What inspired the setting for IKUMA?

The main inspiration is the famed Franklin expedition of 1845. I stumbled upon reports of it after their long missing ships were found in 2014 and 2016 and was immediately fascinated by their haunting and mysterious story and since then had this idea of a game in that setting in the back of my head.

Aside from gameplay, how will the bond between Sam and Ellie play into the game’s story?

Sam’s story is very much about him coming to terms with who he is and finding his own worth after a life on the streets of London. Ellie helps him realize that he is important, that others rely on him and that maybe he is not destined to live alone forever. She is the first character that Sam really believes loves him unconditionally and that forming bond is what keeps Sam going.

"The main inspiration is the famed Franklin expedition of 1845."

When it comes to game structure, what can we expect from IKUMA? Will it be more level-based or should we expect more puzzle solving like classic Zelda games?

The main part of the game will be open world gameplay with environmental puzzles and challenges. These puzzles won’t be classic trigger puzzles or fighting bosses, though, and instead be more driven by the story and the mystery of what happened on this island and require Sam to overcome obstacles, gather enough resources for a perilous path, or read the environment correctly to find a hidden treasure.

In terms of other media (books, movies, etc.) what were the biggest inspirations for IKUMA: The Frozen Compass

Apart from documentaries and books about Arctic expeditions or Inuit mythology, I don’t really have many direct inspirations like special authors or movie series’, I would say, at least non that actively come to mind. The story developed over a long time and there are a lot of inspirations for certain aspects or character traits, for example the Young Royals Netflix series or the Tarot Sequence fantasy novels, which I just happened to watch or read while writing the story and some elements just naturally wound their way in there. It’s always just very small things, though, I wouldn’t really say the story is inspired by any specific piece of media.

While the idea of switching between Sam and Ellie during exploration is great, how will playing in co-op affect the challenges that players might face? Will it be easier to do co-op than it is to play single-player?

Playing in co-op can certainly speed things up a bit in certain situations where otherwise you would have had to switch back and forth between Sam and Ellie. Sometimes it might also be easier, but in general Ikuma is not designed to be a difficult game, really. We will have different difficulty levels for those of us who enjoy a challenge and some harsher survival mechanics, but the default game experience will be more about exploration and the narrative, making it work just as well in co-op and single-player.

Since the game’s setting will primarily be the Arctic, how will you avoid the general environments getting too stale over time?

That is a problem that we’ve been facing since the very beginning. Obviously the environment of the Arctic is not known for its diversity and vibrant colors. One element we use to add a little variety to the scenery is the memory sequences. Sam will find certain objects or places that remind him of his old life in London and of the journey to the Arctic. These reminders unlock playable memory sequences in which we dive deeper into Sam’s character and what brought him out here. Another element is the old curse that lingers on the island. Sam is following the footsteps of an older, lost expedition – much like the real-life Franklin expedition – and that trail will lead him into the shadows hidden beneath the ice.

"Sometimes it might also be easier, but in general Ikuma is not designed to be a difficult game, really."

How much of an emphasis will there be on the survival aspects (food, water) of the gameplay?

It’s an ever-present mechanic and there will be situations where you have to prepare and bring food to survive a journey, but mostly – if you pay attention – you will likely find some kind of resource nearby. It’s more or a motivation to explore and a reminder that this environment is no walk in the park than a mechanic to really make it hard to survive – unless you choose to make it that, of course.

How long would it take for an average player to finish IKUMA?

That’s always hard to tell if the game isn’t really done yet, since the only people that have played everything – including the still very rough areas – are us, who know it inside out. I’m expecting an average playtime of around 6-7 hours, if you mostly focus on the main storyline. That will get clearer the closer we come to release and the more playtesters we’ve had.

Considering the heavy narrative focus, will there be much of an incentive for replays?

There will be different difficulty settings, as I mentioned, so maybe you feel that you need to finish the game in survivalist mode to really say you finished the game, or there are memory sequences and the like that you missed the first time. But in general the main motivation, as you said, is the narrative, so I don’t expect too many players to play it over and over again.

As a developer, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? How does boost in GPU help in developing your game compared to the base PS5?

It’s always nice to have a little more leeway and be able to push some numbers a little higher for cooler effects, of course! We mostly create an effect, design an area, or set up a visual with just the look and feel in mind first and then try to make it feasible for the target hardware. So being able to at least keep some of the fancier elements for a certain console is always great!

"I’m expecting an average playtime of around 6-7 hours, if you mostly focus on the main storyline."

What are your thoughts on PSSR? What kind of opportunities will this open for the game?

We haven’t really played around with that yet, to be honest. At the end of the day we’ll have to see if it looks better with PSSR and a lower native resolution or with a higher native resolution and reduced effects and lighting quality. Ideally, we’ll just add both modes so players can decide what the prefer. In general, it would of course be great to be able to render the game at a lower resolution and still have it look more or less the same as the higher resolution, but at the end of the day it’s always a compromise between resolution and something else and probably will have to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

What resolution and frame rates will the game target on the Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PS5 Pro?

We’re still some time away from most of the optimization work, so it’s hard to tell, but ideally we’d offer performance and quality modes with 1440p/60fps or 4k/30fps (potentially with an additional mode for upscaled PSSR).

Do you have any plans to launch the game on the Switch 2?

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get our hands on a dev kit yet – a special console version needed for development – so we couldn’t test anything yet. But we are certainly eager to and hope to be able to bring Ikuma to Switch 2 as well!

"The idea of playing an animal character was one of the first things we agreed on. When we first started pitching ideas to each other, we felt that it was significantly easier for us to think of cool concepts with non-human characters."

The concept of being able to transform into different animals and exploring the world from their perspective sounds quite interesting. How did the idea come to you?

The idea of playing an animal character was one of the first things we agreed on. When we first started pitching ideas to each other, we felt that it was significantly easier for us to think of cool concepts with non-human characters. The only thing that we never could agree on was which animal to play. Coincidentally, one of us was playing Driver: San Francisco at the time. Now, when you first see Lost Ember, you don’t necessarily think of a Driver game immediately. But the interesting thing about that one was that you could switch into other driver’s cars and control them. So we built a prototype in a couple of hours with four different animals in it and the ability to switch between them and we immediately fell in love with the idea, the different play styles and perspectives you got from that. So the following months we started to think about the world and a general setting that would be most interesting to explore from these different perspectives and which animals might be interesting for that and here we are.

How does that translate into gameplay though? How does it impact exploration and other elements?

It makes for very varied gameplay and a lot of freedom for the player in choosing how they decide to play. Some animals are good for getting an overview of certain areas, while overlooking smaller details, some are very good for finding small, hidden secrets that are scattered throughout the world. It also requires you to pay attention to your surroundings. Certain things might go overlooked if you don’t see the parrots sitting in the trees above you that allow you to fly to areas you didn’t even see as a wolf, for example.

And how is it explained from a narrative perspective?  Given that the game seems to be a narrative-focused title, that’s something that many people might wonder.

How to explain without spoiling too much… This is obviously one of the first questions you might have, but one of the last ones we answer in the game. Let’s just say it is closely related to your relationship with your spirit companion that you meet at the beginning of the game and there is a reason why he has this specific gift for you.

How much do the animals differ from each other in terms of what players can do while playing as them?

You can explore underground as a pink fairy armadillo, underwater as a fish, roam the lands as several animals from wombat to wolf to buffalo or see the world from above as one of several birds. On top of that each kind of animal is going to have its own interactions to try out, little things like eating berries, shoving your fellow wombats or collapse bigger obstacles.

"It’s a story of a whole civilization, as well as a personal story."

How much of an impact do you think Kickstarter funding has on the entire process of the development of a game?

A lot. In so many ways. Seeing the interest in our project was very motivating and it made us want to make something that would be worth the wait for everyone who gave us their trust. Our campaign also gave us the most kind, patient and all-around lovely community. We could not be more thankful for them. But of course it also increases the pressure. We have all these people waiting for a game they have high hopes for and we of course don’t want to disappoint. But I think sometimes a bit of pressure is needed to just stay focused and motivated, so it’s a good kind of pressure, if that makes sense.

Can you tell us anything about Lost Ember’s story besides what we already know? Given its intriguing concept and setting, there’s a lot of curiosity about what kinds of a story and world the game will have.

It’s a story of a whole civilization, as well as a personal story. While the civilization is not around anymore when the player explores the lands, some personal memories still are. Those are the puzzle pieces we hand the player to piece together what happened way back when humans were still ruling the land.

In the absence of much combat or puzzles, how are you making sure that the game remains engaging and keeps players interested?

One aspect is obviously just piecing the story together, as a lot is up to the player to find and interpret. And if you’re not that much into story, you can use Lost Ember as a playground, trying out all the things you can do and the places you can go with all the different kinds of animals. There are lots of hidden things and areas to reward the explorers and cute little interactions for those who are most interested in just playing around with the animals.

Roughly how long will Lost Ember be?

That will very much depend on how you play and how much time you spend exploring and fooling around. On an average, straight forward playthrough, it’s gonna be around 5 hours. But if you’re trying to see everything there is, this can easily be double.

Do you have any plans to launch on Switch?

We do. But all we can say at this point is we want to see Lost Ember run on a Switch. That would make us very happy and quite a lot of people have been asking about it. We’ll do our best to make it happen, but haven’t yet had time to really look into how much extra work that entails. 

"One aspect is obviously just piecing the story together, as a lot is up to the player to find and interpret. And if you’re not that much into story, you can use Lost Ember as a playground, trying out all the things you can do and the places you can go with all the different kinds of animals."

Will the game will feature Xbox One X specific enhancements? Is 4K/60fps on the cards?

Yes, there will be graphic improvements for the Xbox One X and we hope to get 4k/60fps, but haven’t done much testing yet, so we can’t promise that at the moment.

And how will the PS4 Pro version turn out in terms of resolution and frame rate?

Much like the Xbox One X, we cannot tell any final info here yet.

How is the game running on the original Xbox One and PS4, frame rate and resolution wise?

Our first tests ran quite smoothly on 1080p, but already lie a few months back. We’ve done a lot of optimizations since then, so I’m pretty excited to see how the console performance has (hopefully) improved.

Next gen is coming sooner or later. From a development perspective, what is your biggest expectation from PS5 and Xbox Scarlett?

To be totally honest, we are currently focusing on Lost Ember and not thinking too far ahead. Guess we can tell you more in a couple of months. 

What is your take on the ongoing drama of loot boxes and microtransactions?

We are not big fans of loot boxes and microtransactions, and there will definitely be none in Lost Ember.