An Interview With Studio Fawn and their upcoming Bloom: Memories Release

My Fellow Gamers;

It’s been an interesting time for the developers at Studio Fawn. Following two unsuccessful Kickstarter campaigns, problems with other developers over the game’s very name, and then a complete turnaround on their third Kickstarter push, one thing seems both apparent and unchanged despite the ups and downs when you talk with Bloom: Memories’ Lead Writer, Designer, and Artist Dani Landers; a passion to express a spirit that refuses to accept defeat. If ever there could be an argument made for the debate of ‘Can games be art?’ then one needs only look at the near awe-inspiring design in Bloom itself.

I had the chance to speak with Ms. Landers a few weeks ago, and she agreed to speak with us about Bloom: Memories. As well as the demands of having to (or rather, wishing to) multitask, the small tug of war over the game’s name itself, and what the small but dedicated team over at Studio Fawn hope to bring to gamers in the future.

Enjoy:

Wastelander75: So before we begin, I’d like to talk about the rocky start you guys went through just to lay claim to the game’s title. In particular, with your troubles with a team over at the University of Southern California. Tell us a little bit about that.

Dani Landers: Well, the troubles with the name actually began quite far into development, just the other month… I was tipped off by an indie developer friend that another game called “Bloom” was floating around and starting to advertise itself. Basically, the other team just hadn’t tried to google the name before claiming it…

Wastey: Everything worked out O.K. though?

Dani: Luckily they finally agreed to switch their name to avoid confusion, so everything worked out (just a bit of a headache needing to deal with it all). The indie space is pretty small, so just makes sense for us to try not to step on each other.

Wastey: You originally started out in the business accounting field, if I’m not mistaken. What made you decide to become an indie game developer instead?

Dani: I just don’t think I was cut out for the corporate world. It was when I began drawing fan-art for some of the games I was playing I knew I had found my calling… then it was only natural to transition into actually making games (since I’ve been playing them my entire life). It doesn’t hurt that this is an amazing time to be a passionate indie developer. With things like Kickstarter and the booming indie scene, doing something like Bloom suddenly became possible.

Wastey: Tell us a little about our hero; what events in the story sets them on the narrative path through the game?

Dani: At the beginning of the game the main character has just been born into a “broken” body. When you wake up you find your mother is gone and you have been left in the care of a kind grandfatherly character. Eventually you set out on a quest to find your mother; along the way discovering who you really are and your place in the world.

Wastey: I have to say that the art style is just….. absolutely phenomenal. There’s an image in particular that just… wow. This one:

Absolutely stunning work there. Anyway, the question I want to ask is….. how difficult is it to get images like this from the conceptualized phase to actual digital imagery?

Dani: Thanks! 🙂 I put a lot of work into the art, it is great to hear people enjoying it. I actually tend to stay pretty loose when creating new creatures or locations. Starting off with just general ideas (or some concept sketches), then going ahead and trying to create it. Usually along the way it comes out very different than I expect, kind of just how the flow of creating goes. Then, other times I fail completely (and those end up getting cut).

It is really just a lot of artistic exploration as the world expands.

Wastey: What’s been the biggest obstacle you’ve had to face….. thus far… as an indie developer?

Dani: The biggest obstacle has really just been finding support. The game is pretty ambitious, and so much of what we are doing simply takes massive amounts of time to do. Of course, I don’t have much to my name….so finding support from the community and family has been what has given me the opportunity to really focus and create. There was a long period of time where no one really believed in what I was doing….so finally being able to show the early stages of what we have made and strangers getting behind us to help us continue really meant a lot.

Wastey: You created the game’s engine itself from the ground up, correct? How daunting was something like that to build?

Dani: Well, not me. That is mostly James Johnston, the amazing programming power behind Bloom. It is definitely a big task, but it is really just about taking one step at a time…eventually you get where you are going. Along the way has been a lot of discovery and sorting out new processes for handling problems we face (like how to process and stream the insane number of frames for character animations). We are kind of forging our own path with this engine, since Bloom has such unique demands.

Wastey: I’m going to challenge you just a little. If you had to whittle Bloom: Memories down to, let’s say, just three core features that would set it apart from the myriad RPG settings out there, what would they be?

Dani: 1 ) Themes – The themes in Bloom are a bit different than most RPGs. They are heavily influenced by my own experiences…and a reflection of a lot of my life and feelings.

2) Art – The art kind of speaks for itself. I really wanted to create something out of love…so instead of doing things like tile sets or other tricks to speed up production, I try to really go the extra mile to make this something special (for example, every environment is individually created / painted… there are hundreds of them).

3) Options!! – A big part of this game is about growing and learning who you are. This means along the way your choices shape who you become and how the world reacts to you. Do you kill? Do you sacrifice? Do you show kindness when there is no reward evident? I’m curious what type of people players will be 🙂

Wastey: If I’m not mistaken, you’re actually giving players the option to avoid combat altogether though the use of dialogue, stealth and avoidance. I have to say that sounds sort of anti-RPG in a way. Wherein most role playing games have you grinding the dungeons and overworlds smiting every last enemy on the map for A: The loot, B: The XP, or C: Both; how do you reward players for doing what would be the opposite of that?

Dani: Well, it isn’t really about a cost / reward calculation (as most games would have you do). Instead, your choices have effects (that happen down the road). This means, when you make a choice you don’t have a lot of the “gamey” information to base your choice on. One way of playing isn’t rewarded over the other, they both have their own consequences (good and bad). Effectively, players are left with a system where they get to play as they want…not as they feel they have to.

Wastey: Now you’ve actually stated that players who DO choose to go down “that darker path” of violence, while challenging, it’s still available to them. But what struck me was, and this is in response to that last little part of the choice you posted on your kickstarter; you literally say “……. at what cost?” Will players who choose to take that route affect the world or the character in any way? i.e., will the world respond or react more negatively towards the character or will the character change in any subtle or not so subtle way?

Dani: Yup, it will have an effect on both the character and world. Becoming more violent will let you grow stronger … but your actions will also result in more violence to find you. From a game design perspective though, this helps “reward” players who choose a certain play-style with more of that play-style. Why force players to play in ways they don’t enjoy?

Wastey: What’s been the biggest plus for you after your successful kickstart campaign this time out? And no, you can’t say the backers, that’d be cheating……Though I will say that I won’t fault you if you want to say it.

Dani: The backers 😛

But besides that, the biggest plus is simply having some resources to really focus on the game! The kickstarter gave us an amazing opportunity to make Bloom happen (and opened a lot of doors for the future of the game). The community stepped up and became more than just consumers who buy whatever is made…they became part of the industry, and really helped get Bloom off the ground. It is thanks to them that Bloom is happening.

Wastey: Bloom: Memories is just one story in the game’s universe, yes? Would it be safe to say that, after the game launches, a year later we might just see a glimpse of more of the world from a different set of eyes, or maybe even from the same character?

Dani: I hope so! If we did a 2nd game, it wouldn’t be the same character though. Anything else I say would probably be major spoilers, so I’ll just leave it at that 😉

Wastey: Is wearing three different hats, artist writer and designer, difficult sometimes or just a natural fit?

Dani: It is a ton of work, and some things are like pulling teeth. But overall I think I love it…it really lets me open up creatively and just explore a huge range of ideas.

Wastey: You do still have room for that party hat when Bloom: Memories becomes the best game of the decade right?

Dani: Haha I think if that happened, I’d probably take a longggg nap first.

Bloom: Memories is still TBD, but is slated thus far for PC, Mac, and Linux. It’s kickstarter can be found here which includes further paypal funding details and videos of the game.