Okomotive is the indie games studio based in Zurich, Switzerland who brought you the award-winning game FAR: Lone Sails.
With the recent announcement of their new title FAR: Changing Tides, we wanted to speak directly with the developers and get some answers about the company and the FAR universe.
We will have regular exclusive posts on r/FARtheGame and on the FAR: Changing Tides Steam Community Hub, where we ask the developers questions directly.
Today we are joined by Creative Lead and Co-Founder, Don Schmoker at Okomotive, to answer questions about the company and the FAR Universe.
How did the company Okomotive begin?
Goran and I founded the company when we were still students while also working on FAR: Lone Sails. At the time Okomotive was just a name we quickly came up with, so we could have a studio to release the game (it was the name of the vehicle in FAR: Lone Sails). Soon we found out that a company comes with a lot more responsibilities, but it was also something we could build up over the years. During the development of Lone Sails, our team grew larger and it was nice to see how Okomotive got more and more personality and became something very important to all of us.
What are Okomotives goals as a developer?
The projects and the people in our studio are both very important to us and we want to keep creating games we enjoy developing together. In most cases, these are games that have an artistic and original approach but have the player experience as a core element.
What is it like being an indie developer working on your second game?
In our case, it definitely felt more streamlined which is a good thing to help stick to the development plan. I think the most difficult part was to create a concept that’s not just like “now we add all the things we couldn’t do in the first game and make it bigger and better” but instead something that has its own identity and place. During production, the question to make a feature the same or different from the first game came up a lot. We decided to move away from that mindset and ask if the feature worked independently before deciding to add it into FAR: Changing Tides.
What gave you the idea for the FAR Universe?
The initial idea came together while we were at university and took some months until it found its identity. The two main components were the idea of driving a slow-moving vehicle, while only controlling the driver directly; and the second one was the atmosphere and visuals of the foggy coastal areas around the North Sea. An important distinction was that the player doesn’t have to hurry or fight and can enjoy the scenery and mood of the world around them. The universe was built from these ideals and has become its own place through these ideals.
What were the biggest challenges presented when you were starting?
I don’t remember any big challenges except trying to finish the game overall. The people involved all helped to keep the challenges small enough. So it was more a question of navigating through small challenges, like getting a demo ready for an event, handling changes in the timeline, or making the vehicle intuitive but also fun.
Is FAR: Changing Tides a sequel?
No, not directly. It’s more of a companion title. There are many connections and similarities but more in terms of gameplay and feel of the world.
Why is it not a continuation from the last game?
We think that starting with a new vessel in an unexplored world and then slowly getting to know them better is one of the most important parts of the game. For this reason, we created a new vehicle and an environment that has a different story and behaves differently, so it works for players that have played the FAR: Lone Sails and for players who haven’t.
Can you tell us what happened to the planet and why it's flooded?
Maybe you can find out the answer to that question when you’ve played FAR: Changing Tides?
Worldbuilding is a large task, how did you begin creating this universe?
In FAR: Lone Sails we had only a rough idea of the background story at the beginning of the development but the aesthetics and architecture were more clear. During development, we had to define and build more of the story, which became increasingly difficult towards the end. In FAR: Changing Tides we wrote most of the story and the world-building during pre-production, which gave us a better direction. Because we tell most of the story through the environment we had to plan and design the environments together with the story. Sometimes we had a cool idea for a scenery shot and adjusted the story so it would fit the experience.
Is there a reason both characters use vehicles in both games?
They wouldn’t be FAR games without it and they are the core of the gameplay and experience, so everything else kind of revolves around them.
The world has a beautiful art style, can you tell us how you decided on it?
For FAR: Lone Sails I started with limited colours as I was more comfortable with that and it worked well to create the foggy atmosphere and to highlight the interactive objects in the game. We chose to create the backgrounds in 3D to give the environment more depth and to make it more believable.
For FAR: Changing Tides we wanted to show more variety and environments we haven’t explored yet. The water is always part of the scene so we had to design landscapes and colour palettes that gave us enough variation but also incorporated the water well.
What excites you the most about this new story you are going to share with us?
We’re very proud of the story we created for FAR: Changing Tides but as a developer, I’m most excited about how the players experience the storytelling in the world and the little moments that are different for each player and in the end creates a very personal journey.
Can we expect more stories from the FAR universe?
I can’t say at this point, but we’re definitely not out of ideas.
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