When We Made

Tails of Iron

actually look at you. And even with that little bit of work, with the help of the animation and really smart designers and engineers, with everybody working together, you could tell from the very beginning that she was a character that people would really gravitate toward.”

Quill really becomes a fully fleshed out character with the help of the game’s strong world-building. As an interloper in Quill’s world, the player experiences it not through her eyes, but as an observer watching as she lives her life in her familiar setting. It’s a strangely intimate feeling, and one which gives way to joint apprehension as both the player and Quill enter new, unfamiliar areas.

“When you go through Mousetown and you see Quill run through there and you see that she has a hometown, the feeling of her leaving it, of that town maybe being in danger, gives you more of a bond,” Alderson says. “If that part was left out, you wouldn’t feel like there was much to fight for. Everything that we’ve done, the mood settings, taking Quill from one area to the next and letting you rest and take in this environment… It’s all supposed to exaggerate and accentuate that mood that you’re feeling. It all ties back into how you are connecting with Quill and her world.”

SAME QUESTION EIGHT WAYS

Collaboration was key during the development of Moss, not just within the team itself, but with the help of external playtesters. People were often brought in to feedback on

the game and asked questions about their experience – even if most of these questions were actually very similar. “External playtests were mostly about ‘Okay, how do people feel when they play? Do they like it or not like it?’,” Chris Wallace gets behind the scenes Alderson explains. “At the end of playtest we would ask of Tails of Iron – a Hollow Knight meets the same question eight different ways. The question Redwall title that might just be the most is really ‘What didn’t you like?’, but we would ask it adorable Soulslike yet differently: ‘What pulled you out of the experience? What took you out of the headset? If there’s one thing you could change what would it be? If you had two weeks to finish the game, what would be the thing that you’d fix?’ “Those help bring a playtester into their comfort zone, because no one wants to play something that people put a lot of care and love into and then turn around and say Tails of Iron is a somewhat more adorable approach to the Soulslike genre than you’re perhaps used to. ‘This is what I didn’t like about it’. So it takes a little while to get the playtester comfortable, and we found that finding different ways to ask the same question means The game’s rat prince protagonist feels as if he you eventually get the really good stuff after the fourth or walked directly out of popular children’s fantasy fifth time you ask it. series Redwall, especially once he’s decked out in full “I don’t think anyone in our studio has ever made a game like this, so I think it’s important that you trust the armour. Add on the dialogue system (or lack thereof), in which characters will speak in a series of images, process. You trust playtesting and you make sure that you and it’s maybe the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. allow yourself some time and freedom to try something and then keep going. Try something new and branch out, Which makes it all the more jarring when I see my beautiful rat boy being murdered again, and again, but also use your experience from games that you’ve made before and you’ll be fine. As long as you’re having and again. It’s as if the game wants me to fall in love, fun too! We enjoyed playing Moss throughout the entire only to stamp on my heart right before my eyes. It’s a decision I respect, frankly. process and I think that really helps.”

REBUILDING THE KINGDOM

It’s the second title from the Manchester-based Oddbug Studios, following up on its debut title The Lost Bear, a 2017 PSVR and Oculus title. Its first game was received well enough – sitting at a respectable 77 on Metacritic, but its release had nonetheless put the studio onto an uncertain path going forward. “After releasing our first game, the studio had a somewhat uncertain future,” said Jack Bennett, co-founder of Odd Bug Studio. “Because of this, we wanted to create a game that we really wanted to play as we didn’t know what would come next. As a studio, we love fantasy RPGs combined with a strong and distinctive combat system, which is what gave us the foundation for what we wanted to create with Tails of Iron. The possibility of our development team being disbanded led directly into the story of the game with Redgi having to rebuild his ‘kingdom’ and rescue his brothers. “Tails of Iron had three main design pillars when we first started development, which I think still holds true in the final game. The first pillar was story, which would be told through quests. We knew we wanted to deliver an interesting fairytale-like story, and we knew we wanted to create an RPG, so these two kind of went hand-in-hand from the very beginning of development. The second pillar was brutal combat. We knew we wanted the combat to be challenging, Jack Bennett, co-founder of and we knew we wanted it to be gory as this all Odd Bug Studio supported the story of a young king fighting against

Left: Just look at his little face. Who’s an adorable little rat murderer?

all odds to reclaim his kingdom. The final pillar was exploration and RPG elements. We knew we wanted an open world for players to explore and for them to have a map, different equipment types and side quests as this all fed back into the other pillars. Together, these three pillars created a cohesive and immersive world for players to explore.”

While the punishing nature of the game will draw inevitable comparisons to Dark Souls (to which all games must be compared, apparently), the game takes more inspiration from the likes of Hollow Knight.

“We took inspiration from a lot of different places when creating Tails of Iron,” says Bennett. “From a game pointof-view it was things like The Witcher, Hollow Knight, Salt and Sanctuary and God of War. These games all combined a fantasy world with a strong and distinctive combat system which is what we wanted to create with Tails of Iron.

“Other inspirations were things like Redwall, [children’s book] Mouse Guard and Wind in the Willows for the anthropomorphic characters set in a turbulent world. Finally other inspirations were Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones for their epic and brutal stories.”

It’s interesting that Bennett mentions The Witcher – as while the game’s characters don’t speak themselves (outside of crude pictograms), the game is narrated in full by none other than Geralt of Rivia himself, Doug Cockle. Which certainly came as a pleasant surprise to us.

“I keep saying working with Doug is a career highlight!” says Bennett. “His voice is just amazing, and as soon as Below: The game clearly telegraphs times where the player needs to block, dodge or parry

Above: The protagonist is tasked with rebuilding his kingdom after an attack you hear it you know you’re in for a dark, gritty but also epic adventure. Working with him is amazing too. He’s so nice and is always willing to work together to get the best out of the line, so yeah, it was just a great experience. In terms of getting Doug to work on such a small indie game, we were as surprised as you are!

“When we were first talking about adding a narrator to the game, we were floating about ideas for who we would like it to be, and we always came back to Geralt of Rivia as an almost pie-in-the-sky idea. Thankfully though, our publisher United Label handled it all. They showed Doug the game and he loved it, so he was on board from there. We’re so glad he said yes because his narration just really brings the whole game together.”

KINDER SOULS

Beyond its cuteness, what makes Tails of Iron stand out from other Soulslikes is how forgiving it can feel – relatively, anyway. While the combat is certainly challenging, checkpoints (taking the form of a nice park bench for your rat friend to take a break) are plentiful, and it’s rare to find yourself in a long stretch of combat without finding a place to take a breather.

“We knew when we started creating Tails of Iron to have a brutal and difficult combat system that this could be a possible point of contention for players, especially when the art style is so ‘cute’,” notes Bennett. “A lot of players might not be expecting it. We never made the decision to make the combat more forgiving, but we did want it to be more approachable. Removing the stamina bar and giving the enemies attack indicators meant that, from a player perspective, they were able to understand the combat better, and the lack of stamina bar meant they were free to experiment with their combat style.

“From a design point-of-view, our main issue was the stamina bar. When we first started developing Tails of Iron, we had a stamina bar like most souls-likes, however, we quickly noticed that players would watch the user interface rather than their enemy. This was not the type of combat that we wanted - we wanted the player to be watching their enemy, reading its attacks, and responding accordingly. By removing the stamina bar, the player was much more focused on the enemy and much more engaged with the combat. The lack of stamina bar also meant that players were much more likely to take risks, since they didn’t have to worry whether they could ‘afford’ to attack or dodge-roll. This made the combat feel much more fluid and those near-death victories more rewarding.”

While the challenge might be a point of debate, the game’s art style certainly isn’t. Its distinctive style immediately sets the tone – often dark and grimey, and yet always a pleasing world to spend time in. It’s a style adopted from the studio’s previous game, and one that promises to be something of a brand going forward.

“The art style is something that we’ve been developing since our first game The Lost Bear. We want every game that we create to have a very distinctive Oddbug style, similar to what you would expect from a Studio Ghibli or Pixar movie. Our art director is from the Czech Republic and is heavily inspired by Eastern European block printing. This is why our world and characters have the thick black outlines that give the game that high level of detail. In addition to this, all of the assets you see in the scene are individually placed. Rather than creating a few layers of depth, every asset is placed on its own z depth, which helps create that intense parallax effect you see throughout the levels.”

A large part of the game’s charm is, of course, the rat protagonist. The Redwall comparisons may go some way to explaining the rationale behind a rat hero, but I’m happy to say the real truth is even more adorable than that.

“All the main character rats in the game are actually based on the game director’s own pet rats,” says Bennett. “Unfortunately, we spent so long developing the game that they have all passed away, so Tails of Iron serves as a fitting memory to them. We even included a hand-painted image of them in the game’s main menu.”

And so how are things looking for Oddbug Studios now? The team were on uncertain ground following the launch of The Lost Bear. Has Tails of Iron changed their fortunes at all?

“The launch of Tails of Iron has been going well! We have a really strong fan base that really loves the game and is already crying out for a DLC or a sequel, so it’s really cool to see that we’ve had an impact on a lot of players. We’ve also had a lot of big influencers play the game, so it’s awesome to see them drawing a lot of attention to it!”

A Swift Spotlight: nDreams

Consistently reaching new peaks since their inception in 2006, VR-specialist studio nDreams have reached a new milestone with its new, action-packed AAA title: Fracked. Not only does it boast a back-catalogue of distinctive, visceral VR experiences, it’s also a company that prides itself on its studio culture, inclusivity, and innovative approach to staff wellbeing

Aardvark Swift sat down with internal recruiter Katie Mcfetridge, and gameplay and narrative designer Adam Comrie to discuss nDreams’ position on the forefront of VR innovation, studio expansion, and its unique employee wellness initiatives.

Its a studio with huge ambition; a cornerstone of its culture since the company’s inception 15 years ago and is reflected in the name. “nDreams started in a one-man room back in 2006, and with the recent studio renovation, it’s amazing to see just how much the studio has evolved in such a short period of time. CEO Patrick O’Luanaigh had lots of ideas, projects, and directions that he wanted to take the company. In maths, “n” can represent any number between zero and infinity - so nDreams is like saying there’s no limit to the studio’s ambition – we can go anywhere with this” says Katie.

The studio renovation came during lockdown, while the entirety of their staff worked from home. They’ve since been welcomed back to a working environment tailored to parallel nDreams’ staff-wellness and hybrid working initiatives. “We’ve got loads of new facilities; top-of-the-range meeting and board rooms, all with video conferencing integration to accommodate the new hybrid flexibility in our working. We’ve also got lots of cool breakout rooms, informal creative rooms and even a wellness room” Katie mentions.

“The company culture at nDreams is really forward thinking – I think one of our biggest things is that we really care about learning and personal development and having that good work/life balance and mental wellness. We strive to be really inclusive with everything we do and everything we push outwardly,” she continues.

Aside from mental health support, inclusivity meetings, and other personal wellness resources, nDreams place a high value on the personal and professional development of their staff and offer dedicated days for people to hone their skills or cultivate new ones through project work.

“We provide 10 Level Up Days a year for employees to work on personal projects and development; whatever they choose it to be. With an L&D manager on board now, these days can incorporate both personal and professional development goals to create a pathway plan, personalised to each employee,” Katie explains.

The quality of nDreams’ projects is indicative of the internal support that the studio provides; with their most recent title, Fracked, having already made a splash within the VR community, says Katie: “The anticipation and positive reactions we had from the trailers and reveals from the community have been incredible. The game features varied gameplay mechanics: climbing, skiing, and of course shooting. It also contains no teleportation or node-based movement, something you don’t often see in titles like this”.

Adam elaborates “With high-energy motion such as skiing, a lot of studios will try to avoid the challenge of developing something like this in fear of the risk of motion sickness, so for us to be able to do it, and do it right is a big deal”. nDreams is playing a major role in taking VR to the cutting edge, reinventing and redefining what is possible in location-based gaming experiences with its codevelopment of Far Cry: Dive into Insanity.

Adam tells us: “That collaboration [with Ubisoft] is important and vital for us – VR is not just suited for the home, I think it will really explode in a location-based environment. Arcades will resurrect, they’ve already started, but opportunities like this will only encourage this further.”

You’ll be able to listen to Aardvark Swift’s full conversation with nDreams’ Katie Mcfetridge and Adam Comrie via the Aardvark Swift Podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, third-party apps, and the aswift. com website. Adam Comrie, gameplay and narrative designer

Katie Mcfetridge, internal recruiter