Ahoy there!
With just 4 weeks to go until Curse of the Sea Rats launches on 6th April we’ve prepared an exclusive 2 part interview with some of the key member of the Petoons Studio team!
Today we’ll be introducing Part 1: ‘Building the world’ where we take a look at the game concept and core inspiration, environmental design, and original soundtrack!
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Game Direction & Narrative Design with Game Director, Dani del Amor.
Q: Can you tell us about the core concept of the game and its main characters?
Dani: Curse of the Sea Rats is a classic Metroidvania, but with a strong narrative component. Aside from what would be typical Metroidvania elements like combat and exploration, you will find yourself empathizing a lot with the character you choose. You’ll also discover many side characters throughout the game, and by interacting with them will learn more about their backstories and needs. With this, we also try to make you smile from time to time, humor is a key part of the game!
Q: What can you tell us about the incident on board the HMS Barfleur and Flora Burn’s plan?
Dani: The game begins with the British ship, HMS Barfleur, returning to England from the Caribbean with a hold full of prisoners. Among these prisoners are our protagonists, four individuals each with their own unique backstories. While they are not necessarily common criminals, they are lawbreakers in the eyes of the British Empire, and must stand trial for their crimes. Imprisoned alongside them is the notorious pirate captain Flora Burn, who possesses a mysterious ancient artefact, the Eye of the Serpent, that she stole (in a part of the story that is not going to be revealed now). She uses this artefact to turn all the Barfleur’s crew and its prisoners into rats, allowing her to escape along with her nefarious crew. And this is where the game begins.
Q: So what exactly is the Eye of the Serpent and who is Flora Burn?
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Dani: The Eye of the Serpent is comprised of an amulet and a ring. To recover their human form, the prisoners must reunite these pieces in order to invoke the artefact’s power again and reverse the curse. The artefact is a kind of “magic lamp”, with a spirit inside that grants wishes. But at the same time, it embodies the concept of yin and yang, of good and evil. When both pieces are together they allow you to fulfil any wish. But when separated, good and evil are no longer balanced. The amulet is the good half where Wu Yun, the heroes’ guide, resides. The ring is the evil half, possessed by a serpentine spirit that Flora Burn uses to increase her magical powers!
However, Flora Burn is not inherently evil. She’s a pirate captain who travels the Caribbean and does what she pleases, and her life philosophy means that she won’t bow to any state, to any government, living in freedom.
Her objective is fundamentally to recover this freedom, return to the Caribbean and continue with her treasure hunting and raids on the ships of the British Empire and its various outposts. Unfortunately, our main characters happen to cross paths with her at exactly the wrong time, and although they share some values, they end up in direct conflict with her goals!
Q: Who are the main heroes of the game and how does their gameplay differ?
Dani: Starting with David Douglas, he is the most balanced character. An individual who does everything reasonably well, but does not stand out in any particular field. He’s a character with no defined fighting style and as such is a good choice for the beginner! He's your typical adventure hero, while the other three characters have more clearly defined roles and gameplay styles.
For example, Buffalo Calf is much more agile and is designed to fight from a distance. This gives her a distinct playstyle, fun for players who enjoy ariel acrobatics and fast combos! During battles, this allows you to play at a distance and therefore avoid taking damage.
Bussa, on the other hand, is a tank through and through. He’s a character that is designed to inflict a lot of physical damage at close range, which exposes him to the majority of incoming damage.
Akane Yamakawa is a complex and versatile character, with slightly more range because of her naginata, and decent amount of agility. When she executes a successful combo this can be really destructive. She is almost a perfect mix of the other three characters, but that's just my opinion!
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Admiral Blacksmith is a stoic figure, who gives the prisoners their mission. He is an individual who is fiercely loyal to his country, to his family, and to his crew... He is that person who tries to do everything right, but the world seems to be intent on making this difficult for him.
At the start of the game he is on a mission to transport the prisoners to England, with his son accompanying him. During the journey, everything goes wrong and his son is kidnapped by Flora. Of course, he cannot abandon his ship and crew to pursue the pirate-witch, so must place his trust in our 4 heroes to embark on the rescue mission…
Art direction & environmental design with Lead Concept Artist, Xavi Montell, Senior Concept Artist, Júlia Fernández and 3D Artist, Enric Trullols.
Q: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the art direction and game world?
Xavi: Curse of the Sea Rats is largely inspired by Don Bluth’s animated adventure films that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, such as “The Secret of NIMH”, “Pebble and the Penguin”, “The Land Before Time”. Naturally, movies starring mice and rats such as "The Rescuers" and "The Great Mouse Detective" were a key reference point!
There is also inspiration from adventure films e.g. “The Goonies” and “Pirates of the Caribbean”, and the golden age of Lucas Arts games, such as "Grim Fandango" or "Day of the Tentacle". We love the “Monkey Island” series in particular!
Although it is true that it is a pirate game at heart, after playing for a few hours, you’ll begin to realize the omnipresence of Irish mythology and folklore. This is something that will be accentuated as you explore the island.
Although we took a few liberties, there are many historical and mythological references throughout the game and easter egg hunters will find many reasons to explore every inch of the map that we have prepared for them.
Q: How did you go about designing the environments?
Júlia: As for the environments themselves, we have employed a principle called "navigation by color key". This method uses color palettes to help connect players to the story, environments, and the characters in a coherent way.
We started with an environmental color palette of blue and teal on Shipwreck Beach, and as the player progresses, the environmental color palettes gradually become more fantastical in tone. If for example you look at The Necromancer’s boss room, we wanted to emphasize and accent the boss character’s pink eldritch magic, so you will see complementary tones appearing throughout the environment and creating a nostalgic 80s high fantasy look and feel.
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Xavi: When we faced The Necromancer section during development, we had a stable and defined area of the map with a specific color and a purpose. In this part of the game there are many dank dungeon rooms that give off foreboding vibes… For the boss room itself we suddenly had to convey something different, and that's where concept art and Júlia’s work was invaluable.
Concept Art is all a matter of perspective: As a first step you have the global point of view of the entire map that goes by color key. But then you get to the next stage of thinking “What's going on in this particular room? Do I have to suddenly change that color to convey something different?”. The creation of key rooms such as this takes a lot of extra planning and thought!
Júlia: In concept art, we document everything that needs to be reflected in the room, making some first sketches of what the room would be like, and trying different color palettes to get the right fit. This ultimately leads to a finished illustration incorporating all of the different details and assets of the final room, which will then be used for 3D modeling.
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Q: Could you explain how you came to the final design of the Necromancer’s boss room?
Enric: Every artistic process during development has passed through a multi-departmental pipeline. Our Concept Artists come up with the initial idea and then negotiate with the 3D artists to see if all is possible.
In the case of Necromancer’s room, this environment changed a lot! Originally it was a grayish room with muted tones and no distinguishable features. Then it was reimagined based on the Necromancer’s design, and greenish and pinkish tones were added to make it feel more mysterious and evil.
Cauldrons, swords, cobwebs, and knotted tree roots were added to emphasize the fact that the location is deep underground. It turned out pretty cool and the team is proud of what we managed to achieve with this location.
Throughout the entire process, we also had to take into account the fact that at point zero (the area where the character plays) there cannot be any type of object or obstruction. Otherwise, the character would clip through the object, so the cauldron was a headache, as this is where the Necromancer emerges. We actually faked that effect by putting the cauldron in the background and reworking the layout so that the swords and chains didn't interfere with the boss’s animations.
Composing the original soundtrack with Composer Max Ballet.
Q: How did you approach composing the soundtrack?
Max: Starting with the instruments, while strings, piano, winds and percussion feature prominently throughout the soundtrack, there are also few unusual elements such as the harp and even my sister's voice that were used to add subtle details to many of the tracks.
The piano stands out from all the instruments used because the piano is the instrument on which I was trained: I studied classical piano at the Liceu Conservatory and I have always carried it with me! So, Curse of the Sea Rats has been a project crafted using this instrument. I first composed all the songs on the piano before I transferred them to a digital workflow.
With the wind instruments, the flute has a prominent role in the soundtrack. This is an instrument with a sweet sound that creates a degree of sentimentality and a more human touch. Also, the flute was introduced in such a way that it registers lower and deeper than normal, which is why it still sounds a little sweeter. I have used it in areas where the environment is calm, where you want to give the player a little more peace, conveying serenity with all threats removed.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the strings, which are the most present instruments during the intense boss battles. During these fights, the strings act as the base, giving weight and body to the composition. The strings intensely convey emotion, making the player feel stronger and more engaged at faster tempos.
The percussion is also key here, with a degree of primitiveness that gives the boss battle music its strength and urgency. This is particularly apparent with the tracks for the later bosses which are far more dangerous! Percussion barely features during moments of exploration, so this provides a striking contrast.
Q: Is there one particular track that you really loved working on?
Max: One boss track that I really liked, aside from the battle with Flora, was that of the Lighthouse Keeper. In that battle, the music had to represent this character, something strong, something big!
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It’s worth noting that the more diminutive bosses such as Rama and Sharpie have more agile and lighter music. This allows the player to truly feel the speed of each character and adapt a little more to their attack patterns and movement. With the larger bosses, the music had to feel heavier, colder, and more gigantic!
For example, with the Lighthouse Keeper, we used a lot of percussion to accentuate his tremendously heavy attacks. It feels like tons of stones are falling on the player throughout this fight, and this sensation is ultimately achieved using percussion.
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Q: Do you have any favorite tracks?
Max: I really like The Curse which plays during the start screen. This is where the whole journey begins and where one of the most important leitmotifs of the game comes from.
Other favorites include The Sea Rats which was composed to represent the four heroes, a short Minuet, (which is a baroque dance) that accompanies Flora Burn's abduction of Admiral Blacksmith’s son, and the End Credits theme that embodies a sense of salvation and ultimate victory.
Curse of the Sea Rats has been a perfect game for me to work on, as it strongly incorporates classical music. The game is set in the year 1777, where classicism is at its height in Europe and Mozart is just 21 years old (David Douglas and Mozart even have the same ponytail!).
It’s also worth noting the importance of Irish folk music in the soundtrack. Its lose, rural character had to blend seamlessly with the precision and perfection of classical music, which was quite a challenge!
Curse of the Sea Rats launches on 6th April 2023! We’ll be back with part 2 of our developer interview series soon!
Until next time!
Petoons Studio
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