank you. I hope so. If we are successful we’d love to turn it into a series – there is so much to explore in The Realm. It’s a rich universe that we can’t wait to share with everyone.
What do you think of The Realm concept? Would you like to see the game on Nintendo Wii U?
Support The Realm on Kickstarter
