Review Fix chats with “White Lie†creator Gabriel de Lima Carioca to find out what inspired the upcoming game and why you must check it out once it’s released.
Review Fix: When did the initial idea for this game come to you?
Gabriel de Lima Carioca: The idea of the game came one year ago, when we were conceptualizing it. The story started with a girl and a city lost in time. We wanted to make it similar to a paper theater, so we talked to an actress and director to learn things about the medium. That allowed us to iterate the mechanics and art style until we decided to drop this initial idea. Then we tried something with watercolor and found out it would not be viable for the team. After two months prototyping and testing ideas we reached the final style, the one we are using now. The story evolved and the only thing that remained was the feminine element, but now it was centered in the relationship between a little girl and her favorite toy.
Review Fix: What games inspired this one?
de Lima Carioca: Year Walk from Simogo, Broken Age from Double Fine, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP from CAPY and Child of Light from Ubisoft.
Besides games, we got a lot of our inspiration from children’s illustrated books, like John Bauer and Shaun Tan. And a lot of the theme came from experimental modern Japanese musicians and the narrative in their songs. The central theme came from the story and emotions of Gregorio, from Fullkawa Honpo
Review Fix: What do you play for fun when you are not developing?
de Lima Carioca: Well, that is a tough question. I have a lot of games in my steam library and every time there is a sale or a good Humble Bundle it increases in size. The most recently one I played was Oxenfree, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Karma. Incarnation 1, Burly Men at Sea and now I’m finishing Broken Age. Just to add to this answer I’m anxiously waiting for Night In the Woods.
I also play some online games from time to time, like Dark Souls, Monaco, Risk of Rain, Terraria and some others, specially when I join in an online session to play with friends.
Review Fix: What has development been like?
de Lima Carioca: We’ve just finished the pre production of the game, creating the narrative pillars, art guideline, concepts, emotions and what we want the player to experience while playing. Now we are prototyping things with camera, perspective and the movement to get the mechanics that fits what we want for the game. It’s not going as fast as possible because we are developing in a small team, but we figured a way to make our work flow and we are liking the results so far.
Review Fix: With all the competition in the indies now, how difficult was it for you guys to try and make something that stood out?
de Lima Carioca: It is very difficult. Before starting conceptualizing the game we did a competitive analysis, looking to others games of the genre, published or still in development. That allowed us to see some patterns we needed to follow and innovation opportunities. Our main differential are the art style and the emotional narrative, so that is what we are trying to use to get people’s attention and stand out in the medium.
Review Fix: Who do you think will enjoy this game the most?
de Lima Carioca: People who enjoy narrative experiences. We want it to be the kind of game you remember forever after playing, not the game you keep playing forever.
Review Fix: Bottom line, why must someone play this game?
de Lima Carioca: Those kind of immersive experiences are becoming more popular today with some great games being launched with this as their values. There were not so many games following what Team ICO did in PS2 until more recently with games like Dear Esther, Gone Home, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Firewatch… We want to offer some similar experience, a world where people can be immersed and experience a good narrative. That is why someone must play White Lie, to experience this kind of immersive entertainment.
Review Fix: How do you want this game to be remembered?
de Lima Carioca: I want this game to be remembered as a good indie game, something innovative with a good art style and a great narrative experience. I want it to be remembered by all the feelings it will spark inside the players. Besides, we also want to create more games after this one and we expect the next games to be better than our first. I want people to remember what we did with White Lie and create expectations for our next games.
Review Fix: What are your goals for this game?
de Lima Carioca: To make people feel that the time they used playing White Lie was worth it. I want people to reflect about the narrative messages and remember the experience they had while playing this game. I want them to think about the feelings the game sparked and maybe that can change something in their lives.
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