Interview with the Team Behind CHILDREN OF SATURN

It’s that time of year again! The Six One Indie Showcase is in full swing and that means loads of amazing indies being shown off and, of course, we’ve got more developer interviews for you. The team behind CHILDREN OF SATURN, the found footage coming-of-age story was kind enough to answer our questions about the game.

A huge thank you to Boie and Nils , for not only answering my questions, but being a part of our September showcase.

• Can you tell me more about the team behind CHILDREN OF SATURN?

  Boie (game designer / writer / programmer): Hi, I’m Boie and I’m the game designer, writer and programmer for CHILDREN OF SATURN. I started getting into game development about 8 years ago. I studied game engineering and worked as a game designer at a small company in Vienna for about a year, but quickly decided that I wanted to make my own games instead. I discovered the Haunted PS1 community on itch.io and that kinda flipped a switch in my head, inspiring me to make smaller, weirder games. Games that explore personal experiences and experimental ideas.

  Nils (3D artist / level designer): I’m Nils, and I am the 3D artist for the game. Most assets and all the characters are made by me. I also assist with level design and sometimes give input/opinions for Boie’s writing. I started modelling in Blender about 10 years ago and did the classic donut tutorial of course. I grew up in the PS1/N64 era and always loved that aesthetic but then I stumbled across the vastness of the indie PS1 community these days and the cool “demakes” of modern games. I thought to myself: “Hey I could do that” and so the PS1 aesthetic became my thing.

• How long has the team been working on the game? Do you have advice for developers just getting started?

  Nils (3D artist / level designer): We have been working on the game for a little bit more than a year so far. 

  Boie (game designer / writer / programmer): My advice would be: 

• Do a lot of game jams! Game jams teach you how to actually finish something within a finite amount of time and keep the scope small. Which was extremely helpful for me when I started out. And you meet other developers, that’s actually how Nils and I met!

• Don’t watch too many video essays on game design, just go and try shit out for yourself.

• Keep a list of game ideas and immediately note down whatever comes to you. You can’t schedule ideas and once they’re lost, you’re not getting them back.

• What made the team decide to go with a found footage style for the game?

  Nils (3D artist / level designer): First things first of course it is no secret that we both are really into found footage movies, but it is also a great device that lets us justify the sudden cuts in scenes and switching of which character’s perspective you are seeing. It is a powerful tool that helps in telling the story. 

  Boie (game designer / writer / programmer): And it’s a way for us to seamlessly integrate real video footage into the game without it feeling disconnected or breaking the narrative flow.

• What are some ways that players' choices can affect the game (if you can answer without too much spoiling of course!)? 

  Boie (game designer / writer / programmer): On the one hand we have the typical dialogue choices, which mostly affect how other characters react to you, but also lead to different endings. On the other hand, it’s kinda a design rule for us, that the things you do in terms of game mechanics also shape the game world itself. For example your Graffiti will be visible through the whole game. So each player will end up with their own personal suburban hellhole.

  Nils (3D artist / level designer): You could almost say that your actions regarding the environment have lasting consequences. *wink wink*

• What’s something that you hope players take away from CHILDREN OF SATURN?

  Boie (game designer / writer / programmer): We want to make certain experiences more tangible, specifically, growing up under the effects of climate change in the US. Our goal is not to tell people what to do about it, but to create an impulse that helps people to move past all the escapism and cynicism that’s become so normalized in our lives. So we hope the game doesn’t just wash over people, but somehow speaks to the human condition and leaves them with some productive thoughts and emotions. Our preferred emotion however would not be hopelessness, but anger. Because we’re being robbed of our future.

• If you were transported back to when you were a teenager, what would you do first?

  Nils (3D artist / level designer): With the knowledge I have now, or with the innocence I had back then? Either way I wouldn’t do much different. Get back from school, get my gameboy out to play Pokémon, while watching anime on tv in the background. If I keep my knowledge I would prevent my Yu-Gi-Oh cards from getting stolen in school (what a devastating day) and probably would buy some cool PS2 horror games for decent prices without paying horrendous collector fees. Also I would definitely go to a Linkin Park show with Chester, may he rest in peace.

  Boie (game designer / writer / programmer): I would definitely move out and leave my hometown a lot earlier. As a teenager it felt like that place was all there is and I was kinda stuck with the people who lived there, which couldn’t have been further from the truth.                                                           

• What does “indie” mean to you?

  Nils (3D artist / level designer): I would take the word quite literally and say “independency”. The chance to make something that is purely a work we want to create, that holds our ideas, ideals and message without being manipulated or supervised in any way. A free form of art if you will.   

You can wishlist CHILDREN OF SATURN and play the demo for the game on Steam now.