Apart from story and gameplay, a video game's art style and graphics also play an important role in immersion. While most video game developers today strive for ultra-realistic visuals, some titles utilize the aesthetics of older games that trigger a sense of nostalgia and play a vital role in telling a good story. Such is the case for A Sister's Journey, a 2D platformer that tells the story of a character on a journey to find her beloved sister.
In a recent interview with Game Rant, A Sister's Journey developer Florian Lackner talked about how players should expect the game to have challenging yet approachable gameplay filled with puzzles, dangers, and mysteries. Looking over the teaser trailer for the game, players will notice the gorgeous pixel-art world the game is set in, and Lackner revealed why he chose this specific art style and the many games that inspired it.
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Talking about the aesthetics of A Sister's Journey, Lackner explained that he is a huge fan of pixel art, especially with its ability to capture the retro aesthetics of platformer games that have since defined the genre. However, apart from bringing back classic visuals to a modern game, Lackner also wanted to utilize the power of modern technology, which is why the world of A Sister's Journey is filled with vibrant colors and flashy effects, making the overall graphics of the game a visual treat.
Players will also notice from looking at the trailer and the updates released by Lackner on A Sister's Journey's Twitter page how the game's pixel art style complements the tile-based, blocky look that players will find in a lot of 2D platformers. The dev mentioned in the interview that people who discover A Sister's Journey would often draw comparisons to newer games such as Celeste and ScourgeBringer. While A Sister's Journey does resemble both those games, especially Celeste, Lackner explained that they are not the main inspirations behind his game, though both helped him refine and polish art and gameplay even further.
However, what truly inspired him to develop a platformer title of his own are Cave Story and FEZ, prompting him to start drawing the first tile sets for A Sister's Journey ten years ago. As the development for A Sister's Journey continues, Lackner did a lot of drawing and experimenting to improve his technique and eventually helped him find his own style. While A Sister's Journey is still under development, players should notice how polished the world looks and how vibrant the environment is, from breathtaking sunsets to dark and ravenous caves.
Apart from the games that inspired the art style of A Sister's Journey, other titles helped Lackner understand the mechanics of the platformer genre from a developer's point of view. Games such as The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and how it utilized Metroidvania elements offered a unique gaming experience that made it memorable.
In the end, Lackner explained that he takes comparisons as compliments and hopes that fans of the games that inspired him would also find A Sister's Journey an enjoyable experience. While many games informed the development of A Sister's Journey and its art style, most of the game is still a product of Lackner's own ideas, which he has devised and envisioned throughout his years as a gamer. To him, the most exciting part of developing a video game is when one can transform all those ideas into reality.
"All those games which inspired me along the way, however small or large, they all helped me grow. And maybe someday, someone might get inspiration from my game too, and goes on to create something even more amazing. That would be awesome. That's what I truly love about games inspiring others, and the support you can find inside the dev commiunity. We all grow from one another."
A Sister's Journey is currently in development for the PC.
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