World to the West developer discusses connection to Teslagrad, NX and amiibo potential, release
Posted on September 30, 2016 by Jake in News, Wii U
In a very lengthy interview with Miketendo 64, Rain Games’ member and art director Ole Ivar Rudi discussed a lot about the company’s upcoming game World to the West. We recommend reading the full interview if you’re interested, since Rudi goes into a lot of detail about what to expect from the game and the team’s goals, but there were some answers that deserve special mention.
For starters, Rudi stated that, while the game was targeting multiple platforms including the Wii U, it would not be coming to the 3DS due to technical limitations. Asked about the possibility of an NX version, he stated that “it will show up on additional platforms. Maybe even another Nintendo platform, but our lips are sealed though.” He also said that they would love to see amiibo support, but also couldn’t guarantee it due to negotiation.
Rudi also said that the game is planned for a Q1 release in 2017, although he noted that it was optimistic.
He also discussed the game’s plot, which centers around four heroes discovering a sinister plot that revolves around a long-gone ancient civilization, and how it is different from the company’s previous title, Teslagrad.
The main difference is that while Teslagrad was very focused on minimalism when it came to its direct storytelling- no dialog, no in-game text, everything had to be inferred from visuals alone. This served the theme of isolation and sort of mythic hero’s journey of Teslagrad well, we wanted it to feel like a story that took place in the past and was being told after the fact, and we think the silent approach helped achieve that. For World to the West we’ve opened up the gates considerably, though- it’s a lighter, more immediate kind of story with a lot of character interaction, so it made sense to have dialogue. It frees us up to flesh out the world a lot more!
The full interview is full of insight into development and the plot, including discussing the four main characters, how Rain Games was formed, and that the company plans to work on another game once World to the West enters the final stages of development. Definitely worth checking out!
