Hello Games, best understood for the controversial-but-eventually-beloved No Mans Sky, has actually been working on a couple of other video games. Last week, Sean Murray, the studios creator, spoke with Polygon about the groups desire to keep making new, non-sequelized projects, including a title Murray explains as “a big, enthusiastic video game like No Mans Sky.”
Hello Games shift to a smaller sized job like The Last Campfire (now released on all consoles, PC, and Apple Arcade) might appear surprising given the success of No Mans Sky. It d predictable for the team to pivot into solely making bigger titles that assure the world. But Murray said that when he founded the studio, it was just him and three other people making the game they constantly wished to make.
” I had actually worked at EA prior to I started Hello Games, and we d just done lots of follows up,” Murray told Polygon. “Everything that I worked on was the sequel to something.
Hey there Games simply launched The Last CampfireImage: Hello Games
Hey there Games, best understood for the controversial-but-eventually-beloved No Mans Sky, has been working on a couple of other video games. Just last week, the developer launched The Last Campfire, a lovable adventure/puzzle video game in the style of The Legend of Zelda (but without the battle). Last week, Sean Murray, the studios founder, spoke with Polygon about the teams desire to keep making new, non-sequelized projects, including a title Murray explains as “a big, ambitious game like No Mans Sky.”
Murray stated that when he founded the studio, it was simply him and three other men making the video game they constantly desired to make.
” I think of it a lot and I do not understand where I come down on it. There is a truly positive aspect of discussing your video game a lot. Where you get people interested in it who would not have played it otherwise. We see that with No Mans Sky. We appealed to a huge amount of people, a lot of whom would not have understood about the video game otherwise? If we d stealth-launched it or whatever, a few of our greatest fans would never have actually found out about it.
I look back, having done a lot of various press chances and things like that. And I reckon about half of what we did– and a lot of where we had issues, I believe, where we were naive– we didnt actually require to do and we would have had the very same level of success, you understand? A lot of opportunities were put in front of us, and we were informed that they were the ideal things to do and I look back and Im not sure that they were super, super crucial to the overall outcome kind of thing.”
” There is this toxin chalice or offer with the devil that I believe any indie game developer would find really a very difficult option? Where you will have extraordinary interest in your video game, you will have a substantial amount of enjoyment for it.
” And there is a craziness and an enjoyment to that. Where weve ended up with the game, where we have hundreds of millions of hours played and a truly pleased neighborhood and all of that kind of thing, you know, Im okay with that deal that we did, right?”
Simply three of them made up the group behind The Last Campfire. One piece of the staying 23 is continuing to support No Mans Sky with updates.
Therefore Hello Games chose to make something big and unusual and ambitious that could still work within its little studio structure. For much of No Mans Skys development, the group was just 6 individuals, broadening to 15 by the time it shipped. Still, it was a small group thinking about the buzz around that video game.
So would Murray choose to follow that very same, chill pace for the teams next big No Mans Sky-sized project? Would it be better to simply surprise everyone with a surprise launch out of no place? Hes not so sure.
,” said Murray. “Thats what began No Mans Sky, you understand, I felt a panic. I knew as a studio I wanted to do the video game that No Mans Sky became eventually, however I was like, what if I never ever get to make that and what if we simply keep doing the next thing and the next thing and life moves on.
Murray admits that there was certainly a toll taken on his team in terms of their psychological health after the blowback of the launch. “That was an extremely, really tough process and I wouldnt desire to put anyone through that again,” he stated.
I understood as a studio I desired to do the game that No Mans Sky ended up being eventually, however I was like, what if I never ever get to make that and what if we just keep doing the next thing and the next thing and life moves on.
Thanks to the success of No Mans Sky, Murray says the team can be a bit more chilled with smaller sized releases like The Last Campfire. “Were in a lucky position that this has been primarily an innovative venture … Its extremely various if youre an indie studio who is so dependent on how individuals will perceive your game in the first 30 seconds.”
Murray isnt using up much in the way of specifics, preferring to keep the next job under wraps in the meantime. He does, however, have ideas about lessons found out after the chaos of No Mans Skys launch and whether he d do anything in a different way for this new task.
Upon leaving EA, the studios very first task was Joe Danger, a special arcade game about a stunt racer, produced by a team of 4 individuals. It wound up being so effective that, ironically, they proceeded and made a follow up: Joe Danger 2.
