![]() "I think it didn't really matter to us in terms of why we wanted to make this game, but as soon as we got started with it and we saw these other titles exploring the same things - like Kerbal Space Program, which is completely different but in many ways shares some of the core values - we realised it lends itself super well to YouTubers," he outlined. Dittmer told me that this wasn't something the team had necessarily planned for, but that it fitted well with the game design philosophy of the team. Meanwhile, the growth of YouTube and Twitch as platforms for video game content also helped tip the scales in the favour of a project like this. "Then we reailsed, 'Well, this is actually something we should revisit and explore further, because it feels very much like stuff we've always been working on." "We saw a video of Besiege three-and-a-half years ago and it was like, 'Oh, that's exactly what we did ten years ago, but wow, it looks so great and it seems so fun," said Dittmer. ![]() The first of those was the meaningful emergence of creative construction games like Minecraft and Besiege that demonstrated to the team that the idea for a game like Trailmakers was possible. However, Trailmakers has also been made viable by a couple of other shifts across the sector. "Dittmer believes that the new title is more like 'putting a kid in a dumpster and putting jet engines on it'" While both games supported the idea of playful experimentation, Dittmer believes that the new title is more like "putting a kid in a dumpster and putting jet engines on it" in comparison to Nerd's understandably limited experience. Obviously, the biggest shift between the two had been the move away from Nerd's 2D flash roots to Trailmakers's 3D open world sandbox. The key difference between Nerd and Trailmakers isn't in the core concept, but in how developments in the industry over the past decade have helped Flashbulb to create a fuller experience for players. "It was essentially Trailmakers, but only with ten different things you could do with it and in 2D." "We did a game called Nerd, and it was one of the first games we did at the old studio Press Play," he said. Instead, he told me that he had actually made a game similar to their new release over a decade ago when Press Play was just starting out However, while the concept might seem relatively new, Dittmer explained to me that wasn't the case. They then get the chance to pilot or drive their vehicles through an in game world, exploring at leisure or crashing at will as the mood suits them. Players get the chance to build vehicles from crafting materials they can gather in the world around them. Trailmakers is a new game from a new studio, but it also is clearly descended from the work Dittmer and his team did at Press Play.Īccording to Dittmer, Trailmakers is in the "creative construction genre". We caught up with Dittmer via Skype ahead of the Nordic Game conference, where he is speaking, to find out more. But how has Dittmer recovered so quickly from the disappointment of the past year? And what is Flashbulb Games aiming to do differently to avoid the unhappy fate of Press Play games? Nearly a year on from then, Flashbulb Games is inching closer to the launch of the company's first PC game Trailmakers. Despite being forced to close a company he had built from the ground up, he dusted himself off quickly to become a co-founder of Flashbulb Games in April 2016. ![]() Since then, Press Play's founder Rune Dittmer has been busy. Press Play, the Copenhagen based studio responsible for Max: The Curse of the Brotherhood and Kalimba, was also closed down in its tenth year of operation - affecting over 30 employees. However, Lionhead was not the only victim of Microsoft's internal reorganisation. Microsoft's decision to shutter the studio responsible for the Fable series shocked the industry, prompting outpourings of affection, deliciously detailed behind the scenes stories and much reflection. The closure of Lionhead Studios in March 2016 was one of the biggest stories to hit the British games industry in recent years.
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