Live Magazine September 2017

ways appreciated in game development
and it’s hard to get a fresh
look at the game with only a 3 man
team. The feedback itself is really
good, we try to take all of it into
consideration and it often leads to
good group discussions about a
certain mechanic or feature.
Aside from people like Gio Corsi, it
seems like Sony have all but given
up on Vita at this point. Did this
public withdrawal of support deter
your development?
We only started developing Reverie
at the end of November 2016 so
we already knew Sony wouldn’t be
releasing more first-party titles. At
that stage we had all but finished
with university and were dedicated
to the idea of creating a game for
the Vita. This was the ideal time for
us as recent graduates to make a
game that we wanted to make, for
a console that we all love.
How has the support from Sony
been in bringing your game to the
handheld?
Sony still has a strong Vita development
support team. The process
has been smooth so far and
we’re sure it’ll stay that way when
we move into the approval process.
Reverie is a 2D Zelda-esque game
which is a genre that is sorely lacking
on Vita. Was this genre choice
a reaction to that or a natural decision
for the team?
A bit of both. The three of us love
the 2D Zelda games and we wanted
to fill the gap for this type of
game on the Vita. We are proud
with what we have managed to
accomplish with Reverie so far and
are pleased to see the Vita audience
has been so receptive of the
project.
You seem to have based the game
heavily on New Zealand culture
and folklore. What inspired you to
use this setting and how easy was
it to adapt this into a game world?
We were inspired to set the game
in New Zealand as we were born
and raised here. Any environmental
or cultural aspects in Reverie
are easy for us to implement as
we have been exposed to it for
the majority of our lives. We also
have used a lot of our own memories
and experiences of summer
holidays as children to influence
some of the buildings, people and
environments you explore on the
island.
You previously worked on a student
project named Slick: Ruff Justice.
How did the lessons learned
from that game affect the development
of Reverie?
Nearly every aspect of development
has been improved since
Slick. We all improved our individual
skill sets in different fields during
the development of Slick which
has led each of us to be more proficient
in our roles while creating
Reverie. Also we’ve found that a
smaller team is easier to manage
in some ways, especially with a
very focused title like Reverie. We
could list each lesson learned but
there are too many to count!
How far along in development are
you at present?
We are well past the halfway mark
in development. Setting up the
base mechanics of the game took
some time out of creating the content
but at this stage we are all focused
on finishing the world.