![]() After adjusting the art to accommodate the grids better (e.g. I drew in grids where items could be placed on the floor, on shelves, inside cupboards and so on. As such, I actually greyboxed every room in Aseprite, the pixel art program we used to create the art assets for the game. How did you approach designing each space and the items within? Each little puzzle vignette is impeccably realized, down to the most mundane details, so I'm keen to know whether you had a framework for creating each one, particularly as the levels expanded into multi-room affairs?īrier: In Unpacking it felt impossible to separate art, level design and narrative design, as the three were so closely intertwined. The game also grew in scope a little - we initially thought we would have about 30 rooms, but ended up with 35, between the extra level added in the middle and three more rooms added to the final stage. What did change was that Unpacking became less of a puzzle and more of a self-expression game as we realized our early playtesters found it very frustrating when we were too strict about where items were allowed to go. We came up with seven of the eight story beats maybe a week after coming up with the initial idea, and a month later had a working prototype with the core mechanic and art style nailed down, and those have remained the same. The final product is surprisingly similar to our earliest vision of it. The idea really came together when we decided to use a series of moves to tell a character's life story. Some things about the experience seemed very game-like to me: We would finish unpacking one box to "unlock" the one underneath, complete sets of items, and in general create order out of chaos which deep down is something I think a lot of games are about. How did you unearth and refine the initial concept for Unpacking? How much does the final product resemble that early pitch, and what changed along the way?īrier: The initial concept for Unpacking was inspired by a real-life unpacking session, when my partner Tim Dawson moved in with me. Game Developer: Let's go right back to the beginning. ![]() Intrigued by how the Australian studio managed to turn an arduous domestic chore into something deeply personal, we asked creative director Wren Brier to help us unpack the design, art, and audio of the meditative puzzler. In blending intuitive design with a narrative that asks players to use their own experiences to fill in the blanks, developer Witch Beam Games has successfully turned the ritualistic process of unpacking into a series of therapeutic and introspective vignettes that spark empathy and self-reflection.
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