To everyone who's been playing or is looking forward to playing RWBY: Arrowfell — hello, and thank you for your enthusiasm!
I'm James Montagna, a director and designer at WayForward. I had the honor of working alongside both our talented development staff as well as Rooster Teeth to help make this new vision for RWBY a reality. Since I have been asked to offer a little insight into the creation through this developer diary, I'd like to take the opportunity to share...whatever interesting info I can!
RWBY: Arrowfell is a video game that allows players to experience the universe of RWBY through the lens of a side-scrolling action-adventure. You'll play as Ruby, Blake, Yang, and, my personal favorite, Weiss as you navigate the continent of Solitas on a critical mission for Atlas Academy. To that end, you'll be able to cycle through the members of Team RWBY either with the shoulder buttons or instantly switch to the one you want using the right analog stick. You’ll then use each one to unleash unique melee attacks, ranged attacks, and Semblances as you explore environments, battle foes, and solve puzzles. There's a lot more to say about the gameplay, but this time I'll mostly be speaking about what it's like to make a RWBY game in the first place.
When I learned WayForward had started discussing the possibility of a new RWBY game with the series' creators, without knowing if I would be involved in the project, I was eager to dive back into watching episodes of the show. I remember seeing the initial character trailers that were released in 2012 and 2013, and scattershot episodes here and there, but never had the chance to really dig in like I would have wished to with a busy schedule. Upon the project being greenlit and my eventual assignment to the development effort, my wish came true...an excuse to watch the entirety of RWBY for work purposes! A streaming subscription was activated, and off I went into the world of Remnant.
After watching and re-watching every episode, buying books and merch, and eventually even a trip to RTX in Texas, the fire of my own personal RWBY adoration was ignited. Speaking to the others at WayForward, it's safe to say many of our team members had their own similar journey, and we were all very excited to be developing this game! The passion that the RWBY creative team puts into the show can be felt in every episode, and it seemed only right that we match that dedication for a game like RWBY: Arrowfell.
In the show, fun banter, the dynamics of how each personality plays off of each other, and the heartfelt moments all come together to be one of my favorite parts of RWBY: the relationship between characters. The game reflects this as well, and there was plenty of back-and-forth with the show’s creators to make sure that everything felt on-brand and remained true to the show. In fact, RWBY: Arrowfell has been described as "an untold canon RWBY adventure," so next time I'll explain a bit more detail about what exactly this means, and what went into upholding this vision for the game. Until then!