The second EA Spotlight was all about the indie titles that are published under the label EA Originals. We summarise the most important information for you.
Electronic Arts was not part of E3 this year and instead held five events of their own over the month of July, the EA Play. The second event was called “EA <3s Independent Studios« und widmete sich den unabhängigen Studios, die in der Vergangenheit unter dem EA Originals-Label ihre Spiele veröffentlicht haben.
What was that event?
The event was hosted by Todd Martens, a gaming journalist from the LA Times. Guests included Josef Fares from Studio Hazlelight (It Takes Two, A Way Out), Guha Bala from Velan Studios (Knockout City), Olov Redmalm from Zoink (Lost in Random) and Abubakar Salim and Mel Phillips from the newly founded studio Silver Rain Games.
At the beginning of the talk round, the guests were asked to introduce themselves and mention which game triggered their enthusiasm for gaming. Then they talked about storytelling in games and the differences to other media. After all, as a gamer you are actively involved in games, whereas in a film you can only watch passively.
It Takes Two / A Way Out
For It Takes Two and A Way Out, Josef Fares says they relied mostly on the personal relationship between the two protagonists to evoke emotion in the players and get the message across. A special bonus, according to Fares, is playing It Takes Two as a couple: It also allows you to see what communication is like between each other in the real world, he said.
Unsurprisingly, there is no news about Hazlelight’s next project yet. After all, It Takes Two was released only a few months ago. But one interesting sentence did come at the end: Their next game will be “absolutely crazy and crazy”
Lost in Random
Olov Redmalm described Zoink’s current project as a “dark fairy tale”. A sinister queen rules over the population with the help of a cube. The future of each person is determined by the roll of the dice. The girl Even confronts this fate and embarks on an adventurous journey.
Lost in Random also uses a companion to create a personal bond. There were no further details about the game. However, the focus on the dark world was emphasised several times.
Knockout City
With Knockout City there is no big story, no emotional attachment. According to Guha Bala, there was a whole other but equally important question at play here: how does the game feel? The fast-paced ball-throwing had an invigorating effect on the players, and the focus was on one goal above all: Happy competition that should be inclusive and inviting.
The game then gradually developed around this central intention. And Knockout City is not entirely without an emotional component: The interaction with friends was of course an important core aspect here.
The importance of indie titles
The rest of the conversation revolved around the importance of indie games for the entire industry. It takes a lot of courage not to follow the established business models from the industry, but to come up with something completely new. The decision to become an indie developer goes hand in hand with creative flexibility, but also with great economic risk.
New info on EA Play on 22 July
New info on upcoming indie titles may be available at EA Play on 22 July. But before that there will be two more livestreams from EA. On 20 July there will be the next spotlights with “Madden NFL 22 All-Access: Scouting” and “EA Sports”. All other dates and information can be found in our schedule for EA Play.
