After explaining the details of It Takes Two, everyone went back to their own work.
The New Year holiday was coming soon, so during this period, Lucas mainly focused on explaining the core gameplay ideas to Hector and the others.
At the same time, Rachel's art team started producing materials.
The actual game development would wait until after the holidays.
The main reason for choosing this game was to give players something fresh.
After all, Dark Souls had just drained a lot of "resentment points" from players.
Making a warm, loving game to let them feel a bit of sunshine was necessary.
It also helped diversify the game lineup on the Nebula Games platform.
And after Overcooked, releasing another couples co-op game a year later would definitely make for a good topic.
Once they got to work, Rachel, who was in charge of the art team, clearly felt that It Takes Two was different.
"This game feels like an animated movie!" Rachel said in surprise as she looked at the storyboard.
"In a way, it is." Lucas smiled and nodded.
Overcooked had a cartoon art style, but its style wasn't the same as It Takes Two.
In It Takes Two, the contrast between different scenes and the exaggeration between characters and themes create a theatrical style.
The composition and colors were also focused on a cinematic feel.
This approach is often used in animated films.
While they worked on It Takes Two—
Outside, the impact of the recently concluded annual game awards was still spreading.
Thanks to this event, sales of many Nebula Games titles had clearly gone up.
Especially Dark Souls, which won Best Role-Playing Game, attracting another wave of new Fire Keepers.
Of course, once they entered the game, these new Fire Keepers quickly felt Lucas's "love" and "passion" for players all over the Dark Souls world.
"Dark Souls," "Nebula Games," and "Lucas" became hot keywords during this time.
While these topics kept trending, the Spring Festival travel rush began across the country.
But for the gaming world, this didn't matter much.
Most players, as well as designers and media, were focused on one question: After Dark Souls' huge success, what would Nebula Games' next game be?
...
On the eighth day of the new year, employees returned to work one after another.
Lucas called Hector and the others into the meeting room.
During the holiday, Lucas had finished the design concept draft for It Takes Two.
Compared to the original version, he made some changes to certain content.
For example, in the original It Takes Two, there was an Easter egg referencing A Way Out.
That was another game by the same designer.
Lucas didn't change that part since it didn't matter much.
But the game also included lots of movie tribute lines.
Like when Cody gets caught by the space monkey, he says: "In space, no one can hear you scream."
That's a classic line from the movie Alien.
There was also the "F*** Oscars" audio Easter egg from the TGA event.
That part needed to be changed.
And then there were some of the darker scenes in the game.
Even though It Takes Two is a game with a cartoon art style, it's like the original Grimm's Fairy Tales. Grimm's stories were a collection of European folk tales from the 18th and 19th centuries, a time when Europe was under the shadow of Napoleon's wars.
They were fairy tales, but written for adults, so of course they had a dark and deep core.
It's the same with It Takes Two. It may look like a cartoon, but it's not a game for kids.
Some scenes in the game are even quite twisted.
Like the vacuum cleaner in the first level, and later the pink elephant.
Content-wise, there's nothing really wrong with them.
But the way they were shown got a lot of complaints in the previous world.
So Lucas made some changes here, at least making the visuals less creepy than before.
The art style, the cinematic camera work, the unique use of split-screen, the story and its core ideas, the pacing of each level, the special features of each scene, and the unique abilities and gameplay that go with them—
Lucas explained all the key points that make up It Takes Two.
Compared to the simple talk they had before the holiday, Rachel, Anna, Hector, and the others now understood what the game was really about.
They also understood why Lucas had said time might not be enough.
Because while it sounds like an indie game, the actual content is huge.
You could even say this is the second biggest game Nebula Games has made, right after Dark Souls.
Even Outlast is smaller than this one.
After Lucas finished his explanation, it was time for questions.
"Lucas, will the levels in this game be very complex?" Hector asked.
With so many stages tied to the main themes and all the special abilities, Hector could only describe it as stunning.
But one thing worried him: he noticed some levels, especially the ones with platforming, seemed to require players to work very closely together.
If the teamwork is good, that's fine. But if not…
Hector suddenly thought of Overcooked, and all the fights he saw on streams and videos back then.
How did it get the name "Divorce Kitchen"?
That's how!
"When players fight a boss, as long as one person stays alive, the other can revive without limit. And the game saves progress in real time, so you won't go back after one failure."
"The difficulty is pretty fair, and we'll also add a dynamic difficulty system. If players get stuck for too long, the game will give hints," Lucas explained. This was another change from the last world.
Hearing that, Hector nodded in understanding.
Then Ethan, who handled operations and marketing, spoke up: "Lucas, what's the plan for promoting It Takes Two?"
"Just follow last year's Overcooked model. Before Valentine's Day, I'll edit a trailer for you. The tagline will be 'A Couple's Game,' and the theme will focus on 'Passion,' 'Cooperation,' and 'Friendship.'"
"As for the launch strategy, no need for the buy-one-get-one deal like last year. Instead, as long as one person buys the game on the Nebula Games platform, they can invite another player to play with them. This way we can push the platform more." Lucas thought for a moment and told Ethan.
(End of The Chapter)
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