Our decision to use low-poly and pixel art gave us the idea that it might make the visuals a little too classic and dated. We weren’t trying to go retro, we just wanted to do something a little different. That’s why the visual effects play a vital role in our game. If the VFX gets pixelated as well, it would be too retro-pixel-like – not what we intended, so we tried to make the VFX look realistic and balance the visual as a whole For example, the splashes when the creatures move in the water are made up of natural-looking particles. I think all these worked well together to make it look more sophisticated.
WHAT PLEASES YOU MOST WITH HOW THE GAME HAS TURNED OUT (FROM A PURELY VISUAL STANDPOINT)? Interestingly, many people didn’t realise we had done much 3D work in Dave The Diver. Once, we were having a job interview with an animator. One applicant mentioned that the game didn’t seem to have 3D animation and asked if he would need to learn 2D animation. So, I explained how 3D animation work fits in the game. I guess this means that it was hardly noticeable because we’ve made it nicely harmonised, right?
WHAT WAS YOUR PERSONAL HIGHLIGHT OF MAKING THE GAME? I admire Larian Studios, which made an outstanding achievement with one genre in particular. We tried mash-up genres and created something new since our team and I have yet to achieve that kind of one-deep genre-specific experience. It’s more of a Linkin Park-like approach than a Metallica-like approach. However, I’m glad it’s still been highly appreciated by the public.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED DURING THE PROCESS OF MAKING DAVE THE DIVER THAT YOU’LL TAKE INTO FUTURE PROJECTS? I think we definitely learned “Let’s not bite off more than we can chew.” My previous projects were with five to
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six developers, but Dave The Diver team was about 25 developers. So, we had to consider how much we could handle in the given timeframe. Luckily, we planned and designed it to be just the right size to make it fun, and if we had gotten too ambitious, it would have significantly diminished the fun of each element. We will take this lesson to our next project to get another satisfying result.
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