Game news Between Us: Developers overwhelmed by success and pressure
In the past year, the Innersloth studio did not expect to experience the success it would soon experience. Especially since Among Us, originally released in 2018, went a little unnoticed. But that was before the title’s popular explosion that took the studio’s developers by surprise.
It could have been an interrupted moment for Innersloth, an hour of fame that was celebrated with great din. However, this was not the case, on the contrary, and the euphoria quickly gave way to the pressure. This would have resulted in considerable exhaustion even with several members of the studio.
This is the report recently told by three members of Innersloth, namely Amy Liu, artist in the studio, Forest Willard, programmer, and Marcus Bromander, also an artist and designer. A team that quickly feels under pressure when asked about the continuation of Among Us and a possible sequel.
Amy Liu stated that she was in a very advanced state of exhaustion after everyone was talking about the title.
The pressure to get things done quickly was really high. We spoke to Xbox and PlayStation from September to December. They wanted to bring Among Us to their platforms, which usually takes several months, between six and twelve months. We didn’t expect to have to do it in three months! It was difficult because all this time we couldn’t see our friends and family. Since I was so tired from work, I couldn’t even visit my family during COVID and had to spend the holidays alone. It was certainly the most difficult moment.
Forest Willard surpassed him by evoking the untenable delays that were sometimes required of them.
When you are pressured by hundreds of millions of people, they don’t understand that it takes months. The server problems should be resolved the next day, and new items should be added next week. It is so easy. There is a lot of pressure. It’s overwhelming.
For his part, Marcus Bromander is still baffled when he thinks about the reactions that small changes can produce. For example, he remembers a wave of protests when he changed the font used in the game. The negative comments had a huge impact on him that he no longer felt like working on the title.
Since then, the studio has grown and sees the future differently, without reproducing the same pressures or being influenced as much. Innersloth plans, among other things, to add new modes and roles, a new map and expand the lobbies to 15 players.
Among Us is available for PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. Porting to consoles (PlayStation and Xbox) is planned for the course of the year.
By Jinxeb, Write to igamesnews.com
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