To learn more about the game and its development, Gamingbolt reached out to Nilo Studios with some questions and Eric Saab, Niles Sanky, and Adam Burd from the studio provided the following answers.

"After spending many years doing the AAA thing it felt like it was time to break free and see what we could do on our own"

How was Nilo Studios formed and what motivated its developers to break away from studios like Bungie and Visceral Games?

In our experience the size of AAA studios make taking creative risks very difficult. It’s hard enough to communicate creative ideas to a small group of people full of their own ideas, let alone hundreds who are being asked to execute on it. After spending many years doing the AAA thing it felt like it was time to break free and see what we could do on our own. All in all, the industry almost needs it to grow creatively.

The influence of Black Mirror and Twilight Zone is readily apparent but what themes did you most identify with when developing Asemblance?

For one we definitely wanted to explore the dangers of technology and the edges of experimental sciences. But we also were drawn to the nature of truth, especially in this era where subjective interpretations and manipulation of facts or ideologies is driving our mass communication. We are very inspired by what seems to be a push away from the objective pursuit of knowledge in favor of  the subjective pursuit of the individual.

What motivated the implementation of ARG elements? How was the reception to these from players and how did you feel it affected the overall pacing?

We focus so much on a rich world full of characters and ideas, but we have very limited storytelling channels to give them life. The ARG elements fulfils two purposes, the extension of the fiction of the Asemblance universe and a way to communicate and bring our fans together in ways that doesn’t feel so self-involved. We also like to play in our world as much as our fans, so it gives us an outlet to do that as well.

I especially like how the game’s overall story can rely on the player’s interpretation of various truths, not unlike Memento. Did you always seek to make this commentary or did it naturally emerge over time?

For the pilot, it definitely evolved out of storytelling philosophies we were creatively drawn to, but did became a goal not too far into the development. Now, starting with Asemblance: Oversight, we hold it as one of the identifiable characteristics of an Asemblance release. But we also aimed to improve in ways more casual players could relate to, mostly by delivering a more identifiable plot, conflict and resolution than the pilot did before it.

Can you tell us more about the aesthetic and atmosphere? What was the process by which it all came together?

We are very much inspired by the aesthetic and atmospheres of David Lynch, so we use a variety of tools that evolve from our admiration of his works. Everything begins with a premise, in Asemblance: Oversight, we knew we wanted to explore the technological origins that created the memory machine, but we were also inspired by the tone of the Netflix show Bloodline. So we created a tone piece that started with those aesthetics and then just asked ourselves what environments and tones would support a story that fed into that “feeling” of a somewhat “doomed” fate. It definitely evolves over time, but always starts with a very simple tonal approach that becomes the anchor for the entire experience.

"For now with Asemblance: Oversight out in the wild, we could all use a break, watch and learn from the player base and ask ourselves what’s next then."

Even with the intriguing elements, many players felt the ending (of the Pilot) requires a lot of effort for what’s ultimately a non-resolution. What is your response to those criticisms?

Well, we learned a lot from the pilot and hopefully we improved in areas that lead to frustration, but we very much believe it is a more fun experience for players to work together, use their imaginations and discuss their theories than it is to be direct and definitive. At least sometimes.

In hindsight, is there anything you wish had been done differently?

Always. Too many things to explain. Every release is a massive learning experience on how to improve.

If not the next episode of Asemblance, then what are you currently working on? Could you give us a bit of a tease for the future?

For now with Asemblance: Oversight out in the wild, we could all use a break, watch and learn from the player base and ask ourselves what’s next then. We already have a premise for the next episode, we just need to step back and be inspired by the players digging through Oversight now.

Is there anything more you’d like to tell our readers about the game?

Just to grab some friends and dig into together. This time around there is more than the just the achievements to find! An active community is already tearing through everything on Discord. Join them!

GamingBolt spoke to the developer, primarily creative lead and experience designer Niles Sankey, sound designer and AI voice Adam Burd and writer/narrative designer Eric Raab about Asemblance and what makes it so special.

"We definitely could’ve done a better job of giving players more closure with the casual ending."

Asemblance is a weird game. It’s the sort of game that you can run through and “finish” in 20 minutes. Why did you develop such a game?

Ha! I’ll take “weird” as a compliment. We wanted to develop a different kind of narrative gaming experience and “weird” is definitely in the ballpark of reactions we were aiming for. We were growing tired of games with an explicit and linear 6-8 hour campaign and want to make the kind of game you can play through and “finish” in no more than an hour, but also offer non-linear ways of pushing players to explore the game for more. So, the deeper you go, the harder and more implicit the ideas get, to the point where we hoped players would engage with each other, testing theories in hope of ultimately “beating” the game.

Asemblance received mixed reactions from the press but with many claiming it was an excellent experience overall. Why do you think it’s not well known amongst the circles of hardcore gamers?

Yeah, it’s definitely been a bit polarizing. A lot of people didn’t get what we were doing or were frustrated and called it confusing. We definitely could’ve done a better job of giving players more closure with the casual ending. Most players want to be told a story that wraps itself up and draws from an easily relatable emotional experience, but we were specifically trying to challenge that approach. We wanted players to keep asking questions and go back into the game in search of answers.

We didn’t want to play God and just come out and tell you all the who’s and whys. We wanted the players to interpret the world around them and answers their questions for themselves, and ultimately to engage with others to find the conclusions they were drawing and the paths they were taking. We wanted to leave you with big questions that made you think about all you experienced after it was all over. It’s not exactly what most players look for in game or one that can be communicated easily or sold to more casual players.

"We’re a very small team of three; a designer, a sound designer, and a writer, and our goal was to challenge ourselves to utilize the least amount of content possible to pull the player through the desired experience."

Asemblance is often reported as something that makes the line thin between games and art. What is your take on the same?

The concept of games as art was definitely something we were conscious of when developing Asemblance. The argument of “Are Games Art?” often lacks the basic understanding that art is content that draws interpretation from its consumer. Asemblance is built around certain philosophical and psychological concepts that ask big questions, like the nature of identity, the reliability of your own mind, and the dangers of merging technology and biology. But it doesn’t beat those concepts over your head, it gives you a basic objective, “Escape the Machine” and to do so you have to start asking questions like “who am I?” and “why did I enter the machine?” and “how does this machine work?”

And all those answers depend on how you interpret the world around you. But what really matters more than any of that is giving players experiences that make that journey to answer those questions fun. And that will be something we will continue to improve upon in future Asemblance episodes, while at the same time challenging the kinds of experiences first person adventure games can hold.

What was inspiration behind the game not having too many places to explore? It was one of the things that many people were critical about.

We’re a very small team of three; a designer, a sound designer, and a writer, and our goal was to challenge ourselves to utilize the least amount of content possible to pull the player through the desired experience. Everything about Asemblance was an experiment. We didn’t know if anyone would play it, if we could even achieve what we set out to do, or if we could pull it all together. We gave ourselves a window to make a shippable product, and if it weren’t for that limitation we could still be in development. We will continue to experiment with this concept of limited scope and we’ll definitely push ourselves to offer more explorable content as we move forward.

"The hardest part is getting the game noticed by a big enough audience to get more people working together and racing against each other as soon as the game is released."

It took the game’s community across Steam, Twitch, and Reddit to crack the ending. Were you inspired by the likes of PT where the community would need to get together and unlock the real ending?

PT was an inspiration for sure. In a lot of ways, PT was the fuel that gave birth to Nilo and Asemblance. Having been involved in big AAA games like Halo and Destiny, PT offered this amazing use of limited content and a wholly consuming experience. Watching the communities form to find the ending was like an awakening. It showed how games have the unique aspect of engaging intense, cooperative and competing communities, and you didn’t need millions of dollars to do it. So yeah, that was definitely an influence, along with unique narrative games like The Stanley Parable and the real life “Puzzle Room” experiences. The hardest part is getting the game noticed by a big enough audience to get more people working together and racing against each other as soon as the game is released.

Do you have any plans to bring it on the Xbox One?

We definitely want to expand to all available platforms, but we are a small team and need to grow a bit before we can make the jump to other platforms. It is definitely high on our list of ways to grow.

Are you working on any new projects?

Asemblance is the pilot in an anthology series, like Twilight Zone and Black Mirror, and we are working now on the second episode, which we are aiming to ship in 2017. There are few teases of it in episode one, you just have to find them.