Random Access Memories: Inside the Time -Shifting Narraty of the Wreck – Discover – Apple Developer

The wreck is filed under games, but it’s also been called a visual novel, an interactive experience, and a playable movie. Florent Maurin is Ok With All of It. “I like to think we’re humble participating in expanding the idea of ​​what a video game can be,” he says.

Maurin is the Co-Writer, Designer, and Producer of The wreck – And here we we decide what to call it. The wreck Tells the tale of Junon, a writer who’s abruptly called to a hospital to make a life-chunging decision involving her mother. The story is anchored by the accident Viewed Multiple Times from Different Perspectives. The wreck is far from light. But its powerful story and unorthodox mechanics combine for a unique experience.

“We tried to make a game that’s a bit off the beaten path,” Says Maurin, Who’s also the President and CEO of the Pixel Hunt Studio, “And HOOOPEFUFULYE it connects with connects with people.”

Ada Fact Sheet

The wreck

• Winner: Social impact
• Team: The pixel hunt
• Available on: iPhone, iPad
• Team size: 4

Maurin is a former child After Nearly 10 years in the field, he Pivoted to Video Games, Seeing them as a Different Way to Share Real Stories about real people. “Reality is a source of inspiration in movies, novels, and comic books, but it’s almost complete allies absent in the gaming landscape,” He says. “We wanted to challenge that.”

Founded in 2014, the pixel hunt has released acclaimed titles like the app store Award – Winning Historical Adventure Inua And the text-message adventure Bury me, my loveIt was brought the end of the development process for the latter that Maurin and his Daughter was involved in a serial car accident.

“It was honestly like a movie trope,” he says. Time Slowed Down. Weird memory that has not done to do with the moment flashed before my eyes. Was so sudden and so intenses, and i knew i wanted to make somewing of it. And what immediatily came to mind a game.

Junon’s interactions with the hospital staff drive the narrative in The wreck,

But Maurin was too close to the source material; The Accident Had Left a Lasting Impact, and He Separated Himself from the Creative Process. “I think I was trying to protect myself from the intensity of that feeling,” he says. “That’s when alex, our art director, told me, ‘look, this is your idea, and I do’t think it’ll it’ll bloom if you do not really Dig Deep and Own the Creative Direction.’ And he was right. “

That was art director alexandre grilltta, who helmed the development team along Developer Horace Ribout, Animator Peggy Lecouvey, Sound Designers and Rafael Torres, and Rafael Torres, Sister, Coralie, Who Served as a “Second Brain” during Writing. (In a nice bit of serendipity, the game’s script was written in an open-source scripting language developed by inkle, which used it for their owned apple design award-footing game, OverboardIn 2022.)

Junon’s Sister Might Not Be an Entrely Welcome Presence in The wreck,

The story of The wreck is split into two parts. The first-what the team calls the “last day”-Follows Junon at the Hospital While She Faces Her Mother’s Situation as Well as Revealing Interactions with Her Sister and Ex-EX-HUSBAND. Maurin says the “last day” was pretty straightforward from a design standpoint. “We wanted a cinematic look,” he says, “So we make it look like a storyboard with some stop-motion animation and frameing. It was really notes too fancy. The part thaat was given more challenging was the memory.”

Thos “Memories”-and the backstory they tell-Employct a clever mechanism in which players view a Scene as a movie and have the ability to fast-forward or reward the Scene. These memory Scenes Feel Much Different; They’re dreamlike and inventive, with swooping camera angles, shifting personals, and words that float in the air. “I Saw that first in What remains of edith finch.

Junon’s thoughts are often conveyed in floating phrases that surround her in stressful mothers.

Successive Viewings of these Memories Can Reveal New Details or Cast Doubt On their legitimacy – something Maurin Wrote from Experience. “I’ll give you an example,” he says. “When my parents brieft my baby sister home from the hospital, I Remember the exact moment they are arRIVed in the car. It’s incredibly vivid. But the weird part is: this memory is in the three memery ise myness Tiptoeing to the Window to Watch them in the Street – Which is impossible!

Throughout the development process, maurin and team help close to the idea of ​​a “moving and mature” story. In fact, early prototypes of The wreck Were more gamified – in one version, players grabbed floating items – but playsters found the activity distraking. “It took them out of the story,” Maurin Says. “It broke the immersion. And that was countersproductive to our goal.”

Items in The wreck – Like this tin of peppermints – often carry a larger meaning.

Maurin Admits that Approaching Games with this MindSet Can Be a Challenge. “Some players are curious about our games and absolutely love them. And maybe the games are for them, and maybe they’re not. But this is what wen doing for 11 years.

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