I’d like to tell you more about our first game, Candle: The Power of the Flame. It’s a beautiful 2D adventure created entirely from hand-drawn watercolor paintings.
In our adventure, you assume the role of little Teku, who after an attack on his village is forced to undertake a dangerous journey to rescue his tribe’s shaman. Equipped with just a candle and his wit, he will have to overcome numerous dangers, traps, and puzzles to achieve his goal.
Sounds exciting, right? Well, developing Candle has indeed been quite an adventure for us too! We had never developed a video game before and so each development step we took was something totally new. I’d like to share seven keys facts about Candle: The Power of the Flame and its development.
1) At first, Candle looked nothing like it does now. Our idea was to create a much darker and terrifying dramatic story. Little by little a sense of humor crept into the design of the characters and puzzles. The original imposing mood of the game lifted, and Candle ended up becoming the colorful and precious adventure that is today. But, of course, that doesn’t mean that danger doesn’t lie around every corner…
2) Candle is not another point-and-click game. When we launched the game for the first time, many people believed that it was a graphic adventure due to its appearance and the complexity of the puzzles — but it’s nothing like that. Candle is a very varied adventure game inspired by great classics like Another World, Flashback, and the Oddworld saga – it has very similar controls too. To be able to overcome the puzzles and enemies, you will have to run, jump, climb, and even swim!
3) One of the aspects of the game that we are most proud of is its artistic design. You can see it in the screenshots, it really looks different, right? That’s because the whole game has been completely painted by hand with watercolors! I can assure you that it has been a mad undertaking. We created thousands and thousands of watercolors painted on paper and then scanned – there was no Ctrl+Z option to correct any mistakes! Even each of the animations has been drawn and painted by hand, frame by frame. So, you can see why the development took over four years. We certainly believe that the result has been worthwhile and that we have achieved something beautiful and unique.
4) We’ve had quite a few people ask if Teku is not an adorable potato and the answer is no! Our lead character’s design is inspired by African voodoo dolls and their traditional masks. Once we had the design of the protagonist, we built the whole world around him, inspired above all by the Mayan and Aztec mythologies.
5) The development was a real test for our patience. All the content was developed in parallel, meaning that the story was written as the levels were designed and painted. In addition, the characters, scenarios and music were all evolving at the same time too. Because of this, we couldn’t see the final look and feel of the game until a couple of months before we finished it.
6) Candle’s in-game narrator may sound very familiar for you. Terry Wilton’s voice has a deep, warm, and rich tone. His quintessentially British accent is great for a direct and humorous delivery that works well with Candle. You might recognize Terry’s voice from other games such as Broken Sword, Black Mirror and, of course, the Trine
7) Thanks to Teku’s candle mechanic you will find puzzles of all kinds: you may have to figure out how to get the fire to light it, or maybe later you extinguish it to go unnoticed in the dark. Candle’s main objective is to surprise and delight the player at all times. Candle is divided into three chapters with very different settings. You will never know what awaits you in the next scene!
If you are willing to live an adventure full of dangers and ingenious puzzles, then join Teku in Candle: The Power of the Flame on Xbox One.
See the rest of the story on Xbox Wire
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Source: Xbox Blog
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