Throw your minds back Nintendo's Indie World Show in March this year and you may well remember the subtle excitement that made the presentation. Blue Fire is a mysterious anti-3D platformer from Argentina's Rob Studios that has caught our interest, even though that first trailer played its cards close to its chest.
Fortunately, we are now able to reveal more about the game through some unique gameplay video (above) alongside new art and interviews with Santiago Rosa, Co-lead at Rob Studios, who illuminates another Blue Fire fight, influences and re-attacking its protagonist, Umbra.
The game is slated for the summer release of 2020 as a planned switch, so let's take a closer look at Blue Fire and the world of Penumbra …
Nintendo Life: Blue Fire debuted on the release of Nintendo & # 39; s Indie World Showcase back in March and gave us a glimpse of the 3D action platformer featuring lots of ghost games, acrobatics and combat. Tell us more about the world of Penumbra and what the game is about.
Santiago Rosa, Co-lead at Rob Studios: Penumbra is a strange dream country with unique regions, characters and more to explore and discover. As far as the game's story itself is concerned, we'll let in a bit of general background for players to start over, but our goal is to get people into the world and let their imagination run wild, combining small things to make sense of the whole structure.
(Umbra) is an unhealthy and violent creature
Here is the introduction! After the fall of the Penumbra, the world entered a period of eternal darkness. During this time the deception, also known as the Black Shadow, invaded the world and expanded to dominate as the primary source of life. The Black Shadow had many effects throughout Penumbra and many dead and living creatures were gradually destroyed when they became Shadow Revenues, very powerful and destructive creatures.
The diminutive star in the trailer seems to have some anti-dog skills – and it certainly skips levels in style, but we don't know much yet. What can you tell us about the main character and his abilities?
Umbra, the main character in Blue Fire, is a fallen hero of Penumbra reborn by the Black Shadow. He will work with other creatures in his quest, both flawless creatures and creatures and shadows as he seeks to equip them to overcome difficult obstacles as they arise.
He is an unhealthy soul with an aggressive personality. Powered by Black Shadow, Umbra has a set of unusual abilities. He can go down, run up the wall, jump on the wall, jump twice, put down the floor, put down straight and straight and make a round attack, and use all these other great things combined to move around the world of Penumbra. His slim but worn body makes him a stalwart hero with tremendous power, players that he will build through battle and exploration.
Depending on the art style, Umbra is a very creative character. He wears a red and blue inner coat that was once the uniform of the Penumbra Warriors. He also wears a mask and carries swords with him. (Throughout the game), players will have the opportunity to personalize Umbra, choosing their weapons and their favorite costumes.
How long has Blue Fire been in development? Tell us a little about Robi Studios team and project information.
Blue Fire was born about a year ago, give or take. At the time, it was just me and my brother Gabriel. We started its production while doing some art work in other games and started to feel a strong influence on the character, Umbra. Soon we decided to go inside. We set up our outsourcing project and started bringing together our real team. For a few months now we have all been completely committed to Blue Blue. We are a solid group of 9 people who are constantly working to get Blue Fire up and running!
What sports would you have impacted on the team while building Blue Fire?
That's a good question! The fact is, our team is a mix of cool people with different interests, and we've all played many games over the years. I think what's great about this is that we've been able to get mixed feelings on Blue Fire: from others Black-Soulish
we were able to get a mixed experience in Blue Fire: from some Dark-Soulish connections to A Hat in Time cuteness, and maybe a Zelda base (laughs)
From the small amount of gameplay we have seen so far, there seem to be many advanced platforms to meet. What kind of places can we expect to visit in Penumbra? Will we really get down to our deaths?
(laughs) Yes, it can. The earth is harsh and if it is disturbed it can easily die. Locations vary, from slippery surfaces to rough surfaces, sometimes to elevations above ground. Jumping from these heights to the lower levels should be carefully weighed, otherwise it will lead to more play.
PR is talking about the battle of the sausage and we looked at some of the biggest enemies in the reveal trailer. What can you tell us? Will we be facing the big & # 39; s worst & # 39; the last of all levels?
There are some really great people to deal with, but I don't want to put too much money into it now, or I'll tell you, you'll have a fight in the air and it's going to be really hard!
What game engine do you use for Blue Fire? Tell us about some of the challenges you faced to bring the game to Switch.
We use Unreal Engine 4 for Blue Fire, and it's given us tons of flexibility all around. Changing the website layout has been a goal for us from the beginning, but nonetheless, there are tons of technical features that we are adapting to make the game as relevant as possible. We're really inclined to have Blue Fire working on the switch!
How has the global COVID-19 epidemic affected the team and development? Is there anything that surprised you the most about this situation (from a career standpoint) – good or bad?
To tell the truth, we were initially excited to find excuses to shut ourselves up at home and work tirelessly & # 39; Developers can relate to each other (laughs). But apparently it wasn't as easy as we thought. We have worked tons and are always very inspirational, but nonetheless, there are many aspects of the long process that we have to solve and thus gain a new creative flow of content and implementation. Currently, we have daily and weekly phone calls and e-meetings to promote our time and ensure that everyone stays in tune with the development and vision of the full game.
However, as the weeks went on, we realized that even though we had plenty of free time & # 39; at hands, working remotely is not an easy task. Our team is strong, and without getting lost and wandering around the office, live feedback is what we really need in this moment of development. Combining locations and starting to close the game will be very easy to do for everyone to be on the sidelines.
Is there anything else you would like to share about the game?
We will be sharing more information in the future and you can follow us On Twitter to receive our revelation.
In the end, what are some of the game changer games the team enjoyed when it got into the grinding nose with Blue Fire?
Yeah, we played a lot Mario Odyssey, Zelda: Breath of the Monsters, Splatoon, as well as several indie titles. We also have a lot of fun with Super Smash Bros. office, we had a pretty solid fight.
Many thanks to Santiago. Blue Fire is scheduled for a summer release in 2020 on the switch. As you can see from the dog sockets and gameplay gifs above, it looks like it is promising. We will be taking a closer look at this and look forward to measuring it over the summer. Until then, let us know the Blue Fire impressions below.
