The Motive teams are working on the return of Empty room. To explain how they view this work, the studio shared a post on the Electronic Arts blog to share their vision.
No fuss, the ambition is there from the start: rebuild the game from A to Z, adding content while remaining “faithful” to the original essence. An idea expressed by Philip Ducharmeexecutive producer of the title.
We begin with a tribute to the game’s legacy and study it with the utmost respect. This ensures we keep the same fundamentals. But we’re also making some improvements to the experience to make it appealing to both new and early gamers.
Developers and fans together: the recipe for success?
The teams want to recreate the magic of the first time for the players. And that is not possible without the main actors: the fans. Hence an unusual approach for the studio. In fact, they formed a local council among early game lovers.
It is not common. In fact, in my experience, it’s very rare. I’ve only seen a handful of other titles do the same thing. And I don’t know why this is so rare: every time we get very good results. Who knows…
David Robillard, Technical Director
Feedback, which also comes in via streams, opinions and comments on the game’s accounts, we then need to focus on the improvements. Coming from a fourteen year old game, the graphics have come a long way. Everything has been redesigned with a new engine.
But it also includes less obvious elements. The whole experience is now thought of as one “long sequence recording”. No loading screen, no camera cut except possible deaths.
The Ishimura is now fully connected. You can wander from end to end, tour the entire ship, and revisit locations you’ve already completed to pick up items you may have missed. It’s unprecedented. The experience is now completely seamless.
Philip Ducharme
An Adventure Coming January 27th to Xbox Series X | S, PS5 and PC can be enjoyed.
