“Airhead preserves the Metroidvania style’s give attention to exploration however replaces fight with puzzle fixing, in an journey about accountability and the bond that varieties between a Physique and the Head it can do something to avoid wasting.”
In a world the place air is the important thing supply of energy, the physique in Airhead should preserve the head-like organism alive whereas attempting to reunite it with its authentic air supply. Airhead seems to supply no small quantity of problem, so we reached out to the Airhead workforce to be taught extra, with developer Octato’s co-founder and sport director Andreas Bødker and senior producer of writer HandyGames’ Reinhard Döpfer having been form sufficient to reply all our questions!
What’s Airhead?
Airhead is a Metroidvania-style journey with puzzle and platforming parts. It’s in growth from Octato and is revealed by HandyGames.
When does Airhead launch?
We don’t but have a selected launch date for Airhead, which is at the moment nonetheless set to launch in 2022. We’ll preserve you up to date!
What’s it about?
The “Airhead” in query is made up of two beings: Physique and Head. Physique witnessed an assault which ripped Head aside from its air supply, which it must survive. Physique takes Head onto his personal shoulders and units out to reunite Head with its air supply.
“It’s an vital a part of the story, and we’ve mentioned this rather a lot, if Physique ought to also have a backstory,” Bødker explains. “I had an concept that the extra empty a shell you place the participant into, the extra they may put themselves into that character, nevertheless it turned out that you just wanted a little bit of a narrative to narrate to the character you’re taking part in… so we now have a narrative, nevertheless it’s half of what is going to be informed throughout the sport… it’s one of many weirder secrets and techniques of the sport. There was one other factor that I preferred rather a lot,” Bødker continues. “It was the concept that the meta sport of you controlling the Physique was additionally taking place whereas the Physique is getting a Head, and he’s controlling that; I assumed that was form of neat — that the story was mirrored by the meta story of you taking part in the character.”
One concept that Airhead explores is the lengths you may go to for an additional being. “I actually felt that I needed to make one thing about what sort of selections you’ll make…how shut you might be to a different being; how far you’ll go to avoid wasting them,” Bødker explains. “It’s a really apparent relationship when you’re taking part in a physique and also you see a head mendacity about — you’re feeling like they’re linked, nevertheless it’s nonetheless unusual, and I like the thought about that.”
How does Airhead play?
Head will slowly deflate as you set out in your mission, and also you’ll have to make use of air tanks to maintain it going. We’ll be exploring, fixing puzzles, studying new skills, and rising the bond between Physique and Head.
“Since you are utilizing the Head for a lot of issues at first if you choose up the Head; it’s form of annoying since you want your arms to carry onto the Head, so grabbing different stuff, and climbing ledges and stuff — you’ll be able to’t do this,” Bødker explains. “However then, as you traverse the world and discover new methods to make use of Head, you begin to see how nice it’s to be along with Head, however you continue to have that mission to avoid wasting Head, as a result of he’ll die when you simply depart him, so you want to discover that different piece of the Head that places air into it, and that’s the principle mission… however if you get to the tip, it’s going to be a bit unhappy that it’s important to put Head down, as a result of it’s been enjoyable to have the Head and do all of the stuff you may do with that.”
As we be taught extra about within the subsequent part of our interview, air is the principle energy supply on the earth of Airhead. “Air is such an vital a part of the world — all the talents you get shall be primarily based on Head and on air,” Bødker explains. “There are additionally completely different air sorts, so we now have for example helium, so you’ll be able to float up if you get that air kind into Head, however there may also be tools which you can placed on Head and then you definitely get additional skills. There shall be tools that can make you work together higher with the world, like controlling the machines, but additionally issues for traversal” — for example, you’ll be able to deflate Head to double soar.
There may also be traversal puzzles to face, “however most of them are very a lot built-in with the story,” Bødker says. “The entire script we made for this sport was truly descriptions of all of the puzzles, which was form of bizarre to some who we despatched the script to; they stated, ‘however that is only a listing of puzzles,’ nevertheless it was crucial for us that the gameplay is definitely what’s telling the story. Lots of the puzzles would require you to grasp the world round you,” he continues, “and find out how the creatures — what they need, and the way the machines work, and stuff like that. And typically it can even be a puzzle itself to determine the purpose of a puzzle… and that can typically make it fairly arduous. Often when you’ve a very good puzzle, it’s arrange so all of your items and what the purpose is, so in that sense it was fairly a raffle to make a sport like this, the place typically you’re not fully sure of what’s occurring. However the entire essence of an exploration puzzle sport — I felt it was vital to have these form of additional twists to the puzzles. It’s been excellent to work with HandyGames and their QA workforce to make sure that it doesn’t get irritating.”
Döpfer provides that we will make use of a hints system, saying, “you’ll be able to fully play with none hints when you like, so that you merely deactivate it, however there’s additionally a touch system that can realise after some time, ‘okay, he’s not getting it,’ so the sport will begin that will help you and offer you hints on the right way to resolve it, as a result of a few of them are actually robust.” Bødker explains that the workforce “need as many individuals to love the sport as doable… and when you resolve a puzzle the second you see it, it can lose its level, and it’ll simply develop into tedious work. However it can additionally lose its level when you quit. That threshold is completely different from individual to individual, so we tried to do the methods that can make it enjoyable for everybody.”
So, one key mechanic would be the time strain of operating out of air between air tanks. “The factor about serving to individuals… or when you do one thing the place you simply really feel like, ‘that is the fitting factor to do,’ however you don’t take into consideration the complexity of the world round you… if in case you have a time restrict, when you really feel, ‘okay, I want to do that, I have to make this resolution instantly,’ I assumed that was form of the entire preliminary thought of the theme we now have on this sport,” Bødker says. “So the entire time strain simply helps that theme… and likewise, if in case you have that pressure, and also you don’t know, ‘oh, can I get it to the air provide in time,’ and also you do it simply earlier than you die, and the display begins to fade out, it’s simply going to be that ‘sure, I solved that,’ feeling.” Apparently, if you keep nonetheless in Airhead, you don’t lose air. Döpfer elaborates on this, saying, “if you stand nonetheless, you don’t lose air. That’s the vital factor. In any other case, it will be actually robust; that’s simply too hectic. So if you stand nonetheless to check out the entire scenario, then you don’t lose air. However the second you progress, it begins… the checkpoints are usually not so distant, even when you die, you’ll not begin initially of the entire degree, so it’s excellent across the nook.”
Döpfer provides that we’ll have “some form of abstract within the sport of all of the creatures that you just’ve met throughout your journey, and so they all have some data to share with you, that additionally helps to disclose the entire world and story behind this.” There may also be a library the place we will be taught extra about all the pieces. “The world, it’s an deserted place, nevertheless it’s not fully deserted; there are nonetheless creatures dwelling there, and a few of them look actually bizarre, however in a great way, and you’ll work together with them,” Döpfer explains. “Some can choose you up and produce you to a different platform, issues like that. You possibly can improve your Head so you’ll be able to take extra air with you; you’ll have a particular skill like cost, even a drill head, the place you’ll be able to actually get via the partitions.”
What’s the world like?
The world of Airhead is stuffed with unusual expertise and odd creatures. “I feel it’s actually vital to present the characters a setting the place they’ve dilemmas, and so they want a battle, and that battle ought to come from the world round them,” Bødker begins. “We created this world the place compressed air is the principle energy supply, as a substitute of what we now have, oil, in our world. And that air comes from organisms which have been harvested, and this space has been stripped clear of those, and the ecosystem of this space has been destroyed, and left by the individuals who have harvested the organisms. So all of the creatures and machines that you just meet within the sport are going to die as a result of this space now not has air. And each creature you meet may also have some form of dependency on air,” he continues. “In order that’s the world that we’ve constructed for them to satisfy different characters and work together with the previous machines and buildings that the individuals have left behind.”
Any information on the Airhead achievements?
We don’t but have the Airhead achievements, however Bødker gave us an thought of Octato’s design course of. “The sport is the medium to inform this story,” Bødker says, talking of the connection between Head and Physique, “and the achievements are a part of the good instruments that it’s important to inform an incredible story, so clearly the achievements additionally had to assist that story. So we tried to design them very a lot to form of be a part of that and combine them within the story,” Bødker continues, “however they need to additionally offer you a sense of progress if you get them — and so they may even give somewhat little bit of perception into the world and what’s vital, and the way vital what you’re doing is. While you get an achievement, , ‘oh, this have to be vital,’ and the outline of that achievement can possibly make it easier to perceive the world even higher, so we use them as a storytelling machine.” Bødker intriguingly provides that the workforce “even managed to give you a few achievements that can stretch the entire expertise…”
As for Bødker’s perfect achievement listing: “for me, an incredible achievement listing additionally has that relevance to the themes; I additionally assume additional challenges, maintaining observe of your progress, is one thing that I exploit once I play video games myself, particularly for worlds the place you don’t actually know, ‘okay, have I skilled all of it.’ It’s a fairly good device to make use of if you’re taking part in a sport to know, ‘okay, now I’ve bought all the achievements, now I can go to mattress!”
So, out of all this, what’s Bødker hoping gamers will take away from the sport? “I hope that each one the ideas and feelings that me and the remainder of the workforce have put into this expertise, will shine via,” he says. “Throughout the entire growth of this sport, it’s additionally been fairly emotional to me, to form of get to do that sport that I’ve needed to do for thus lengthy, and at last get the prospect to do it, and it’s simply been nice for me, but additionally robust, and I hope all that can shine via. I imagine it can.” To Döpfer, “it’s vital that it comes cross-platform; it means you’ll be able to play it on Xbox, or on PlayStation, or on Nintendo, or on PC — that’s an vital factor for us. I’m actually wanting ahead to how individuals will react to this fashion of the sport, this extra lowered artwork fashion that we used for it.”
So, what do you consider Airhead? Tell us within the feedback!