We got a taste of Animal Well, the first game coming from both developer Shared Memory and publisher Bigmode. While it’s hard to place Animal Well squarely in a box, it had elements of platformers and puzzlers in a Metroidvania-style exploration game.

In Animal Well, you play as an unnamed circle character who hatches from a flower into this subterranean garden world. There are no tutorials and the game doesn’t tell you what to do, it’s up to you to explore and try to find out what’s going on.

“The game’s kind of hard to describe, it doesn’t really conform to any particular genre,” said Billy Basso, the game’s sole developer.

The underground, fully interconnected world kept me alert, nervous of what would be in an area while also being interesting enough to keep exploring. Basso, who’s spent the last six years working on Animal Well, said he initially wanted to capture the feeling you get when exploring an old-school survival horror adventure game.

Through the demo I encountered a variety of animals, from birds to porcupines I wasn’t sure what to expect when approaching them.

“The game’s full of animals but you don’t know if they’re friendly, they may help you solve puzzles or they may try to kill you,” Basso said.

Over time, the game evolved and he’s incorporated inspiration from a variety of different things.

“I take a lot of inspiration from going on trips or visiting places, even the neighborhood I live in,” Basso said. Overgrown gardens with funny looking stone animals and museums were sources of inspiration, he said.

For Animal Well, Basso made his own unique engine that streamlines his development process.

“I don’t have any features that I’m not using, at this point it’s a very elegant workflow.”

At the start he spent most of his time focusing on the engine but said he now spends a majority of his time focusing on the gameplay. Working with Bigmode has been a surprise blessing for the developer.

“It’s been a very ideal work relationship,” Bazzo said, “They have good feedback but aren’t overbearing with their suggestions; I still feel like I have creative control.”

Animal Well is expected to come out early 2024 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Steam.



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Kelton Burns is a freelance games reporter and recently graduated with his degree in Journalism. You can find him talking about the latest gaming news on his podcast Press Why or reach him on Twitter at @KeltonBurns His favorite game is Alan Wake.

Posted: Sep 07, 2023 10:47 am
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: Kelton Burns