Haven - Gamescom rendez-vous and summer shows recap

26 Aug 2020Developer post

Source: Steam Community (opens in a new tab)

Hello everyone,
We hope the summer has been treating you well. We wanted to give you a heads-up about our upcoming rendez-vous later this week and update you on what happened over the last months!

Gamescom rendez-vous this week

First things first: we have prepared a few delicacies for Gamescom coming later this week!. You don't want to miss:

Visiting us on our cosy virtual Indie Arena Booth from Thursday 27th to Sunday 30th. Some of our team members will be on the booth, and if we are not, you will be in the good hands ... errr paws?... of a friendly Salamash... ---> This way to the booth.
Joining us on the booth for our Ask Me Anything sessions: with Pierre Corbinais, Haven's writer Saturday 29th (10 AM CEST) and with Audrey Leprince, Executive Producer Sunday 30th (3 PM CEST)
Haven demo will also be up on Steam again for those of you who haven't tried it yet.
To conclude catch the Awesome Indies show Saturday, streamed on IGN. The count down will start Saturday 29th at 7:50 am PT / 16h50 CEST and you won't want to miss the beginning (hint, hint) ...

Haven Booth on the Indie Arena Booth

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Take a break in Haven

Emeric Thoa, our Creative Director shared his thoughts about the creation of Haven, and in particular all the attention that was given to create an experience that is smooth, welcoming and in some ways "light" in all aspects of the game. A different kind of recipe! Read the beginning below and the full article on our blog.

Emeric Thoa: People often ask why we didn’t do a sequel to Furi, and I usually answer that we made Haven because our goal is to surprise players, to innovate, to explore new experiences. This is the absolute truth.

But there’s another side to it that I don’t always tell: Furi was exhausting to make. I needed a pause from fast paced action. I wanted a game that felt like a break between two action games.

When I was working on AAA games, I played pretty much every blockbuster to know the market, the competition. But between a game of Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed, I needed a pause, and I used to play 30 minutes of Flower. I remember this time fondly. This game helped me relax between two overwhelming experiences.

That feeling was at the core of what I wanted to make with Haven: a game that feels like a gentle breeze. A game that lets you relax. A game that’s like holding hands on a nice outdoor walk.

One way to achieve that was of course with Haven’s concept: the love story of a couple trying to stay together. A couple gliding over tall grass on a deserted planet. But that relaxing feeling doesn’t come only from the game setting. All the game design around it has to make the experience smooth and chill. I wanted a game that felt light. Lighter than most modern big games that ask you to remember so many things.

If you don’t see what I mean by that, think about any big AAA open-world game or RPG. They all have tons of features, most of the time the same features but with tiny differences in their implementation. Character progression, with lots of characteristics. Weapons and upgrades. Skill trees. Combos. Vehicles. AI teammates. Consumables items. Wide variety of lootable objects. Exotic gameplays like puzzles or races…

All those features and content are exciting. It sometimes adds depth, it helps build the lore and makes the experience immersive. But it’s also a bit tiring. Playing those games is like learning a new language. There is so much content that, naturally, it means a lot to learn and remember.

In order to create that relaxing feeling in Haven, we had to drop all that content. We had to reduce the amount of information needed. It’s a game where we want you to feel free: you broke from your chains and you explore a mysterious planet. We don’t want the game to be a drag by asking you to remember too much. To make it feel simple, we needed to make it lighter.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

The article also shared more about some of the game mechanics, with screenshots of the characters status or the inventory.

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Summer shows recap

So much happened this summer during the many events and shows that featured Haven. It was quite something, right? The summer of all shows! We hope you have managed to catch them all. If you haven't, worry not, we're making sure you didn't miss any bit of new content.

E3 didn't happen this year, but the shows that traditionally take place during the conference took place online, like the PC Gaming Show. You can find below the short trailer we created for this special occasion.

Watch video on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Yu & Kay were invited to quite a few other shows this summer and we shared some new footage of the game. As it can be hard to keep track of all of them, you will find below all the videos.