Save me Mr Tako Q&A: inspiration, art style, release date and more
Nicalis published another blog update on Save me Mr Tako with Christophe Galati, the game’s creator. You can read the full Q&A here; below are a couple of interesting excerpts:
On the inspiration and influences:
Bonjour! The idea began back in 2014, when I was a student at a game school in Paris (Isart Digital) and had an internship where I was programming ad-games. I was a bit disappointed by the projects I had to work on, so I decided to make my own as a side project. I’m a huge Nintendo fan, as well as a JRPG player. I started making games at age 12 with RPG Maker and retained much of what I learned from these years. The first time I ate takoyaki [a Japanese snack made with diced or minced octopus], I got a vision. I thought that most of the times octopuses are portrayed as evil characters with a lot of fear associated with them. So, I began thinking about the idea of centering a game around a nice octopus who will help people and try his best to share a message of tolerance in a divided world.
On the game’s Game Boy-like art style:
When I started Tako-San, it was the year of Game Boy’s 25th anniversary and it resonated as a call…it was the perfect time for me to create a tribute to this era. It has taken me four years to create, so now it’s almost the Game Boy’s 30th anniversary, ha ha! Most games today are on a quest for technical innovation, which is great…but I believe that ideas that worked in the past can work today, and there are still areas to innovate within that “old school” look and feel. My goal was to use a formula that players have fond memories of and create something that seems familiar as a way to surprise them with a great adventure that includes modern themes. I picked elements of every game that I loved in this era and made it personal and unique to this game. I also tried to remove the aspects that didn’t age well, as it was difficult to maintain the balance between traditional and modern. But, I hope those efforts will make the game appealing to older players or even introduce new players to this aesthetic.
On the game’s release:
Soon! It took a while, but we’re in the final stages now and I’m excited for it to release on Nintendo Switch. I’m proud of the game I made and I can’t wait for all of you to experience it, hear what you’ll love about it and learn from your feedback.
