Hello, I am Aurélien Regard, one half of the team behind Away: Journey to the Unexpected, releasing on Xbox One February 8, 2019. I’d like to quickly go through the creative process behind Away, from 2016 to how it is today.
One thing I love about the first-person shooter (FPS) genre is the power of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. However, between over-the-top action shooters and narrative walking sims, I felt like the genre was missing the concept of action-adventures.
So, came the idea behind Away: Journey to the Unexpected! At least the foundation of its gameplay. Here’s a look at some early prototype screenshots…
I also took some inspirations on the way, in terms of artistic direction. For technical reasons I had to make easy-to-produce characters to fit in the 3D environment, and the idea came from the old-school Doom: making “cardboard cutout” characters constantly looking towards you.
I had the key concepts locked in now: an action-adventure FPS with 2D characters in a 3D environment!
Then I needed to define the story and core gameplay mechanics. Taking on the same idea of FPS games being generally violent or very mature in their narrative, I took the opposite direction: let’s make a fun game about a kid living a fun adventure with friends! In regards to the art style, I dug into my childhood memories and tried to capture the feeling of the anime style that was all over the 90s TV in France.
And there you go, the concept behind Away was set around that core idea: creating a new type of FPS adventure, with a lighthearted and fun story, and a nostalgic 90s anime style to it. I hope you enjoy this little post!
Away: Journey to the Unexpected will release February 8, 2019 on Xbox One via the Microsoft Store. For more information on this title and many others, keep it tuned here to Xbox Wire for all the latest Xbox gaming news and features.