Persevering with our ongoing protection of Yellow Brick Video games’ debut motion recreation, Eternal Strands, we sat down with a few of the indie studios’ management group to focus on the origins of their scrappy studio, and study extra about the indie world they’re utilizing their AAA backgrounds to create. First, we chatted with CEO Thomas Giroux and COO Jeff Skalski about the studio’s origins, then we spoke to Chief Artistic Officer Mike Laidlaw and Lead Author Kate MacMullin about their journey to the indie scene, and the characters and story in Eternal Strands.
IGN: Are you able to guys speak about the place you and the founders of the firm got here from and what made you guys need to open the studio?
Giroux: The studio was really based in 2020 […] simply earlier than the pandemic really hit. All of us had been really from AAA Studios. We had an opportunity to work on some wonderful franchises in the previous, however we had an opportunity to meet and speak about what we needed to construct for a brand new firm.
The thought behind Yellow Brick Video games was to have a studio that might really be small by selection. We needed to scope a undertaking that might match with a smaller group, however with huge ambitions. Early in the course of, we began making some pillars not for under the recreation, however really for the firm. These pillars would really translate properly to the video games. The primary one was emergent gameplay. That enables us as a small group to really construct attention-grabbing methods, so the participant can really work together with these methods and could have extra play time.
Skalski: One other pillar that we had was ensuring we constructed a world that was price watching, and tied to that pillar was additionally marvel and intrigue. We actually needed to construct, establish, and uncover lovely colours in darkish locations. We felt there was a possibility to construct worlds the place gamers really needed to escape to, not to escape from.
IGN: How did you resolve on Eternal Strands as the studio’s first recreation? Was this an thought you guys had even earlier than you had an organization?
Skalski: I might say, for us, considered one of the issues that actually drove us to construct our first recreation, Eternal Strands, right here at Yellow Brick Video games, was this ardour to construct improbable worlds. We needed to construct a recreation that had quite a lot of sense of motion and journey in it. Despite the fact that we had been a smaller group, we nonetheless had very bold concepts. Being a group that has quite a lot of expertise constructing third-individual video games, we knew that was essential from the starting as properly, however we needed to go into this motion and journey house actually re-evaluating the ruleset, actually difficult ourselves on the world logic. Understanding how does hearth propagate, what does coal do to various kinds of supplies like steel versus wooden, and the way can we embrace this stuff to be gameplay components for the gamers to creatively play with and uncover alongside their journey by way of the recreation?
Giroux: Let’s not neglect: we had been only a bunch of people that had been in a storage having a dialog about how it will be cool to really work together with these huge creatures another way that different video games do not do. Yeah, I believe we stated, “You recognize what? That is the recreation we wish to make.”
IGN: Had been there any main inspirations from different video games that you simply actually favored that you simply drew from if you had been developing with Eternal Strands?
Skalski: Completely. For certain, all of us, before everything are huge avid gamers. We play all the pieces and eat all the pieces, however for certain video games like Shadows of Colossus, the Legend of Zelda the place it went with from Breath of the Wild to Tears of the Kingdom. We performed quite a lot of, Mike and I particularly and Tom, performed quite a lot of Dragon’s Dogma and it is one thing we needed to see come again. We’re so glad now that Dragon’s Dogma II is out, so it is nice to see what Capcom is doing with that franchise. Monster Hunter is one other fan favourite in the workplace as properly, so all of those impressed us. Hopefully, we will encourage again in each approach we will.
IGN: Can I ask about the woman holding the ax in your group’s emblem?
Giroux: Yeah. The little lady in the emblem, her title is Dorothy. She is definitely my daughter who sadly handed away from most cancers a few years in the past, so we have determined to really carry her into the journey. For this reason we known as the studio Yellow Brick Video games. For us, there’s two causes. The primary one is, as we make these video games, we needed to make it possible for the path to make the recreation could be as enjoyable as really delivery the recreation for everyone in the studio, so all the values of the firm are constructed round that. The second is, we needed Dorothy to change into the image of braveness and keenness for everyone, so she’s built-in in the firm.
Skalski: She’s our warrior princess.
Giroux: Precisely.
IGN: Yellow Brick Video games appears to be comprised of a ton of former AAA builders who determined they need to work on smaller video games. Inform me just a little about your background earlier than Yellow Brick.
MacMullin: I have been in video games for nearly 10 years now. I began out in QA, working in Montreal doing all types of various little initiatives. Then I transitioned to being a author at Ubisoft Quebec for about 5 years. I labored on titles like Murderer’s Creed Odyssey, Immortals Fenyx Rising, and a ton of DLCs for the Murderer’s Creed model, which was tremendous enjoyable.
Laidlaw: My background particularly is, I imply, a Bioware man might be a great way to have a look at it. I began with Jade Empire and was the lead author on that undertaking again 2003 to 2006. Labored on Mass Impact 1 for some time. I wrote an enormous swath of the Citadel that ultimately obtained reduce, so nobody ever noticed it or discovered the nice historical past of the haggis that was on sale there. However from that, I moved on to the Dragon Ages and ended up principally lead design and inventive director for Dragon Age Inquisition, Origins, Dragon Age 2, and all the DLC up till no matter Dread Wolf seems to be, which I am excited, as a result of I will not be spoiled.
IGN: What made you need to go away the AAA house and work at an indie studio on a brand new IP?
MacMullin: I in the end needed to be part of an unbiased studio as a result of I used to be actually all in favour of what small groups can accomplish, the agility that form of comes with that, in addition to simply the completely different form of constraints that include indie growth, I believe are tremendous attention-grabbing and may breed quite a lot of distinctive video games. In order that’s why I made a decision to be part of Yellow Brick Video games.
Laidlaw: I made a decision to, I suppose, be concerned in beginning Yellow Brick Video games, as a result of I have been in the trade nearly 24 years now. So at this level, for me it was a possibility to get again to having the ability to do as an alternative of at all times managing, at all times main groups, form of having to direct by proxy. A smaller group, a smaller undertaking, and an opportunity to get immediately concerned once more, felt like what I wanted to shake issues up and never really feel like I used to be stagnating.
The opposite huge draw for me with the smaller group is I see it as an actual probability to work on, I suppose, the finest habits of management, the methods you can give path, be clear, share with folks the place issues are going, and extra importantly why they’re going there, the function behind the choices being made. And I needed to step out of the context I used to be comfy with the place there was form of this, I suppose, recognized historical past, recognized information, that is simply how we do issues, however as an alternative to create a brand new context wherein it was going to be required to clarify the why now. And to me, a brand new studio was the proper place to apply these abilities to try to construct one thing that I hope will probably be very wholesome.
IGN: Do you’re feeling like there’s a bonus to all of the AAA expertise you’ve gotten on the group?
MacMullin: Yeah, for certain. I believe that there is tons of benefits to beginning out in AAA. With such huge productions, you achieve a lot expertise so shortly that I believe it simply naturally turns into very relevant when you do dive right into a smaller unbiased manufacturing. There’s simply all types of abilities that I believe you have developed, particularly by way of communication, I believe is one thing that is actually robust inside our group. Departments talk with each other very well, and I believe keep away from silos taking place between artwork and programming and stuff like that. I believe we’re all very interconnected and that communication expertise comes from having to talk with an excellent bigger variety of folks quite a lot of the time. So it turns into very easy and only a lot less complicated to hold the imaginative and prescient clear throughout a smaller group of individuals.
Laidlaw: I believe as properly, when you consider an indie form of state of affairs popping out of AAA, a bigger group, a AAA dimension group will at all times have folks which have been there earlier than. There’s form of this wealth of information that anybody can study from. And I believe to your level, it accelerates how shortly you ramp up. And if you’re in indie, you is perhaps the solely individual in your self-discipline or considered one of two folks in your self-discipline. So if neither of you’ve gotten run into drawback X, drawback X goes to be one thing you’ve gotten to include an all new resolution. So to me, having handled these bigger productions, you do come away with form of a, “Wait a minute, I have been right here earlier than,” form of mentality that helps you, I believe, anticipate issues earlier than they change into one.
IGN: Let’s speak about the protagonist in Eternal Strands. Who’s Brynn? What ought to gamers find out about her as a personality?
MacMullin: Yeah, so Brynn is admittedly this tremendous cool, badass treasure hunter, primarily. She takes on the function of level inside her forged of touring companions. So principally meaning she’s the one which’s in control of diving headfirst into hazard, leaping into bottomless pits, trying out what is going on on down there, and coming again with misplaced artifacts and treasure and simply actually helpful objects.
So in quite a lot of methods, I believe she’s very outlined by her physicality. She’s a complete adrenaline junkie. And I do know quite a lot of video games, perhaps their protagonist is a little more of a clean slate, however I believe when it comes to Brynn, she’s a extra outlined character with a prescribed character that the participant goes to get to know and watch develop as they play by way of the story.
When it comes to her psychology, I believe the half that I like the most about her is simply that I believe she actually embodies this concept that it is cool to care, it is cool to be simply unabashedly into no matter it’s you are into. She actually would not want to masks her ardour with snark or sarcasm – that form of factor. She’s simply so excited to be doing the job she’s doing, and I really feel like that comes by way of in so many alternative scenes in the recreation. You may see it form of in the trailer with the huge smile on her face when she’s about to face down this loopy big assemble. So yeah, that is form of actually simply I believe who she is as an individual, and I believe she embodies that and brings that out in different characters as properly.
IGN: Brynn is a Weaver, proper? What’s a Weaver?
MacMullin: Weavers are the few folks which can be nonetheless prepared to use magic and apply magic and work with it after the surge, the place it turns into form of shunned throughout the recognized world primarily. So Weavers journey in caravans, they can not actually keep in a single place for too lengthy as a result of they have an inclination to make folks just a little uncomfortable. And yeah, everybody in the band form of has a unique operate so clearly the participant form of takes on this function of the iconic motion hero that is going to dive into hazard, however she has this actually competent, gifted group round her that helps her form of plan and put together all of her expeditions and in addition to simply make sense of all the completely different artifacts and treasure that she’s discovering and bringing again to her group, primarily.
IGN: It appears quite a lot of focus is placed on Brynn’s Weaverband and their relationships with each other. Why did the group suppose that was essential to deal with in an motion-journey recreation?
Laidlaw: I’ve an extended historical past of working at BioWare and that form of leaves an imprint on you, however I like the thought of characters and I believe for me, considered one of my core philosophies in recreation design is that folks care about characters first after which by extension care about the bigger world that these characters care about.
The good half is then when you can create a forged of those that the participant can form of develop empathy with, get to know over time, it permits you to, particularly in creating a brand new IP and a brand new world for folks to study, they form of can begin small and get little tidbits from the particular person after which they perceive that the particular person exists in a bigger context. By doing that, you create a state of affairs the place in an motion journey form of context, you get to be Indiana Jones, however you acknowledge that there is additionally a John Rhys-Davies and he is going to carry you the camels. That you’ve these folks that you’ve a relationship with, that that relationship can evolve and alter and that in doing that, in studying about them, to find empathy for them and understanding what they care about, you begin to get a way of the bigger world.
IGN: Inform me about a few of the different Weavers in Brynn’s Weaverband.
MacMullin: In Brynn’s weaver band, she’s comparatively new to the group. However the remainder of the characters that you simply encounter at the very begin of the recreation that you end up touring with have been collectively for fairly a while. Various lengths of time, relying on which character. However you have obtained your enchanter, who’s in control of serving to you along with your mantle, and your powers and issues like that.
Laidlaw: He is very additional.
MacMullin: He is, sure, very fabulous. Then you definitely’ve obtained his spouse, who’s the band’s smith. She’s very grounded. You have obtained the lore keeper, who can be your alchemist, so dealing with the consumable potions and issues like that which can be in your belt. Then you definitely’ve obtained the smith’s apprentice, who’s additionally pretty new to the band, and possibly nonetheless discovering his place inside the group just a little bit. Then lastly, you have obtained your mentor who, at the begin of the recreation, primarily is the chief and the level of the band.
IGN: Inform me about the enemy factions in Eternal Strands.
MacMullin: The enemies in our recreation do fall into just a little bit of various factions. They’re in the end all attempting to kill you, in order that they share that as a objective. However when it comes to the creatures that you simply see which can be extra like the wild acalas, that are these hyena sort issues, these are simply wild animals that you are going to discover extra perhaps in the outskirts of the enclave and stuff like that. They’re nice to hunt when it comes to getting extra supplies and assets on your gear.
However when it comes to the arcs, that are these constructs as we have stated, I believe what’s enjoyable about writing round these specific constructs is that on the one hand, they’re enemies. However they’re additionally remnants of this misplaced tradition of the enclave that Brynn and her group need to pull aside to allow them to strive to determine how to perhaps put them again collectively. It is this misplaced know-how that they are simply principally attempting to make sense of, and attempting to use as a way to determine not solely how did the enclave have all this wild enchanting prowess so to converse? But additionally, what has occurred to them since the surge primarily? I believe it is a huge query that comes up as you are preventing them.
IGN: Can I get a kind of little hyenas as a pet?
Laidlaw: It is an acala. We do not have an acala accessible as a pet. However what we do have is the recognized for years as the Beast of Burden, and ultimately named Arva. Arva does hang around at camp after bringing the caravan and all the pieces in, and will be pet.
For extra, try the first footage of considered one of Eternal Strands’ boss fights or our interview with Yellow Brick Video games on how they’re bending Unreal Engine 5 to their will, and hold a watch out for extra unique protection all month lengthy as a part of IGN First.