And it's out there!
This is the longest we've spent making a single game. Back in 2018 we didn’t know that this game would turn out like this. Not least of which because nobody expected 2020 would turn out the way it has. What started as a simple exploration to see if we could capture the magic of a birdwatching hike, has become Alba: a Wildlife Adventure, the pre-apocalyptic game some of us sorely need right now. We wanted to take the world we remembered from our summers growing up, and turn it into an experience for others to enjoy. But we didn't expect just how nostalgic that would feel now that we have to stay indoors to keep each other safe. A few team members have remarked how nice it was to be able to just take little strolls within the game world, as a way to escape the stress of the reality outside. Sure, we are biased. But we are very proud of this game and hope you like it.
Setting out to make an open-world game was a huge challenge. Making games is hard. This is our biggest game ever. It's the longest, the most complex, the biggest team, the most platforms we've ever launched on, and so on. Before this game, we never had more than 15 people work on a single game. At one point we had a team of 25 people. Sure, some AAA studios are used to dealing with a much more complex organisation but for us, this was a big deal. Despite all that, we can all still say this project felt personal. Every person that worked on this has made their mark and we are so lucky to have worked with incredible people during all this. Seriously, check out the credits, every one of those people is individually remarkable, and the game is better off for them.
The last thing we wanted to mention is the game's themes. Like we said before, we just wanted to make a bird-watching game. But as we were writing the story and the wider world, we couldn't avoid the obvious topics. The game deals with the complex relationship between humans and nature, and that made us explore our relationship. If people feel inspired, as we have, by Alba and her movement, we invite them to check out our website albawildlife.com for more information for how they can help out and make the world around us a better place.
It is fitting that for our biggest game, we wrote our biggest Steam announcement. This has been a massive project for us and we thank anybody that's been involved from the bottom of our hearts. But we especially thank you, the player, for taking a second to even read this. If you play the game, thanks again. We made this in the hope that you enjoy this little slice of the very real world we loved in our childhoods and that we hope that our children can continue to enjoy.
Optimistically,
your friends at ustwo games
