Nintendo Life: First of all, congratulations on the release of Stray! The game had a big first year, earning the highest user rating on Steam, going viral with cat reaction videos, and picking up several awards. Is this the reception you imagined and how do you feel after two years?
Swann Martin-Raget, BlueTwelve Studio: Thank you very much! It was an absolutely amazing experience to see such positive feedback from both cats and people, and we're still not over it! Working on a game for so long before its release, it becomes very hard to know if people will like it or not and we were completely surprised and ecstatic to see so many people having fun in this world we made.
The game seems to draw from a wide range of sources, from pop culture icons such as Blade Runner real world environments such as Kowloon Walled City. Were there any games that you also looked to for inspiration?
The whole team is made up of passionate gamers who are really passionate about the medium, so we constantly draw inspiration from a very wide range of games, but also movies, books and all art forms in general. There are a lot of little Easter eggs and homages we've hidden all over the game that more or less consciously reflect that.
The idea of contrast is something that is fundamentally important in Koola and Vivo's initial vision for the game
Stray offers a very realistic representation of cats, but it is not a complete cat simulator. Can you tell us how you found the balance between realism and engaging gameplay?
It was a very iterative process. We had to test a lot of potential ideas and features to find ones that were really fun and fit well together, but also kept the realism of the cat's abilities in real life. We were very clear from the beginning that our hero is just a regular cat without any superpowers, but we also knew that we didn't want to add more classic 'survival traits' like hunger, sleep, etc. Vision of Kool and Viv [the founders of BlueTwelve Studio and former artists at Ubisoft] is to make an adventure game first, not a simulator. But the great thing is that cats are amazing animals, so there are lots of incredibly fun things you can do with their natural abilities!
The cat protagonist opens the door to unique level design and platforming challenges. What was it like trying to design things from a cat's perspective?
It was a great challenge and a super interesting topic to work on as a creative team. The point of view that this character brings to the classic level design process is very fresh and gives a lot of opportunity for cool points of view, interesting paths and innovative choices of what is a blocker or not. But at the same time, it was really hard to find a balance with the level art because every decoration, pipe, or air conditioner that the artists added to the level was a potential new path for the players. So we had a lot of back and forth between designers and artists to find the best balance between fun and good looks.
…the great thing is that cats are amazing animals, so there are lots of incredibly fun things you can do with their natural abilities!
Stray is a refreshingly non-violent game, especially compared to others that embrace a cyberpunk aesthetic. Was that always the goal, or was there a time when tools like the B-12 UV light played a bigger role?
The goal has always been to make an action-adventure game and, in this genre, rhythm and variety of progression are key. The UV light, like many other features in the game, is another way to change the pace between a more relaxed moment where you have to explore and look around and a faster sequence. We had a lot of iterations on how long each sequence should be and what a good progression order was to keep the pacing interesting and engaging for players while still being able to tell a story about this world and the characters you meet in the game.
Without going into too many spoilers, Stray has a surprisingly dark backstory. However, it also has a dedicated 'meow' button and a place to nap. How important was it to you to provide moments of levity in the darkness?
The idea of contrast is something that was fundamentally important to Koola and Vivo's initial vision for the game, and it's something that we use in many different ways as a team. There is indeed that contrast between the gloomy environment and some of the more carefree characters, but also the contrast between the supposedly dead artificial machines and the lively and organic cat, the contrast between the very lit and colorful places and the darker environments, the contrast in gameplay with action chases and slow exploration, etc. We feel this is a very important part of Stray and our creative process and it's always very inspiring to think like this.
What was the biggest challenge of porting the game to Switch?
We've worked to find the right balance between visual fidelity and fluid gameplay for Switch, and we're excited for players to experience this world in motion to make it all pay off.
Finally, can you share any details about the upcoming Stray movie and do you have any plans for the award-winning kitty in the future?
There's nothing we can share at the moment, but be sure to stay tuned as the team is still hard at work on lots of exciting things!
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This interview has been slightly edited for clarity.
In addition to the questions above, we asked about the team's experience working with Annapurna Games — following news in September that all of the publisher's employees had quit — but were told there were no answers to share at this time.
Thanks to Swann at BlueTwelve Studios and Hannah at FortySeven for putting it up. Stray is available now on the Switch eShop, with a physical version from Annapurna and Skybound Games available from online retailers.
