Developing The Dreamlike

The Ori games take a page out of titles such as Metroidvania and Rayman. But why settle on a platformer?

Daniel: For starters, the Metroidvania concept was one of our primary foundations when we started making Blind Forest, although other fantasy titles such as The Legend of Zelda did play a part in shaping the creative angle as well. As for a specific “appeal”, I guess it would have to be those in-game “Eureka!” moments when you figure out how to get past a certain roadblock. We found that it’s something really hard to replicate outside of a platformer, so here we are! 

What were some of the main inspirations behind Ori’s unique dreamlike art style and music?

Daniel: Design-wise, the team wanted to make something that was out-of-this-world fantastic, unique and memorable. Primarily, it was all about creating that “Wow!” factor and one of our main inspirations here was definitely Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

Gareth: On my end, I think what I really wanted for the Ori soundtrack was to make it irreplaceable, in the sense that the soundtrack would be one you could clearly and uniquely identify as “from an Ori game”, and not like it was copy-pasted from another franchise. There’s a certain irony in the creative process too – I got the inspiration for Ori by listening to every other kind of tune besides gaming soundtracks! It’s a little trick I picked up from a famous composer, and I feel it really helped establish a unique direction for us. 

What were some of the main learning experiences from The Blind Forest, and how did they relate in Will of the Wisps?

Daniel: Well, one of the common pieces of feedback that we got from the fans about Blind Forest was that it was too difficult. So, we sat down, thought it through and eventually came up with both the three difficulty modes (Easy, Normal and Hard) as well as the Shard system.

What we wanted to do with these was to help accommodate players of varying skill levels, and ensure that everyone could enjoy it at their own pace. So, more skilled players might want to run with a higher difficulty and fewer Shards, while newer players might prefer an easier difficulty and have more Shards. That way, we still preserve the fundamental challenge of Ori while not making it impossibly hard for newer players. 

I GUESS IT WOULD HAVE TO BE THOSE IN-GAME “EUREKA!” MOMENTS WHEN YOU FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET PAST A CERTAIN ROADBLOCK. WE FOUND THAT IT’S SOMETHING REALLY HARD TO REPLICATE OUTSIDE OF A PLATFORMER, SO HERE WE ARE! 

How do you maintain that successful formula while still keeping it fresh?

Daniel: Primarily, the inclusion of various new mechanics, such as the aforementioned Shards system meant that we had to figure out how to balance it all out as well, and I have to say that was the really challenging bit. Not only did that include intense testing sessions, but we also had to make sure we didn’t go too far off the path we established in Blind Forest. In short, while we wanted to make sure that experienced players could come in and say “This feels like Ori!”, we still had to keep it such that newer players could still experience the challenge and fun factor that we wanted to deliver.

What are each of your favourite things about the game?

Gareth: For me, I’ve always been a big fan of platformers, and I’m really proud to say I’ve managed to complete Cuphead on Hard! So, it goes without saying that the Ori games are right up my alley. But in this case, what I really love are the traversal abilities and combinations that Ori can use, and it just makes you feel oh-so-powerful when you’re able to zoom through the map at ridiculous speeds without a care in the world. 

Daniel: Hmm…I think my favourite part about Will of the Wisps would definitely be the sheer size of the sequel as compared to the original, in terms of level size, the number of cinematics and so on. I can safely say that we have around three times the number of sequences from the first game, and it’s that feeling of “having more” that I love the most. 

PICTURE KENNETH ANG