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[Star Falcon]

Awesome to see the early prototypes. Ori is one of my favourite games I played this year, beautiful art and soundtrack, really fun abilities and physics engine with a refreshing revisit to the Metroidvania style of exploration. Highlight was escaping the Ginso Tree whilst it flooded, such a rush.

Spoiler

I probably wouldn't even have tried it if I wasn't 'assigned' to it post launch, lucky me

Edit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms26RbB5Nf0&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUfKzZJ-Z0E&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gXLrBqIEJE&feature=youtu.be

LOL, Fatality.

 

[Twilight Gap]

Hahahaha, I completely forgot about this. Initially we wanted to have more varied death-animations, so we made animation concepts for all the different ways Ori could die... I guess it's clear why we didn't decide to do this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms26RbB5Nf0&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUfKzZJ-Z0E&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gXLrBqIEJE&feature=youtu.be

Ori and the Bloody Forest

 

[jb1234]

Seriously Thomas, a 1 on 1 with Gareth showing an in-depth, note by note breakdown of the score. Nobody has done this. What are the names of all the instruments used? Why did he pick a specific key signature? What was his process to compose the scratch demos before taking them to a life orchestra?

Let's take Lost in the Misty Woods from the soundtrack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nvfzoQ9Zf8

This sounds like something straight out of an old adventure cartoon. Where did the inspiration come from? Did you guys sit down and say "this level is trippy and spooky, so approach it with a distant and haunted sound"? This kind of thing is fascinating to me, and for a game like Ori where the score is so intrinsic to the overall experience, I imagine it'll interest others as well.

Dat whole tone scale. I thought of Debussy when I first heard it. There isn't a great deal of orchestra in the score but it's written in a way to where even the smaller-scaled pieces (like Misty Woods) sound big. Would definitely like to see more insight into the scoring process.

(And all other aspects of game development.)

 

[F-Pina]

Loved your game dude.
Please, show us more

 

[KooopaKid]

Hahahaha, I completely forgot about this. Initially we wanted to have more varied death-animations, so we made animation concepts for all the different ways Ori could die... I guess it's clear why we didn't decide to do this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms26RbB5Nf0&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUfKzZJ-Z0E&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gXLrBqIEJE&feature=youtu.be

Ah ah very Out of This World

I'm in a sharing mood! Here's a super early video we made that got us extremely excited. Some of this we couldn't do due to the sprite-based nature of Ori:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54sAVWoq4nY&feature=youtu.be

Reminds me of another game with a gorilla....

 

[fourteentoone]

Dat whole tone scale. I thought of Debussy when I first heard it. There isn't a great deal of orchestra in the score but it's written in a way to where even the smaller-scaled pieces (like Misty Woods) sound big. Would definitely like to see more insight into the scoring process.

(And all other aspects of game development.)

And it looks like my account has been activated! Hello NeoGAF, I've been a LONG-time reader of the forums.

Actually there's ~105 minutes of orchestra in the score. It's just a case of the orchestra not being the featured element for the whole soundtrack (which is often the case with a lot of soundtracks). It's also a case of the fact that the orchestra isn't a gigantic megaton orchestra. We used 2 different sizes for the game. One would be considered a chamber orchestra of 22 strings, flute, clarinet, oboe, and piano. The other was more conventional, with 40 strings, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets, 4 french horns, 2 tenor trombones, 1 bass trombone, harp, piano. The chamber orchestra was used for about 75% of the game, while the bigger group was used for... yes... the bigger scenes (ending, chase sequences, etc...)

A lot of people call Ori an orchestral soundtrack, and I'm OK with that, it's the glue that holds the thing together along with the main theme. The orchestra is there, weaving in and out, but what gives each area its flavour is all the other 'stuff', the ethnic winds, in Ginso Tree all the wooden percussion sounds, and so on. Ori is as much an orchestral soundtrack as say... Life of Pi, which has a ton of synth work and world music instruments in its score (obviously from India) that gives the score its unique sound.

As for Misty Woods, you nailed it. I chose the whole-tone scale simply because it's impossible to resolve the whole tone scale, thus if the music isn't resolving, and you're in a place which is weird and constantly in flux, it should help with the disorientation. It's my view that if you end up being confused at times in the Misty Woods, then we did our job!

 

[barneystuta83]

Instant sub.

Have you watched The Sprint? The insight given there was superb. Having worked in Software Development (non gaming), I understand the concept of 'Sprints', and it was such a well put together series.

If I can get some of that for Ori? Oh my. Do it.

 

[jb1234]

And it looks like my account has been activated! Hello NeoGAF, I've been a LONG-time reader of the forums.

Actually there's ~105 minutes of orchestra in the score. It's just a case of the orchestra not being the featured element for the whole soundtrack (which is often the case with a lot of soundtracks). It's also a case of the fact that the orchestra isn't a gigantic megaton orchestra. We used 2 different sizes for the game. One would be considered a chamber orchestra of 22 strings, flute, clarinet, oboe, and piano. The other was more conventional, with 40 strings, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets, 4 french horns, 2 tenor trombones, 1 bass trombone, harp, piano. The chamber orchestra was used for about 75% of the game, while the bigger group was used for... yes... the bigger scenes (ending, chase sequences, etc...)

A lot of people call Ori an orchestral soundtrack, and I'm OK with that, it's the glue that holds the thing together along with the main theme. The orchestra is there, weaving in and out, but what gives each area its flavour is all the other 'stuff', the ethnic winds, in Ginso Tree all the wooden percussion sounds, and so on. Ori is as much an orchestral soundtrack as say... Life of Pi, which has a ton of synth work and world music instruments in its score (obviously from India) that gives the score its unique sound.

As for Misty Woods, you nailed it. I chose the whole-tone scale simply because it's impossible to resolve the whole tone scale, thus if the music isn't resolving, and you're in a place which is weird and constantly in flux, it should help with the disorientation. It's my view that if you end up being confused at times in the Misty Woods, then we did our job!

Ah! I stand corrected! I was having trouble telling how much of the smaller ensemble was sampled and how much was live instrumentation. Composers have gotten very good at merging the two when the budget requires it. It's very admirable that you were given the resources to write the music for so many live players. It makes a big difference.

Have you written a thematic breakdown of your score? The main Ori theme is pretty obvious but there's other recurring elements in there too that would to be cool to have more insight on.

 

[Shaanyboi]

Awesome!

 

[Digital Limit]

Thanks for posting all of that behind the scenes development content! I'd love commentary and even more of the kind of things you're posting here. I find your team's structure and output fascinating—Ori is a fantastic, magical game and you all should be very proud.

 

[bumpkin]

I actually just started playing the game for the first time on XB1 after buying it forever ago during a sale. I'm blown away by how the game looks and sounds. Absolutely unbelievable. As a wannabe indie game developer myself, I can't even begin to fathom how they achieved the graphics in the game from an art and animation standpoint.

 

[DKo5]

I would watch anything and everything you decide to put out. Huge Ori fan!

 

[Skilotonn]

That is a definitely yes to want to see all of the making of stuff, yes please!

I don't own the game myself yet since I haven't picked up an XB1 yet and I don't game on the PC, but just from the few minutes of gameplay I allowed myself to watch, plus the universal response to the game shows to me that it's an incredible game.

Honestly, I think having to be in an office together is a bit overrated. Been there, done that, and I know all about the inefficiencies that come with that, the useless meetings and everything.

Moon Studios management approach is very 'task-based' - People know what they have to accomplish, but we don't manage their time like other studios do. I don't think creative people should be 'on the clock' at all times. If a developer has a great idea after he just had dinner with his family, then he should be able to just do the work then. As long as amazing work is being created, who are we to complain?

Some people start working really early and then end sooner and some people start later, but then work until the early morning hours... As long as the work gets done and we stay in time / budget, we're all fine with this. And I guess the content we produce on a weekly basis shows that we're on to something: It's super exciting to see how much content is being created when artists and developers are more liberated.

The entire idea behind Moon Studios was that we'd build a dream team of developers that span all around the globe and to not put them in a box together - And that's been working quite well for us

I like the way you think, and I think the same as well - I'm an entrepreneurial-minded person that also believes that in this day and age, depending what you do of course, that an office can be rendered unnecessary, and I don't want to be using one either.

 

[LinkToTheFuture]

I would also love to see more stuff like this !

 

[thomasmahler]

Here's one more little thing we had James putting together at the very beginning of Blind Forests development:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OouOhIJL1i4&feature=youtu.be

Remember that Meat Boy had just come out and we were impressed by the way they tackled platforming / controls, but we wanted to push the genre so much more and we wanted to see what kinda abilities would be cool to use.

This one already shows DoubleJump, ChargeJump, a 'Blaster' ability that would allow you to float (was never used in-game), an early concept of the Bash Ability and Ori also used to be able to roll

 

[Twilight Gap]

This one already shows DoubleJump, ChargeJump, a 'Blaster' ability that would allow you to float (was never used in-game), an early concept of the Bash Ability and Ori also used to be able to roll

Oh man, i can imagine rolling while charging up a charge flame and just decimating fools, but I can see why it was cut. There would be a lot of rolling into spikes because the level design now is based on aerial platforming, precise movement and bashing off of enemies.

Still think it'd be cool to have a roll dodge on the ground though.

 

[thomasmahler]

Oh man, i can imagine rolling while charging up a charge flame and just decimating fools, but I can see why it was cut. There would be a lot of rolling into spikes because the level design now is based on aerial platforming, precise movement and bashing off of enemies.

Still think it'd be cool to have a roll dodge on the ground though.

Yeah, the roll was in there until shortly before we completed the vertical slice. Over time, we got a better idea for how the levels have to be designed to just make it all work together and the roll just clashed with a lot of the other abilities and would've forced us to make all the levels much wider.

We cut it and came up with the rule that we'd never want the player to be able to run along a plane for too long without any interactivity. A lot of the Igavanias (sorry for the term, but you guys know what it means! ) have pretty weird level design where you just walk along a straight line, but then they put enemies in there to make it more interesting. With Ori relying more on platforming, we knew that this wouldn't work for us and since the player constantly had to jump around and avoid obstacles, the roll just started to feel more and more useless and was ultimately cut.

 

[Twilight Gap]

Yeah, the roll was in there until shortly before we completed the vertical slice. Over time, we got a better idea for how the levels have to be designed to just make it all work together and the roll just clashed with a lot of the other abilities and would've forced us to make all the levels much wider.

We cut it and came up with the rule that we'd never want the player to be able to run along a plane for too long without any interactivity. A lot of the Igavanias (sorry for the term, but you guys know what it means! ) have pretty weird level design where you just walk along a straight line, but then they put enemies in there to make it more interesting. With Ori relying more on platforming, we knew that this wouldn't work for us and since the player constantly had to jump around and avoid obstacles, the roll just started to feel more and more useless and was ultimately cut.

Absolutely was the right decision. One of the things I appreciate about the game is that there's a good balance of the platforming mixed with flatter spaces. Like when you first enter Misty Woods or Valley of the Wind, there isn't much for you to jump on - it's just you and a handful of enemies. And that's fun because it feels "sandboxy playground" in the sense that you can move freely and interact with them. Ori's movement set makes it unique, whereas other games with those flat areas may not have as much space or as much mobility.

When designing the new abilities in the Definitive Edition, did you have a pool of cut or backburned abilities to choose from and iterate on, or did you have to create brand new ones from scratch? Or perhaps it's a mix?

 

[KooopaKid]

Here's one more little thing we had James putting together at the very beginning of Blind Forests development:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OouOhIJL1i4&feature=youtu.be

Remember that Meat Boy had just come out and we were impressed by the way they tackled platforming / controls, but we wanted to push the genre so much more and we wanted to see what kinda abilities would be cool to use.

This one already shows DoubleJump, ChargeJump, a 'Blaster' ability that would allow you to float (was never used in-game), an early concept of the Bash Ability and Ori also used to be able to roll

I'm surprised the animation is so good for a prototype! Why bother? What is to show something decent to potential publishers?

 

[thomasmahler]

I'm surprised the animation is so good for a prototype! Why bother? What is to show something decent to potential publishers?

No, it was just for internal use. We obviously also showed these things to Microsoft, so they also get a better feel for what we're after, but that wasn't really the reason. I think James just doesn't like doing stepped tangent / pose to pose animation and he used to just churn these things out like a madman, so really...why not?

 

[Exentryk]

Here's one more little thing we had James putting together at the very beginning of Blind Forests development:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OouOhIJL1i4&feature=youtu.be

Remember that Meat Boy had just come out and we were impressed by the way they tackled platforming / controls, but we wanted to push the genre so much more and we wanted to see what kinda abilities would be cool to use.

This one already shows DoubleJump, ChargeJump, a 'Blaster' ability that would allow you to float (was never used in-game), an early concept of the Bash Ability and Ori also used to be able to roll

Damn, that looks awesome!

 

[Twilight Gap]

No, it was just for internal use. We obviously also showed these things to Microsoft, so they also get a better feel for what we're after, but that wasn't really the reason. I think James just doesn't like doing stepped tangent / pose to pose animation and he used to just churn these things out like a madman, so really...why not?

The visual and audio is a fundamental component of Ori and i think it's something that ought to have been captured early on to inform the design. So it's good that the team didn't hold back when it came to previz.

Do you have any key/principle concept that really drove home the direction the game was going? Like, at what point did everyone say "okay, this is the game we're making. I get it now"?

 

[thomasmahler]

The visual and audio is a fundamental component of Ori and i think it's something that ought to have been captured early on to inform the design. So it's good that the team didn't hold back when it came to previz.

Do you have any key/principle concept that really drove home the direction the game was going? Like, at what point did everyone say "okay, this is the game we're making. I get it now"?

I think I always have a pretty clear vision of what the game should become even at the start - With Ori, we did quite a bit more experimentation - or soul searching, if you so will - than we do today, mostly because we didn't really know each other that well yet and it took some time to shape the production according to the strengths of everyone in the team (which is why I'm considering Moon to be managed more like a band and less like a normal studio), but I think even early on most team members get a fairly good idea what kinda thing we're trying to make.

We have some other projects in early development stages at Moon atm and I think everyone in the studio 'gets it', since we expect everyone to have a voice and to really want to change things. Usually I start with a small prototype that already kinda tries to capture the essence of what the product should become and while it's always kinda ridiculous to look back at that thing and see how far we've come, I do think that the rapid prototype stages help a ton to get everyone on track. A lot of times talking about things just isn't enough, people often need to really see things to truly get it and it's super fun to prototype. So yeah, that's kinda how we do it

 

[squadr0n]

YES PLEASE!!!

Loved Ori and would purchase it again just for a making of video! I usually only buy collectors editions if they come with ones do would totally be all over this.

 

[Green Yoshi]

Is the DE still planned for 2015, on PC? I have the regular game, but i won't start it if the DE is out this year.

There's no release date, yet.

Can you run the game with i3 (2,93 Ghz) and Radeon HD 5570 (1 GB)? I know it's not a Gaming-PC, but there's still no sign of the Xbox 360-version so I have no idea if this version is still in the making.

 

[dark10x]

Any chance of seeing this game on a retail disc? Would love to own a hard copy as I just adore this game.

 

[LiK]

just post everything!

 

[puebla]

Here's one more little thing we had James putting together at the very beginning of Blind Forests development:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OouOhIJL1i4&feature=youtu.be

Remember that Meat Boy had just come out and we were impressed by the way they tackled platforming / controls, but we wanted to push the genre so much more and we wanted to see what kinda abilities would be cool to use.

This one already shows DoubleJump, ChargeJump, a 'Blaster' ability that would allow you to float (was never used in-game), an early concept of the Bash Ability and Ori also used to be able to roll

Man, all of these prototype videos are so cool. Has me really excited for the DE.

 

[mcwizardry]

I really enjoy these kinds of making of materials and developer commentary.