Simogo Developer Interview with Co-Founder Simon Flesser – Interview

Simogo is probably a darling amongst indie sport lovers. Most generally recognized for titles like Sayonara Wild Hearts and 2024’s Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, every one among their video games is wildly totally different from the final. Typically revolving round a single gameplay mechanic explored to its fullest. The studio is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary this yr, with the discharge of Simogo Legacy Assortment, of which you’ll learn our preview right here, but additionally a guide printed by Misplaced in Cult: “Heartbeats, Goals and Laser Eyes: 15 Years of Simogo”. We reached out to Simon Flesser, co-founder of Simogo and wished to speak about their celebration, the upcoming Legacy Assortment and the right way to keep revolutionary as an indie studio in an ever altering video games trade.

Willem Hilhorst (WH): Earlier than we get began I would like to know extra concerning the present state of Simogo. Are you able to inform us a bit bit about how massive the studio is and what your guideline is for tasks?

Simon Flesser (SF): Formally Simogo is simply me and Magnus “Gordon” Gardebäck. However we’ve a variety of individuals we’ve labored with for a few years, together with our full time programmer Magnus Jensen, who labored on this assortment. Freelancers who’ve labored on this and a whole lot of our different tasks are composer and audio knowledgeable Daniel Olsén and graphic designer Åsa Wallander. And on the person video games there are in fact extra collaborators. You possibly can test our web site www.simogo.com for everybody that we work with. We additionally share their challenge tales on the positioning, so have a look!

WH: In 15 years I am fairly certain that you’ve got seen the trade change lots. Beginning Simogo in the course of the peak of the cell video games market and slowly transitioning to extra elaborate video games for PC and Console. In your opinion, what has helped you run Simogo as a steady studio?

SF: Stubbornness and a will to maintain on making an attempt new issues on a regular basis.

WH: In the event you have been to ask me, Simogo’s video games are outlined by specializing in ideas which have a single gameplay concept and increasing on that with totally different eventualities. From the restricted interactions with puzzles in Lorelei and the Laser Eyes to Beat Sneak Bandit’s Rhythm gameplay. Does that interpretation replicate the working course of for Simogo when creating video games?

SF: Perhaps! It’s troublesome to inform from the within. Ultimately, we simply make the video games and tasks we really feel like making.

WH: You’ve got introduced the Simogo Legacy Assortment final month as a part of the fifteenth anniversary. How lengthy has this assortment been within the works?

SF: We’ve talked for possibly ten years or so about making this assortment, however there has by no means been time or there have all the time been different tasks that have been calling for our consideration. We lastly began work on the gathering in January this yr.

WH: I presume that the principle objective was to protect and maintain the video games from Simogo related with the Legacy Assortment, however I am nonetheless extremely curious as to what was the driving drive behind this assortment in your group?

SF: As you say, the principle concept was to protect the video games. As we grow old, you begin to consider your legacy extra, I suppose, and we expect that is the perfect factor we may accomplish that that after we are ultimately gone, possibly individuals will know that there was as soon as a small studio within the south of Sweden referred to as Simogo.

WH: How exhausting was it to open up these tasks once more and get them engaged on a Nintendo Swap? Have been there any stunning when making an attempt to entry these (outdated) information, tasks or plugins?

SF: It’s tougher than I believe most individuals would guess. With out getting too technical, a part of the issue is that a whole lot of these video games have been “based mostly” on one another. We developed and used the identical tech and when you acquire these video games aspect by aspect, they may get confused by one another as they’re calling on the identical features.

One other massive problem was to have the ability to change between resolutions and side ratios on the fly. The video games have been solely ever designed to begin of their most popular decision after which by no means change. So there was a whole lot of handbook labour and checks that wanted to be fastened to realize this!

Then in fact there have been a whole lot of design points that wanted to be solved, associated to having the ability to play the video games with no touchscreen.

WH:Was there an emotional response to re-experiencing these video games after ten, maybe fifteen years? How does it really feel as a creator to be reunited along with your work?

SF: Each good and unhealthy! It’s lots like photographs of your self once you have been younger, which you’ll think about just isn’t all the time constructive! It’s simple to really feel embarrassed, however you additionally really feel pleased with what you have been in a position to obtain.

WH:What was the response from group members that weren’t a part of Simogo when these video games have been initially launched?

SF: Most of them are previous buddies and are acquainted with the video games, however attending to know them technically and reexamine them from the within should have been fascinating. As a aspect notice. Daniel might be probably the greatest SPL-T gamers on the planet, with over 600 splits!

WH: I am keen on the presentation and magnificence you’ve got chosen for this assortment, resembling a cell storefront, however with simple details about the controls and context of the sport’s creation. Was that interface one thing that got here naturally with this challenge? Or was it one thing you stumbled upon alongside the best way?

SF: Thanks! First we had imagined it being one thing nearer to the menus of the NES and SNES mini with massive icons, however as we started working on the totally different show modes with a visual pill body, the thought of an “OS” rapidly naturally reworked into its present state.

WH: Translating the interactions with a cell machine to a console takes a whole lot of work. Each the in the best way controls play an element, corresponding to machine rotation, contact interfaces and different options of a cell machine, however maybe additionally in the best way we use telephones and tablets in another way from sport programs. What was key for you in making the controls work? And have been there issues that you simply weren’t in a position to get working correctly on Swap (2)?

SF: Our discussions over time had all the time been centered round making an attempt to remake or “consolify” these video games. However as we determined to truly begin making the gathering, we knew that the intention needs to be to maintain the expertise as shut as attainable to the originals. With this in thoughts, we got here up with a cursor as the principle approach to work together with the video games, both by means of sticks, movement or mouse. An early choice was to not make customized options for every video games particular person interactions, which led us to each having the ability to let gamers rotate the screens manually to modify between portrait and panorama (and likewise mimic gyro when not out there), and the inclusion of a second cursor, so we might have the ability to mimic multi-touch.

WH: Do you and Gordon have a favourite sport on this assortment?
SF: My favorite is and has all the time been SPL-T. It’s a sport I can carry on enjoying endlessly, and be fascinated on my own. Gordon’s favorite is DEVICE 6, as a result of he feels that it challenges what video games are, and may be.

WH: You went a step past and even launched playable prototypes for among the included video games and even unreleased titles. I adored the Mysterious December Machine. That is nonetheless fairly exceptional within the bigger video games trade. What was your pondering behind this transfer and the way difficult was it to get these prototypes working?

SF:To be trustworthy probably the most troublesome factor was to seek out the early prototypes! We merely wished the gathering to color the fullest attainable image of Simogo, and have the ability to collect all further materials in a single place for long-time followers of the studio.

WH: You’ve got chosen to publish this assortment yourselves, regardless that Annapurna Interactive was a part of the publishing for Sayonara Wild Hearts and Lorelei and the Laser Eyes. Was this since you wished to maintain this challenge below your management? Or was there no publishing curiosity to (re)launch your older work?

SF: It felt like probably the most pure factor, because the originals have been additionally self-published. We by no means thought of pitching it to any writer.

WH: There are such a lot of builders that bought their begin making video games for cell, Adobe Flash and different software program codecs which have made these video games inaccessible for many years. What’s the worth for Simogo as a studio to return to those works and maintain them out there for the longer term?
SF: The largest values are that individuals who weren’t in a position to play them prior to now can, and that they’re much less more likely to disappear when they’re on new platforms.

WH: Did you are taking inspiration from cultural establishments, corresponding to archives, museums or reveals? Particularly in how the video games are contextualized throughout the broader historical past of Simogo as a studio?

SF: Including dates to every thing, to place them in an historic context was essential to us, however I’m not certain I might say that we have been immediately impressed by museums or archives.

WH: Do you might have any recommendation or encouragement for different studios what you are making an attempt to realize with Simogo Legacy Assortment and could also be contemplating one thing related on their very own?

SF: Strive to withstand the temptation to repair any blemishes or polish up the video games, and concentrate on making probably the most true to the unique expertise!

WH: Lastly, any phrase on what we would have the ability to count on within the subsequent fifteen years from Simogo? Do you need to develop the studio? Or return to a different of your sequence now that persons are extra acquainted with them?

SF: No, we don’t need to develop! If I knew what the following 15 years held, it wouldn’t be enjoyable.
The enjoyment is to see the place the journey may take us.