my experiences on the Isle of Wight. I remember when I moved into a new place and had tables and chairs, and I bought proper wine glasses and had a spaghetti bought bougie chocolate milk or something. At that point neither of us liked wine. We were like “We’re gonna be fancy, but we don’t like wine. So we’ll just go with it.” When you get something like a table and chairs, and you have friends over, those little moments that are like growing up milestones, and I’m really inspired by that.
interesting to me. As well as drawing inspiration from some of the kind of odd inconveniences and quirks. When you know a place, when you really love a place, it becomes super compelling creatively.
I THINK GAMES DON’T BREACH THAT VERY OFTEN EITHER. I CAN ONLY REALLY THINK OF LIKE A DRAGON, WHERE YOU GO TO THE SAME PLACES OVER-AND-OVER-AND-OVER AGAIN AND GET FAMILIAR WITH THE STREETS AND THEIR CHARACTERS. There are a few things I think of, when I see people talking about a familiarity with a digital place. One of my friends I’ve known for years is like, “I’m so excited to play Crescent County, because it reminds me of when you’re just stressed, and you put on Spotify, and open up GTA and just drive around like a loop.”
I KNOW EXACTLY THAT FEELING! DURING THE LOCKDOWN I WOULD SETTLE IN AT THE XBOX, OPEN UP GTAV AND SAY THAT I’D BE ‘GOING FOR A DRIVE’. I’D CRUISE ABOUT WITH NO GOAL IN MIND AT ALL. around in and explore where you can have that sense of familiarity is really important to us. It’s also kind of inspired by things like Windwaker, which is my absolute favorite Zelda game. That feeling of recognizing a silhouette on the horizon, and being able to orient yourself through that and, feeling that sense of peace, as you’re slowly approaching Dragon Roost Island, for example. That sense of warmth is something that we’re really driven by, while also making sure that it’s really fun to explore the place as well.
HOW STORY DRIVEN IS THE GAME, COMPARED TO HOW MUCH TIME YOU SPEND ON YOUR MOTORBROOM?
A lot of the story is connected to the people that you meet, the gossip you get into, and the ways that you build your home and develop it. Once again, very inspired by a lot of
42 | MCV/DEVELOP February/March 2025
WHEN I MOVED INTO MY CURRENT FLAT, MY FRIENDS HELPED ME MOVE IN. AFTER WE’D PUT THE BED TOGETHER, I MADE US ALL PASTA AND MEATBALLS. YOU JUST VIVIDLY SENT ME BACK TO THAT IKEA DAY. We have those little moments developing your home in Crescent County, and they’re tied to story progression.
ON THAT NOTE, HOW CUSTOMISABLE IS THE APARTMENT? We want to be able to have people doing the object placement. You’ll get items from people you meet and make deliveries to. There’s one who’s got a chair that they’re getting rid of. When you see something on the street and you’re like, ”that could be my personality”. It’s a bit like that. I have a vivid memory of being sat in my months. I hadn’t had any human contact and then I saw a I still have it. It has brought me so much joy! The apartment is reasonably customisable, if you want it to be. There’s a self-expression opportunity there as well.
SO HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN [ELECTRIC HEARD YOU LEARNED TO RIDE MOTORBIKES TOGETHER? We’ve known each other for years. We met back in like 2016 or 2017. Just been friends for a really long time. I remember talking to him about this game idea, years and years and years ago. He sent back a really adorable little message. “Oh, that’s a good idea. I really hope you get to make it a reality someday.” Something along those lines. Back in 2018 or 2019, we decided to get our motorbike CBT licenses together. I had a helmet, and it was expensive, and I was like “I need to use this”, which is really funny now, because actually, that experience creating a motorbike-hoverbike-fantasy in the game.
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