The Making of Bastion - Documentary

00:39:17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo7TcJ2E0-I

Sintesi

TLDRThe video primarily focuses on the formation and success of Supergiant Games, with emphasis on their acclaimed game, Bastion. Key figures like Greg Kasavin, Amir Rao, and Gavin Simon are highlighted, discussing their backgrounds, experiences, and the collaborative journey in developing Bastion. The narrative explores the creative and technical processes that brought the game to life, including challenges and breakthroughs in storytelling, art, music, and gameplay mechanics. The use of voiceover, distinctive art styles, and engaging music significantly contributed to the game's unique atmosphere and success. Additionally, the video emphasizes the early indie game scene's influence on their aspirations and the eventual impact of Bastion on the gaming industry.

Punti di forza

  • 🏗️ Bastion was a result of shared dreams and collaborations among EA alumni.
  • 🎶 The music, composed by Darren Korb, set the distinct tone of the game from its early development stages.
  • 🎨 The art of Bastion evolved with input from artists like Jen Zee, who influenced its vibrant aesthetic.
  • 💡 The game's innovative narration was a solution to blending story with continuous gameplay.
  • 🎮 The shift from real-time strategy to action RPG involved designing new gameplay systems.
  • 📦 Bastion was self-funded initially, with Warner Brothers assisting in publishing.
  • ⚙️ Significant technical hurdles were overcome to optimize the game for Xbox 360.
  • 🌟 Bastion's unique elements like world-building and character-driven choices contributed to its acclaim.
  • 👥 Supergiant Games values strong collaborative relationships and creativity.
  • 🏆 Bastion grew in success post-release, winning awards and critical acclaim.

Linea temporale

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The narrator reflects on things he misses from the past, including the ambience and music of a place he once loved. This sets the tone for a reflective narrative that seems to be yearning for the nostalgia of better days.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The speaker recounts their early career beginnings at Electronic Arts and formation of friendships that would eventually lead to creating Supergiant Games. They discuss their initial projects and influences which laid the groundwork for future game development with Bastion.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The narrator details the transition from working at Electronic Arts to starting Supergiant Games, sharing personal advice from family that encouraged them to pursue their dreams while young. The founding members begin to shape their vision for an action RPG inspired by games produced by small teams.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Discussion of developing Bastion begins with concepts of world-building and unique gameplay elements like constructing the world as the player explores. The team reflects on initial game mechanics and the influence of early creative decisions, touching on inspirations and the collaborative process of game-making.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Challenges in Bastion's development included securing an artist and defining the game's aesthetic. The team found success with Jen, who played a pivotal role in solidifying the game's visual style. The narration style was developed as a solution to embed narrative without interrupting gameplay, enhancing player immersion.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    The team faced technical challenges, particularly optimizing the game for Xbox 360. They resequenced data and utilized the console's hardware strengths to enhance performance, ultimately achieving smoother gameplay. Their dedication underscores a commitment to overcoming obstacles to realize their creative ambitions.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:39:17

    Bastion's completion was an emotional journey, marked by challenges and the eventual satisfaction of receiving positive reception. Securing a publishing partnership was crucial at launch, but the game's sustained success and growing acclaim solidified its impact, leading to a deeper appreciation for the collective effort.

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Video Domande e Risposte

  • Who are the key figures behind Supergiant Games?

    Key figures include Greg Kasavin, Amir Rao, Gavin Simon, and accompanying team members like Jen Zee and Darren Korb.

  • What inspired the creation of Bastion?

    Bastion was inspired by the desire to create an action RPG with unique world-building and narrative elements, influenced by games like Plants vs. Zombies and Braid.

  • How did music influence Bastion's development?

    Music by Darren Korb was integral from the start, setting the tone and atmosphere that guided the game's development.

  • What challenges did the team face during development?

    Challenges included integrating strong narrative without interrupting gameplay, optimizing for console hardware, and initially lacking an in-house artist.

  • How did the narration style in Bastion come about?

    The narration was developed as a way to include a strong narrative component without interrupting gameplay flow, featuring Logan Cunningham as the voice of Rucks.

  • What role did Warner Brothers play?

    Warner Brothers helped publish Bastion on Xbox Live Arcade, providing support and resources essential for its release and promotion.

  • How did the art style contribute to Bastion?

    Jen Zee's art enriched Bastion with its lush, colorful aesthetic, drawing influence from classic RPGs and orientalism.

  • What impact did Bastion have post-release?

    Bastion gained critical acclaim, won numerous awards, and grew in popularity over time, allowing Supergiant Games to continue developing new titles.

  • What was the significance of the game's voice acting?

    Logan Cunningham's voice acting brought life and atmosphere to Bastion, significantly enhancing the player's experience.

  • How did the team manage development logistics?

    Initially self-funded, the team worked closely in a personalized environment, leveraging each member's strengths in a collaborative manner.

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Scorrimento automatico:
  • 00:00:00
    [TYPING NOISES]
  • 00:00:10
    [MUSIC PLAYING]
  • 00:00:14
    RUCKS (VOICEOVER): Listen, all this takes a lot of getting used to.
  • 00:00:19
    And you do get used to it after a while.
  • 00:00:24
    There's three things I'll always miss, though.
  • 00:00:27
    One, not having to watch my step all the time.
  • 00:00:32
    Two, well, forget about two.
  • 00:00:36
    And three, I miss the songs.
  • 00:00:41
    Folks from Caelondia knew how to carry a tune.
  • 00:00:45
    Sure, we've got some songs on the old gramophone,
  • 00:00:48
    but try and imagine what they sounded like
  • 00:00:51
    playing to a room full of fine people
  • 00:00:54
    unwinding at the Sole Regret after a hard day's work.
  • 00:00:59
    Those were the days.
  • 00:01:01
    [MUSIC PLAYING]
  • 00:01:18
    GREG KASAVIN: My history with Supergiant Games
  • 00:01:21
    precedes the creation of the studio,
  • 00:01:24
    since I was working at
  • 00:01:26
    Electronic Arts in Los Angeles.
  • 00:01:29
    And I think from the very first day,
  • 00:01:31
    it was in January 2007.
  • 00:01:33
    I had just left my job at GameSpot,
  • 00:01:36
    where I was editor-in-chief.
  • 00:01:37
    And I'd been working there for ten years,
  • 00:01:40
    so it was the only kind of real job I'd ever had.
  • 00:01:42
    I switched over to pursue my lifelong dream
  • 00:01:45
    of being a game developer and
  • 00:01:46
    just being kind of thrust into a new organization.
  • 00:01:49
    They were trying to finish a game
  • 00:01:50
    Called Command & Conquer 3:
  • 00:01:52
    Tiberium Wars at the time,
  • 00:01:54
    and two of the guys I met early on
  • 00:01:56
    were Amir Rao and Gavin Simon.
  • 00:01:58
    We became friends early on
  • 00:02:00
    and worked together through the end of
  • 00:02:03
    Command & Conquer 3 and onto our
  • 00:02:05
    Next big project, which was Red Alert 3.
  • 00:02:08
    And we actually created like a little
  • 00:02:10
    action RPG type of experience
  • 00:02:12
    within what was otherwise a real-time strategy game,
  • 00:02:15
    like a totally different genre,
  • 00:02:16
    'cause we loved action RPGs.
  • 00:02:18
    And I think some of the early ideas
  • 00:02:22
    we ended up chasing in Bastion
  • 00:02:24
    were definitely informed by that work.
  • 00:02:28
    - So I was working at Electronic Arts Los Angeles
  • 00:02:32
    as a level designer on the Command & Conquer team.
  • 00:02:35
    So I was mostly making missions for Command & Conquer games.
  • 00:02:37
    I'd been there for about two years,
  • 00:02:39
    and went to my dad
  • 00:02:41
    and I said, "Dad, someday I'd like to start a company."
  • 00:02:43
    and he sort of said, "why don't you do it now,
  • 00:02:45
    because you're only 25,
  • 00:02:48
    and if it doesn't work out, you'll be 27,
  • 00:02:50
    and can get a job somewhere else,
  • 00:02:51
    and you can use my house."
  • 00:02:53
    That sounded pretty interesting
  • 00:02:55
    and pretty amazing. So the first thing I did,
  • 00:02:57
    made a list of all the people I wanted to work with.
  • 00:02:59
    That was pretty easy, 'cause I lived with a lot of them.
  • 00:03:02
    I was living with Andrew, who is someone I met,
  • 00:03:04
    he was an intern at Electronic Arts.
  • 00:03:07
    Greg was living down there in the other bedroom.
  • 00:03:10
    He was working at Electronic Arts also.
  • 00:03:13
    And then Gavin, who's someone I worked with
  • 00:03:15
    closely at Electronic Arts.
  • 00:03:17
    Gavin was the programmer AI designer.
  • 00:03:20
    - Since I do have a computer science
  • 00:03:22
    background and did engineering work
  • 00:03:24
    at EA, I had just started kind of
  • 00:03:27
    tinkering and building stuff in my own time.
  • 00:03:30
    And then Amir came to me
  • 00:03:33
    one day after work, and we got dinner,
  • 00:03:35
    and laid out his whole idea, and it was
  • 00:03:37
    kind of like a perfect match to merge
  • 00:03:40
    them together at that point.
  • 00:03:41
    AMIR: Me and Greg and Gavin, and other people,
  • 00:03:44
    were playing a lot of games like Plants vs. Zombies
  • 00:03:46
    and World of Goo, and Braid,
  • 00:03:48
    which were made by really small groups of people.
  • 00:03:50
    And we sort of wondered, could we do that, too?
  • 00:03:53
    - You know, we would discuss things,
  • 00:03:55
    brainstorms, ideas, whether that was
  • 00:03:57
    gameplay ideas or ways that we would
  • 00:04:02
    want things to happen, and
  • 00:04:04
    just coming with the actual way that
  • 00:04:07
    that could happen, and then
  • 00:04:09
    building out whatever was necessary for that,
  • 00:04:12
    whether that was like a new tools to
  • 00:04:14
    make an editor to allow Amir
  • 00:04:16
    at that point to put stuff onto a map.
  • 00:04:19
    or make new data structures or data values,
  • 00:04:23
    so that he could change a bunch of numbers.
  • 00:04:25
    - So Gavin and I were the first to sort of
  • 00:04:29
    be able to make this happen
  • 00:04:31
    and make the jump.
  • 00:04:33
    We quit our jobs at EA in July.
  • 00:04:36
    - We just had a whole bunch of computers
  • 00:04:38
    and servers in the closet,
  • 00:04:41
    and sleeping in bedrooms down the hallway.
  • 00:04:44
    And we'd just kind of, like, wake up,
  • 00:04:46
    roll down there, and start working
  • 00:04:49
    until whenever we got tired and went back to sleep.
  • 00:04:53
    But it was just kind of us just sitting next to each other
  • 00:04:56
    back and forth looking at each other's
  • 00:04:58
    screens and banging out things
  • 00:05:01
    in a very collaborative manner.
  • 00:05:03
    - And over time the two of us became
  • 00:05:06
    seven people. Andrew was able to join us.
  • 00:05:10
    Greg was able to join us.
  • 00:05:12
    Jen, Darren, Logan, and that was seven human beings
  • 00:05:18
    working on Bastion.
  • 00:05:20
    [MUSIC PLAYING]
  • 00:05:27
    On the U-Haul drive up to San Jose,
  • 00:05:30
    we started talking about ideas
  • 00:05:32
    around action RPGs, Gavin and I.
  • 00:05:34
    And prior to that, I'd also sort of floated
  • 00:05:37
    some conversations with Greg, where Greg asked
  • 00:05:39
    a really, really incisive personal question.
  • 00:05:41
    He was like, "what would be your perfect game
  • 00:05:44
    that you would make?" At the time, I think
  • 00:05:46
    the answer I gave him was like, Diablo II
  • 00:05:48
    and Viva Piñata. Like, that game.
  • 00:05:50
    Whatever that game is, I would love to play that game.
  • 00:05:53
    And so Bastion started out sort of as a really big idea,
  • 00:05:58
    which is what if you had an action RPG
  • 00:06:00
    where you could build the whole world yourself?
  • 00:06:03
    [MUSIC PLAYING]
  • 00:06:05
    GREG: Definitely one of the core ideas on Bastion
  • 00:06:08
    that was built into the game at a very low level
  • 00:06:11
    was the idea of the world building itself
  • 00:06:14
    as you ran across it, which, of course, ended up being
  • 00:06:18
    a core aspect of the narrative of that game.
  • 00:06:21
    But that kind of just started with, like, a gameplay idea
  • 00:06:24
    of not having to have a mini-map,
  • 00:06:26
    and to kind of have the level, like,
  • 00:06:28
    guide you as you go.
  • 00:06:30
    But then that whole thing ended up
  • 00:06:32
    being built into an underlying system,
  • 00:06:34
    where the entire terrain of the game would kind of
  • 00:06:38
    form under you, in hopefully a very natural way
  • 00:06:41
    to guide the player along, and
  • 00:06:43
    to feel and look good as it was coming in.
  • 00:06:46
    AMIR: The very first weapon that went in the game was the hammer.
  • 00:06:49
    We had this hammer 'cause we knew we wanted
  • 00:06:50
    the character to be a builder. The idea was
  • 00:06:52
    okay, you're going to fight enemies out in the field
  • 00:06:55
    and get resources, and you're
  • 00:06:56
    going to bring them back to this place called the Bastion.
  • 00:06:58
    And you're going to build it up over time.
  • 00:07:00
    And we had all these grand designs
  • 00:07:02
    over the first year of that game
  • 00:07:03
    about like the stuff you were going to build.
  • 00:07:05
    And then I was deeply interested and invested in
  • 00:07:09
    the gardening part of it.
  • 00:07:11
    And like, you were going to like, garden the Bastion also.
  • 00:07:15
    And everything is so janky, because the art is
  • 00:07:17
    scanned out of D&D books,
  • 00:07:19
    and I modeled the main character, and he's
  • 00:07:21
    just like swinging a hammer really stupidly.
  • 00:07:23
    But Darren's music is like, really awesome
  • 00:07:25
    in the background, because music can just sort of be done
  • 00:07:28
    like at the very beginning, it turns out.
  • 00:07:30
    And that was something that kind of ended up
  • 00:07:32
    following us through all these projects,
  • 00:07:34
    where like, the music is often the first expression
  • 00:07:36
    of the tone and stuff that we end up using.
  • 00:07:39
    - Well, I think there was a tone for the project
  • 00:07:44
    that everybody was sort of trying to establish,
  • 00:07:47
    that I was also working toward, which was
  • 00:07:51
    what if Cormac McCarthy made a fantasy video game?
  • 00:07:54
    And that's how I kind of crystallized my idea of
  • 00:07:58
    what the tone of the game was going to be
  • 00:08:00
    and what the tone of the music should be.
  • 00:08:02
    And because I didn't have experience composing for anything,
  • 00:08:07
    something that for me was the way that I could try to unify the music
  • 00:08:12
    for the project without traditional tools of a composer
  • 00:08:16
    was by setting up a genre for myself
  • 00:08:19
    that I could sort of make all the music fit somewhere inside of.
  • 00:08:22
    You know, I kind of get the intention
  • 00:08:25
    of how the music was going to be used.
  • 00:08:28
    We needed something for the town area.
  • 00:08:30
    We needed something for this first area,
  • 00:08:33
    this first level, we need--
  • 00:08:35
    And my sort of takeaway was, well, okay.
  • 00:08:37
    I sort of processed that however I could
  • 00:08:41
    and made my approach, my version of town music
  • 00:08:43
    for the Bastion area, and then would throw that back over the wall.
  • 00:08:48
    Sometimes there would be feedback,
  • 00:08:50
    and sometimes they'd just chuck it in.
  • 00:08:52
    I know the actual name of the file
  • 00:08:56
    that we used for the music in the Bastion
  • 00:08:59
    is "TownMusicRough." That is the literal-- [LAUGHING]
  • 00:09:04
    my named file that I sent them, and they
  • 00:09:06
    were just like, yep, that's it.
  • 00:09:07
    - The whole kind of aesthetic of Bastion,
  • 00:09:12
    aspects of it were there from the start,
  • 00:09:14
    like the game never had a code name.
  • 00:09:15
    It was always Bastion. So aspects of it
  • 00:09:18
    we always knew what it was going to be
  • 00:09:20
    from before Supergiant even existed in some ways.
  • 00:09:24
    So it had some of the aesthetics of like a Zelda game.
  • 00:09:28
    Superficially it's very deliberate, so this kind of bright,
  • 00:09:31
    colorful, you know, almost like a JRPG looking world,
  • 00:09:35
    and ostensibly, a story about saving the world, right?
  • 00:09:38
    But we knew it was going to be about
  • 00:09:40
    something other than that.
  • 00:09:41
    So the idea that Cormac McCarthy, this great American author,
  • 00:09:45
    would be writing these little JRPGS, that was, like,
  • 00:09:48
    humorous to us, and we wanted to would be writing these little JRPGS, that was, like,
  • 00:09:48
    humorous to us, and we wanted to
  • 00:09:51
    sort of chase that and see what would happen.
  • 00:09:53
    That seemed to tie strongly to the sort of
  • 00:09:57
    overtness of what was going on
  • 00:09:58
    of actually kind of restoring the world.
  • 00:10:00
    And we liked the idea of, you know,
  • 00:10:02
    Amir and I were talking early on about what's kind of the tone
  • 00:10:05
    of this game going to be? How's it going to, like--
  • 00:10:07
    How's it going to do something that just
  • 00:10:09
    doesn't feel like stuff we've seen a million times?
  • 00:10:12
    [MUSIC PLAYING]
  • 00:10:17
    RUCKS (VOICEOVER): Now there's something I want you to see.
  • 00:10:21
    - The most challenging parts of Bastion were
  • 00:10:24
    really just that we didn't know what the game,
  • 00:10:29
    what the whole game would look like.
  • 00:10:31
    We didn't know what the challenges were going to be.
  • 00:10:34
    Certainly, one of the earliest challenges
  • 00:10:36
    was we didn't have an artist.
  • 00:10:38
    Between Amir and I, we have, that's kind of
  • 00:10:41
    the one thing we were missing, is we had
  • 00:10:43
    zero artistic ability. So we spent a long time looking for
  • 00:10:48
    an artist, and we're obviously
  • 00:10:52
    super grateful that we found Jen
  • 00:10:54
    along the way, because of course
  • 00:10:55
    our games have become known for their art,
  • 00:10:57
    among other things.
  • 00:10:59
    - I was working at a company called Gaia Online.
  • 00:11:02
    It was my first job, and I was actually
  • 00:11:06
    doing isometrics worlds for the little avatars they have.
  • 00:11:11
    And I was working with a guy named Alex Ahad.
  • 00:11:15
    He was good friends with some people who knew Amir Rao.
  • 00:11:21
    They were, at the time, working on a prototype of Bastion.
  • 00:11:24
    They essentially wanted a redux of the prototype art
  • 00:11:28
    they already had, and they asked
  • 00:11:30
    me to redesign the Bastion,
  • 00:11:32
    and told me they wanted this lush and beautiful
  • 00:11:36
    green world that had been shattered, but still retained
  • 00:11:40
    a lot of its charm and loveliness.
  • 00:11:43
    I, building upon the many years of JRPGs that I've played,
  • 00:11:47
    just immediately spat out, you know what I thought felt good
  • 00:11:52
    from a gut level, and then they liked it.
  • 00:11:54
    So that led to a couple months of productive
  • 00:11:58
    contract work together, and then after
  • 00:12:00
    a couple months, they asked me if I wanted to
  • 00:12:02
    convert to full-time and work in
  • 00:12:05
    Amir's dad's living room with them,
  • 00:12:07
    And I said, "I've never been more excited.
  • 00:12:10
    I have been prepared my whole life to work
  • 00:12:12
    in the living room of someone's father."
  • 00:12:15
    [LAUGHING] "My whole life has been
  • 00:12:17
    leading up to this moment."
  • 00:12:18
    I was, like, very interested in
  • 00:12:21
    more Moroccan and kind of orientalist designs, as well.
  • 00:12:27
    And I was given the creative opportunity,
  • 00:12:30
    so I thought it was the perfect chance for me to
  • 00:12:33
    kind of integrate some of my own passion
  • 00:12:35
    into their world that they were
  • 00:12:38
    trying to put together, too.
  • 00:12:39
    I actually was given a lot of creative
  • 00:12:42
    freedom right off the bat with the initial work I did,
  • 00:12:45
    even as a contractor. They, I think,
  • 00:12:48
    encouraged me, actually, to just kind of
  • 00:12:50
    look at the prototype, and see what I thought
  • 00:12:54
    would work best based on my own instincts.
  • 00:12:57
    I looked at the prototype. The art that was
  • 00:13:00
    in there already, I think was by an artist named Tierra Lott.
  • 00:13:04
    It was very creative, but it was a little more somber
  • 00:13:09
    and I could tell based on the story I was being fed,
  • 00:13:14
    based on my own experience and my own love of, you know,
  • 00:13:18
    these isometrics or top-down RPGS from the SNES era,
  • 00:13:22
    the Playstation era, where everything's kind of
  • 00:13:25
    beautiful, and colorful, and lush,
  • 00:13:27
    I wanted to kind of brighten up the world.
  • 00:13:31
    So it was, in some parts, a reaction
  • 00:13:35
    to what was in the prototype already, which was really useful.
  • 00:13:39
    And another part is I had all these games
  • 00:13:43
    from my childhood that were influencing me,
  • 00:13:46
    that I was waiting to get out of my system.
  • 00:13:49
    I was waiting to get, you know my desire to
  • 00:13:52
    make a lush, beautiful, world, like, just out.
  • 00:13:56
    - Slowly over time the idea took shape,
  • 00:13:59
    and it took-- sort of had these really huge
  • 00:14:02
    clarifying moments when we actually brought someone in
  • 00:14:04
    to like, make the thing be real.
  • 00:14:06
    - The design of The Kid, actually, so he was--
  • 00:14:09
    I think he went through two redesigns, at least,
  • 00:14:13
    before I even showed up, and he then
  • 00:14:17
    received a retexture treatment and some redesigning
  • 00:14:23
    within the constraints of us not actually being able to change his animations.
  • 00:14:26
    So his original design had him looking a little older
  • 00:14:31
    and a little clunkier than I thought
  • 00:14:35
    was good for the story we were trying to tell
  • 00:14:37
    and for the character we were trying to portray.
  • 00:14:39
    So we ended up deleting a lot of, like,
  • 00:14:41
    some of his extra geometry, and some armor.
  • 00:14:45
    He used to have, like, this neck armor piece, I think,
  • 00:14:47
    that we just got rid of.
  • 00:14:49
    But basically, he got a little bit of plastic surgery.
  • 00:14:51
    And the same thing happened for his weapons, which
  • 00:14:55
    had actually already been modeled as well.
  • 00:14:57
    A lot of that stuff had actually come online
  • 00:15:00
    before I even showed up.
  • 00:15:01
    I just went through and kind of
  • 00:15:03
    fixed 'em up a bit so that they
  • 00:15:06
    matched the world that we were heading towards
  • 00:15:09
    a bit better.
  • 00:15:11
    - Jen was taking whatever she was given and trying
  • 00:15:13
    to make it work, whether it was the gameplay
  • 00:15:15
    constraints or some of the fictional constraints
  • 00:15:18
    that were being developed also, about what the world was like
  • 00:15:20
    and what the background conflict was,
  • 00:15:23
    stuff that Greg was contributing to
  • 00:15:25
    and making, and all this type of thing.
  • 00:15:26
    So some of the building and planning
  • 00:15:28
    and stuff receded, but what took its place was
  • 00:15:31
    all the narrative, voiceover, atmosphere, beautiful art,
  • 00:15:37
    and just all the stuff that was added
  • 00:15:39
    by the other people who joined the team.
  • 00:15:41
    And that ended up taking a more center stage.
  • 00:15:45
    And supporting that became a huge goal
  • 00:15:47
    over the course of making Bastion.
  • 00:15:49
    - Once I joined Supergiant and got, like, really
  • 00:15:52
    very directly involved in creating the story,
  • 00:15:56
    putting all the words into the game,
  • 00:15:58
    both the story part and, like, menu text.
  • 00:16:00
    All sorts of stuff like that,
  • 00:16:01
    as well as building levels for the first time.
  • 00:16:03
    It for sure was a learning process,
  • 00:16:05
    but I think, like, learning to learn is
  • 00:16:08
    probably, like the most essential skill as a game developer.
  • 00:16:12
    I was probably good enough as a generalist
  • 00:16:15
    to where I could add value to the team,
  • 00:16:18
    just do whatever random things needed doing.
  • 00:16:21
    Building levels was one of them,
  • 00:16:23
    because Bastion's just two or three people at the beginning.
  • 00:16:26
    So we just needed all the help we could get.
  • 00:16:28
    For me it was great, because I'd just get to
  • 00:16:30
    help out wherever we needed it.
  • 00:16:32
    Even if I'm not the best level designer in the world,
  • 00:16:35
    or something, hey, I can put one together.
  • 00:16:36
    Just show me how. I'll do it.
  • 00:16:38
    But what I did bring was, like,
  • 00:16:40
    working on the story and everything, collaborating
  • 00:16:42
    mostly with Amir. We're just on the same wavelength
  • 00:16:46
    about creating a game where the narrative was important
  • 00:16:50
    to the experience, and just having
  • 00:16:52
    seeing an opportunity around that.
  • 00:16:55
    You know, we're making an action RPG in Bastion,
  • 00:16:57
    and we're like, it's in some ways a well-worn genre,
  • 00:17:01
    but everyone is kind of mostly using
  • 00:17:04
    the template of Diablo.
  • 00:17:05
    And it's a template that we love an awful lot,
  • 00:17:07
    but there's so much room to make a game
  • 00:17:11
    in this genre a little bit differently.
  • 00:17:13
    If we just kind of tried to make a very traditional
  • 00:17:15
    action RPG, it would've been terrible,
  • 00:17:16
    'cause we weren't going to have multiple character classes.
  • 00:17:19
    We weren't going to have online multiplayer.
  • 00:17:21
    We weren't going to have 10 million weapons.
  • 00:17:23
    We weren't going to have 200 hours of gameplay.
  • 00:17:25
    So the narrative is the key to contextualizing
  • 00:17:30
    all of the specific design choices
  • 00:17:33
    and design limitations.
  • 00:17:35
    [MUSIC PLAYING]
  • 00:17:38
    So, I mean, I got to work on key moments of that game.
  • 00:17:42
    There's the level called Prosper Bluff,
  • 00:17:45
    where you meet the singer, Zia, for the first time,
  • 00:17:47
    where we knew we wanted to have this moment
  • 00:17:49
    where all the narration you've been hearing,
  • 00:17:51
    suddenly you'd break from it and hear this very beautiful song
  • 00:17:55
    in the distance, and get closer and closer to it.
  • 00:17:57
    And it was a synthesis of design and narrative,
  • 00:17:59
    the idea that you would just kind of try to
  • 00:18:01
    navigate your way closer to this distant song
  • 00:18:04
    until you finally found its source.
  • 00:18:06
    Literally the first level I worked on
  • 00:18:08
    for Bastion is a level called
  • 00:18:10
    The Hanging Gardens, where you first meet Zulf.
  • 00:18:13
    I'm someone who is very interested in how to
  • 00:18:17
    create atmosphere effectively in games,
  • 00:18:19
    and looking back on The Hanging Gardens,
  • 00:18:22
    I think we succeeded in making that level
  • 00:18:25
    quite atmospheric and very moody.
  • 00:18:26
    So I'm pleased with how that one came together.
  • 00:18:30
    And we did these, like little narrative tricks.
  • 00:18:33
    We have, like essentially, these ashen
  • 00:18:36
    statues of people who've been annihilated
  • 00:18:38
    in this calamity, and you touch them,
  • 00:18:40
    and they just turn to dust.
  • 00:18:42
    If you look closely, there's only
  • 00:18:44
    four or five different statues,
  • 00:18:46
    but they're kind of, like, scaled differently
  • 00:18:48
    flipped horizontally, and so on
  • 00:18:50
    to create the impression that it was like a big
  • 00:18:52
    group of people, that almost in
  • 00:18:54
    Pompeii style slice of life suddenly just destroyed like that.
  • 00:18:59
    And a little narrative trick we did was we just gave
  • 00:19:02
    'em all names as you, like ran into all of them
  • 00:19:04
    and, you know, blew them up.
  • 00:19:07
    RUCKS (VOICEOVER): The Thunder Brothers didn't make it
  • 00:19:09
    They never saw what it was like beyond the walls.
  • 00:19:13
    - With narration, it came about as a solution
  • 00:19:16
    that Amir decided to try at one point,
  • 00:19:19
    because the team was really struggling with
  • 00:19:21
    how to reconcile having an action RPG with
  • 00:19:24
    with strong narrative component. It's actually really cumbersome
  • 00:19:27
    to constantly be stopped by the narrative.
  • 00:19:30
    At the time that Amir asked me
  • 00:19:33
    to work on Bastion Logan and I were roommates
  • 00:19:36
    in Brooklyn, and when we were working on Bastion,
  • 00:19:40
    we were looking for a way to include
  • 00:19:43
    narrative in the game without interrupting the gameplay.
  • 00:19:47
    And we thought about narration as an option.
  • 00:19:51
    - The narration definitely wasn't there from the start.
  • 00:19:53
    It was not even sort of conceived of
  • 00:19:56
    as one of the original parts of the game,
  • 00:19:58
    which people are surprised to hear sometimes.
  • 00:20:01
    - And, hey, Logan's a talented actor,
  • 00:20:04
    and he lives, you know, ten feet from me.
  • 00:20:07
    Let's call him into my room
  • 00:20:09
    to record some VO and see what happens.
  • 00:20:11
    - So all I really knew is my friend Amir
  • 00:20:13
    was making a video game
  • 00:20:16
    and wanted to try something with
  • 00:20:18
    a voiceover narration
  • 00:20:20
    So now he needed an actor.
  • 00:20:22
    I'd never known anyone who was in game development.
  • 00:20:24
    So it was all just kind of like
  • 00:20:26
    a miracle to me, like what do you mean you made this?
  • 00:20:29
    How is that possible?
  • 00:20:31
    It sounds weird, but the way I always put it is
  • 00:20:33
    I never really decided to be an actor.
  • 00:20:35
    I seem to be one anyway.
  • 00:20:37
    Because I was just always doing weird voices,
  • 00:20:42
    and making stuff up when I was a kid.
  • 00:20:45
    So I would just be an actor as a favor to friends.
  • 00:20:47
    And that continued on after college.
  • 00:20:49
    And just one of those instances was Bastion.
  • 00:20:52
    I play the character named Rucks
  • 00:20:55
    in Bastion, who's the narrator.
  • 00:20:57
    when The Kid eventually arrives at the bastion,
  • 00:21:00
    at the end of that sort of first level,
  • 00:21:03
    that's where you meet him, and he's just been there
  • 00:21:05
    sort of, waiting for you.
  • 00:21:06
    No, yeah, he imparts to you this plan that he has
  • 00:21:11
    to restore the world, basically.
  • 00:21:14
    And that's your mission.
  • 00:21:16
    Logan certainly had a magicial effect
  • 00:21:20
    on Bastion. As soon as his voice was in the game,
  • 00:21:24
    suddenly the atmosphere, the world of the game,
  • 00:21:27
    started coming to life in a way that was just not happening
  • 00:21:31
    basically at all prior to that.
  • 00:21:33
    RUCKS (voiceover): The cauldron boiled over some
  • 00:21:35
    300 years ago. They say it filled the
  • 00:21:38
    skies with ash and the lakes with molten rock.
  • 00:21:41
    - So even when the game was lacking in
  • 00:21:44
    any kind of, like real art assets
  • 00:21:46
    or any kind of identity, suddenly this voice
  • 00:21:49
    was bringing it some amount of life.
  • 00:21:51
    We knew the sort of setting, or the tone of the game,
  • 00:21:56
    was already set in place, largely through Darren's score.
  • 00:21:59
    So we knew that he was going to have, like,
  • 00:22:02
    a bit of a southern flair. The sound was there early on.
  • 00:22:05
    But yeah, just trial and error.
  • 00:22:07
    because we'd just record some stuff, and then they
  • 00:22:10
    have to plug in into the game and play
  • 00:22:12
    with it a bunch and see if it works.
  • 00:22:14
    There's like three different inspirations behind the character,
  • 00:22:18
    and behind the voice specifically. And one of them
  • 00:22:20
    is Ian McShane in Deadwood,
  • 00:22:22
    which I had just discovered.
  • 00:22:24
    A friend of mine turned me onto the show.
  • 00:22:26
    The other two influences were Sam Elliott
  • 00:22:29
    as The Stranger in The Big Lebowski
  • 00:22:31
    and then Daniel Day Lewis' Bill the Butcher
  • 00:22:33
    in Gangs of New York.
  • 00:22:35
    - I think typically, someone in my position would be
  • 00:22:39
    heavily involved in the actual recording,
  • 00:22:41
    like working with the actor, you know, directly.
  • 00:22:44
    You know, here's the subtext
  • 00:22:46
    of this line, and all that sort of stuff.
  • 00:22:48
    But basically, since Darren and Logan
  • 00:22:50
    have know n each other most of their whole lives,
  • 00:22:54
    they have such a rapport that they just
  • 00:22:57
    really connect, and Logan's instincts
  • 00:23:01
    on my work have just basically always
  • 00:23:03
    been dead on, and it would just--
  • 00:23:05
    I would joke that I could
  • 00:23:07
    write that worst trash, and Logan can
  • 00:23:10
    make it sound incredible.
  • 00:23:12
    The hardest stuff, I think, on Bastion
  • 00:23:16
    was like us exceeding our own nature.
  • 00:23:21
    We worked a lot on Bastion.
  • 00:23:23
    And we were living in a house, and working in a house,
  • 00:23:26
    and Jen was commuting to a house,
  • 00:23:27
    and working out of a living room.
  • 00:23:29
    And Greg would commute, and sometimes stay
  • 00:23:31
    for a night or multiple nights,
  • 00:23:32
    and then go home and work.
  • 00:23:33
    And Andrew was flying from LA and working
  • 00:23:36
    in his Call of Duty pajamas,
  • 00:23:38
    in a server room in a closet
  • 00:23:40
    just trying to get the game to 60 frames per second
  • 00:23:42
    like, on an Xbox.
  • 00:23:44
    - The majority of the time, I actually ended up
  • 00:23:46
    getting it working on the Xbox.
  • 00:23:49
    And so that was cool, because I think
  • 00:23:52
    when I was working on the AAA games and stuff,
  • 00:23:54
    a whole bunch of smart people had already
  • 00:23:57
    gotten the game optimized and working really well
  • 00:23:59
    on the different pieces of hardware that we shipped on.
  • 00:24:01
    And so this is my first real experience
  • 00:24:03
    getting in there and getting to know
  • 00:24:05
    a console really well.
  • 00:24:07
    And so we spent a lot time,
  • 00:24:09
    or I spent a lot of time optimizing and trying to
  • 00:24:12
    get Bastion, which was running beautifully on a PC,
  • 00:24:15
    and then the first time we tried to run it on
  • 00:24:17
    the Xbox 360, the load time was
  • 00:24:20
    20 minutes or something to just get into the game
  • 00:24:23
    and then it was crawling around at--
  • 00:24:26
    yeah, it was crawling around at like five frames a second
  • 00:24:29
    with these massive hitches, and we were just like,
  • 00:24:31
    oh, what is going on here?
  • 00:24:33
    And so that was really fun and interesting
  • 00:24:35
    challenge to sort of dive into.
  • 00:24:37
    It was just a completely different set of techniques.
  • 00:24:39
    for getting it to run quickly.
  • 00:24:41
    And I guess luckily, what runs well on 360
  • 00:24:44
    will run well on the PC because it's so much more powerful.
  • 00:24:46
    So then kind of going in that direction
  • 00:24:49
    and really optimizing specifically for that hardware
  • 00:24:55
    was really the task there.
  • 00:24:57
    One of the reasons for all the hitches and that sort of thing
  • 00:25:00
    on a PC or something, we got away with
  • 00:25:03
    just sort of like, oh when you need an enemy
  • 00:25:05
    we can just allocate and spawn it
  • 00:25:07
    and all that stuff, and do a bunch of
  • 00:25:09
    pretty expensive things that will be
  • 00:25:12
    invisible to the user on a PC,
  • 00:25:14
    but on the 360 or something like that,
  • 00:25:16
    it would show up. And so we kind of had to
  • 00:25:18
    say, OK, we can't have infinite units.
  • 00:25:21
    We have to say up front we're going to have
  • 00:25:23
    100 enemies, and we can
  • 00:25:26
    pre-allocate them, hidden during the load time
  • 00:25:29
    or the black screen or something.
  • 00:25:31
    And then when they're ready to go,
  • 00:25:32
    we just grab one and pop it in there.
  • 00:25:34
    And so it's a lot of reorganization of the data
  • 00:25:37
    and tailoring it to the things that
  • 00:25:39
    the Xbox was good at. And on the flip side,
  • 00:25:41
    the Xbox 360 had a really pretty good graphics card.
  • 00:25:44
    And so we could take advantage of some of that.
  • 00:25:46
    That worked pretty well. Yeah, and we were able
  • 00:25:48
    to get it up to 60.
  • 00:25:50
    [SIGH] it was just-- We just did
  • 00:25:53
    so much work that I think we
  • 00:25:57
    like, physically, a lot.
  • 00:25:59
    And, you know, there wasn't any individual
  • 00:26:02
    who was like, we all must do this!
  • 00:26:03
    We just kind of did it and fed off each other's energy.
  • 00:26:05
    And we did it, and worked like we would
  • 00:26:07
    never be able to make another game again.
  • 00:26:09
    Because I think at some level,
  • 00:26:11
    we thought it's possible that we would not be able to make
  • 00:26:13
    another game again under these circumstances.
  • 00:26:15
    Certainly not in the living room of my dad's house.
  • 00:26:18
    We put a lot of stuff into that game,
  • 00:26:21
    and we put a lot of ourselves into that game,
  • 00:26:23
    and we put a lot of time into that game.
  • 00:26:25
    We tried to get a lot of the details right
  • 00:26:27
    the first time, and we definitely pushed ourselves,
  • 00:26:30
    like, to the extreme limit.
  • 00:26:32
    - We had a game, and we built it.
  • 00:26:35
    And we were kind of having fun with it.
  • 00:26:37
    But we didn't really know if the game was
  • 00:26:39
    any good at all, or if anyone would be
  • 00:26:40
    interested in it or anything.
  • 00:26:42
    And so figuring out how to get other people
  • 00:26:45
    to play it, which we ended up being able to do
  • 00:26:47
    at PAX. And initially, just kind of, like,
  • 00:26:51
    things started snowballing from there, and we contibued to
  • 00:26:54
    figure everything out as we went along.
  • 00:26:58
    In ye old times, if you wanted to be on Xbox Live Arcade,
  • 00:27:00
    you had to have a publisher, and what the meant was
  • 00:27:03
    finding a publishing partner. When we showed the game at PAX
  • 00:27:06
    the first time, part of what we were hoping for was
  • 00:27:08
    we would find someone who would help us get the game
  • 00:27:10
    on Xbox Live Arcade, because we knew we
  • 00:27:12
    couldn't do that ourselves.
  • 00:27:13
    Mike Leon from Warner Brothers, he played it.
  • 00:27:15
    And he took me aside
  • 00:27:20
    after playing it. And he played with no expression.
  • 00:27:23
    And he just said, "you have no idea how much
  • 00:27:26
    shit I play, and how little of it I like."
  • 00:27:28
    Which was, like, it was an amazing compliment
  • 00:27:31
    to me, because I don't know how much shit he had played.
  • 00:27:34
    And I didn't really know where his bar was.
  • 00:27:37
    But it sounded like he was saying, I really like your game.
  • 00:27:39
    And he was saying that.
  • 00:27:40
    And we had an amazing partnership with Warner.
  • 00:27:42
    We self-funded and developed the game.
  • 00:27:45
    Warner helps us do a lot of stuff we couldn't do,
  • 00:27:47
    like publish on Xbox Live Arcade,
  • 00:27:49
    bring the game to PAX, help support it with
  • 00:27:52
    build awareness and marketing at E3 and stuff like that.
  • 00:27:55
    The industry kind of evolved
  • 00:27:57
    to have more self-publishing options on
  • 00:27:59
    every place under the sun.
  • 00:28:01
    So we opted to self-publish our games
  • 00:28:04
    moving forward from Transistor, but at the time,
  • 00:28:07
    we needed a partner, and Warner was that partner.
  • 00:28:09
    And they really, really supported the game through and through.
  • 00:28:13
    After Bastion shipped, we had worked so much
  • 00:28:16
    that I actually remember my first feeling
  • 00:28:18
    after we uploaded the game was like,
  • 00:28:20
    oh my god, I can't work on this anymore.
  • 00:28:22
    Like, I actually felt really sad
  • 00:28:26
    because I had spent so much time on it,
  • 00:28:29
    and so much of my life was wrapped up
  • 00:28:32
    in just the labor of making that game.
  • 00:28:34
    I almost didn't even think about the fact
  • 00:28:36
    that someday, it would be, like, released.
  • 00:28:38
    That when that happened, it was a profoundly
  • 00:28:43
    sad time. It was also a time where I had to reckon with
  • 00:28:46
    some of the trade-offs I had made in my life
  • 00:28:48
    by working so much. I remember
  • 00:28:50
    talking to Darren about this,
  • 00:28:52
    and he said, "I wish you could
  • 00:28:54
    feel how good it is that we finished this game.
  • 00:28:57
    Because, like, it's objectively awesome."
  • 00:28:59
    I think about that a lot, because it didn't
  • 00:29:02
    feel like it was awesome when it was done.
  • 00:29:05
    And there was a long gap.
  • 00:29:06
    We started in May, came out as
  • 00:29:08
    the first game of Summer Arcade in Xbox Live Arcade
  • 00:29:10
    on July 20, 2011. And it did...
  • 00:29:16
    fine. It did OK.
  • 00:29:18
    I think we sort of thought, oh, wow,
  • 00:29:20
    OK, this did OK.
  • 00:29:22
    Like the sales were OK,
  • 00:29:23
    But then what really started to happen is
  • 00:29:25
    Bastion really grew over time.
  • 00:29:28
    So that summer was a little bit like,
  • 00:29:30
    OK, we did well enough that we're going to be able
  • 00:29:35
    to leave my Dad's house, and move to
  • 00:29:38
    San Francisco and start a studio.
  • 00:29:40
    We didn't realize what we had on our hand
  • 00:29:42
    until the winter.
  • 00:29:43
    In the winter of that year,
  • 00:29:45
    The game continued to sell.
  • 00:29:47
    It had come out on Steam shortly after
  • 00:29:49
    Summer Arcade Launch, and it built and build and built
  • 00:29:51
    and grew and grew and grew, and we started
  • 00:29:53
    getting nominated for all of these awards.
  • 00:29:55
    And we started going to award shows,
  • 00:29:57
    started collecting awards, and we realized
  • 00:30:00
    people really like this game.
  • 00:30:02
    And it's actually a verifiable hit.
  • 00:30:04
    It's just a hit that kind of grew over time.
  • 00:30:06
    - You know, I'd done stuff that
  • 00:30:10
    I thought was cool before that point,
  • 00:30:12
    that nobody, you know, that no one--
  • 00:30:13
    That didn't make any sort of impact on anybody else.
  • 00:30:16
    So I felt similarly about Bastion.
  • 00:30:19
    I thought, this is-- oh, I like this.
  • 00:30:21
    This is cool. You know?
  • 00:30:23
    But I'd also felt that way about a bunch of other stuff.
  • 00:30:26
    So when it did, in fact, hit,
  • 00:30:28
    and it was so well received
  • 00:30:30
    It won awards and stuff like that.
  • 00:30:32
    People talked about it. It was really crazy for me,
  • 00:30:35
    and I still dont, I am still sort of
  • 00:30:41
    surprised, and shocked, and flattered,
  • 00:30:43
    whenever it happens with any of the music
  • 00:30:45
    that I made since.
  • 00:30:46
    - Bastion is probablly the most
  • 00:30:48
    most fulfilling thing that I have had a chace to work on,
  • 00:30:54
    with all due respect to our subsequent games
  • 00:30:57
    that were also very important to me.
  • 00:30:59
    It's just since Bastion was my first,
  • 00:31:01
    it has a special place in my heart
  • 00:31:03
    for that reason. As a team,
  • 00:31:05
    we've always really valued our games
  • 00:31:08
    having a sense of completeness to them
  • 00:31:10
    where all the pieces feel like they fit.
  • 00:31:14
    All the details feel like they make sense.
  • 00:31:17
    So it's just like, hey if we're going to
  • 00:31:19
    put something into this game,
  • 00:31:21
    let's make sure that it's connected
  • 00:31:24
    to everything and feels like a thoughtful
  • 00:31:26
    inclusion that makes sense
  • 00:31:28
    based on everything else that we're doing.
  • 00:31:30
    So much of a game's atmosphere and world-building
  • 00:31:34
    happens from the small stuff.
  • 00:31:36
    It doesn't happen in the lavish cut scene.
  • 00:31:38
    It happens in the little details.
  • 00:31:40
    The other aspect of Bastion
  • 00:31:42
    that was really, really important to me
  • 00:31:44
    and I'm very glad panned out
  • 00:31:46
    was at the very end, and the scene
  • 00:31:49
    where you find Zulf, having been
  • 00:31:52
    left for dead by his own
  • 00:31:55
    people after the disastrous interactions
  • 00:31:57
    he'd had with them. And you have a choice
  • 00:31:59
    to take him with you or to leave him there for dead.
  • 00:32:03
    Zulf has become, arguably, your enemy
  • 00:32:06
    at this point in the story.
  • 00:32:08
    Whether he deserves your forgiveness is for the player
  • 00:32:12
    to decide, quite literally, in that moment.
  • 00:32:15
    And the subsequent scene where you carry him
  • 00:32:17
    out of the dangerous environment under like a hail
  • 00:32:21
    of basically crossbow bolts, as his people are trying to kill you.
  • 00:32:24
    But slowly they stop after seeing what you're doing.
  • 00:32:29
    I think it was literally the last
  • 00:32:31
    part of the game I worked on.
  • 00:32:33
    We were under the gun, like about to
  • 00:32:35
    just running out of time. Amir was working on it before me.
  • 00:32:39
    I'm like, please, like let me take a shot at this.
  • 00:32:42
    This is like a key part of the story.
  • 00:32:44
    At the time it was like, dude no one's going to--
  • 00:32:46
    Why are you spending all this time on this?
  • 00:32:48
    No one's going to notice that after they cease fire,
  • 00:32:50
    one of the guys opens fire again,
  • 00:32:52
    only to be cut down by his commanding officer
  • 00:32:55
    for disobeying orders and stuff like that.
  • 00:32:56
    But I notice when I play games
  • 00:32:58
    when they do small stuff that shouldn't be noticed.
  • 00:33:01
    I knew other players would, too.
  • 00:33:03
    And that was one of those sequences where
  • 00:33:05
    once the game got out into the wild,
  • 00:33:07
    It seemed to impact players quite a bit,
  • 00:33:11
    despite like the crude tools at our disposal, right?
  • 00:33:14
    We didn't have cut scenes.
  • 00:33:15
    These character had, like, very little in the way of animation.
  • 00:33:18
    We just had to frame the scene a certain way,
  • 00:33:20
    and script it a certain way, and then let the
  • 00:33:22
    narration literally kind of do the talking
  • 00:33:25
    fill in the blanks. So these characters that we
  • 00:33:28
    create together, they do take on a life
  • 00:33:30
    of their own, and it becomes about
  • 00:33:32
    What would the character say? What would the character do?
  • 00:33:34
    And we're just kind of the--
  • 00:33:36
    It almost feels archaeological to me.
  • 00:33:38
    It's like I'm just transcribing an interview
  • 00:33:42
    or something like that. Like this is just
  • 00:33:44
    how this character would act in this situation.
  • 00:33:46
    And this is what they would say.
  • 00:33:48
    Some of what I'm saying suggests that we do
  • 00:33:50
    everything, like, super deliberately.
  • 00:33:52
    The truth is, we also just
  • 00:33:54
    jam a bunch of stuff into the build.
  • 00:33:58
    In the early going of a project,
  • 00:33:59
    sometimes at random. Everybody is just
  • 00:34:01
    doing their own thing throw it all in,
  • 00:34:04
    and we'll see what sticks.
  • 00:34:06
    - It was definitely scary and fun.
  • 00:34:08
    [LAUGHING] In combination.
  • 00:34:11
    I think I enjoy, generally, I would say,
  • 00:34:16
    a sort sink or swim, kind of high pressure scenario.
  • 00:34:21
    That seems to work for me and force me to
  • 00:34:25
    you know, really get down to business
  • 00:34:28
    do my best work, I think in some of those scenarios.
  • 00:34:32
    I think as a whole, I'm really proud
  • 00:34:36
    that it exists. I'm really proud that Bastion
  • 00:34:41
    happened and that it was well received enough
  • 00:34:45
    by people that we could keep making games
  • 00:34:47
    and are still doing it.
  • 00:34:49
    GREG: The most important thing about Bastion, I think,
  • 00:34:51
    is that it was designed, above all, to be complete.
  • 00:34:55
    For all the pieces to fit together.
  • 00:34:57
    And looking back on it, I think we did that quite well.
  • 00:35:00
    I think the focus on that aspect was really worth it
  • 00:35:03
    and resulted in this game that just kind of
  • 00:35:06
    worked on people on a lot of different levels.
  • 00:35:09
    The music, the art, the tone,
  • 00:35:12
    and of course the gameplay itself.
  • 00:35:14
    - The thing I'm most proud of about Bastion
  • 00:35:16
    is everybody else's incredible work on that game.
  • 00:35:19
    I'd see the quality of Jen's art coming in,
  • 00:35:23
    and I would read Greg's writing,
  • 00:35:25
    hear Logan's acting, and see the design
  • 00:35:27
    coming together and all that stuff.
  • 00:35:29
    And I'd be like, oh, dang I better do a good job.
  • 00:35:31
    [LAUGHING] You know, like, holy crap.
  • 00:35:33
    This is good. So you know.
  • 00:35:35
    I think sort of just the general level of
  • 00:35:39
    quality of humans that I was involved
  • 00:35:42
    with-- Am involved in working with--
  • 00:35:44
    really forced me to do my best
  • 00:35:48
    possible effort that I could.
  • 00:35:51
    GREG: That was like, the kind of game
  • 00:35:54
    we dreamed of making, and one day we
  • 00:35:56
    looked back, and it's like, oh, oh dang.
  • 00:35:58
    I guess we kind of made one of those after all,
  • 00:36:01
    and people liked it. So that was, yeah
  • 00:36:04
    obviously very reassuring in addition to allowing us
  • 00:36:08
    to stay in business and proceed
  • 00:36:10
    to make more games together.
  • 00:36:12
    AMIR: My favorite parts of Bastion
  • 00:36:14
    are the parts that everyone else worked on.
  • 00:36:16
    [LAUGHING] so I love listening to the voiceover and the music,
  • 00:36:21
    and the world of Bastion that Greg wrote
  • 00:36:23
    And Greg also designed half the levels.
  • 00:36:26
    I, like, much more enjoy playing his levels
  • 00:36:28
    than the levels I worked on.
  • 00:36:30
    You know, just knowing what Gavin and Andrew
  • 00:36:33
    were able to build in terms of an engine,
  • 00:36:35
    the technology that's the basis for everyhing we do today
  • 00:36:37
    over the course of such a short period of time.
  • 00:36:40
    Yeah, Jen's art, obviously. the people who
  • 00:36:43
    chipped in a little bit of help here and there along the way.
  • 00:36:46
    I think about the relationships on that game,
  • 00:36:48
    and I feel really good because I still got 'em.
  • 00:36:51
    Still working with these people.
  • 00:36:53
    So it's a really, really, really, really nice thing
  • 00:36:55
    about Bastion, because I think about the people who made it.
  • 00:36:58
    And I think about their work, and I feel really
  • 00:37:04
    good that we're still working together.
  • 00:37:08
    [MUSIC - DARREN KORB, "BUILD THAT WALL (ZIA'S THEME)"]
  • 00:37:32
    ZIA (SINGING): I dig my hole,
  • 00:37:34
    you build a wall.
  • 00:37:41
    I dig my hole, you build a wall.
  • 00:37:50
    One day that wall is gonna fall.
  • 00:37:57
    Gon' build that city on a hill.
  • 00:38:05
    Gon' build that city on a hill.
  • 00:38:14
    Someday those tears are gonna spill.
  • 00:38:22
    So build that wall, and build it strong.
  • 00:38:30
    'Cause we'll be there before too long.
  • 00:38:41
    Gon' build that wall up to the sky.
  • 00:38:50
    Gon' build that wall up to the sky.
  • 00:38:59
    Someday your bird is gonna fly.
Tag
  • Supergiant Games
  • Bastion
  • Indie Game Development
  • Video Game Design
  • Team Collaboration
  • Game Music
  • Narrative Design
  • Artistic Direction
  • Technical Challenges
  • Publishing