I recently discovered The Crow’s Eye, a rough little gem from Spanish independent developer 3D2 Entertainment. So, when I was given the opportunity to interview the studio, I jumped at the chance.
Xavi Amezqueta and Dani Gálvez were my hosts; we spoke about how 3D2 came to be, The Crow’s Eye, and where in the development cycle they are.
For our readers who aren’t aware of 3D2 Entertainment and your upcoming game The Crow’s Eye, could you shed some light on how you came to be?
Part of the members met in a video game development school in Barcelona, and we soon realized we wanted to become a team to create video games. The funny thing is that we have very different personalities and tastes, and from the union of our ideas a project emerged, which turned on its own to the genres of terror, investigation, etc. Luckily, we found other people who wanted to become part of the team and who fitted in perfectly, and almost 2 years later… voilà! Here we are.
What motivated you to make an independent studio over joining another company?
Motivation is always behind an idea, and we could say that we had plenty of ideas. Perhaps the challenge was sharing one, and, having reached such point, the challenge was carrying it out. How to do it? In a company? Who’d bet for a game made by people so young that is developing a game on their own? Exactly, us. We’re the only ones capable of setting a goal, and why not try it now that there are some facilities to release this kind of projects? Thus we decided to venture into this, and up to now we’re feeling more eager than ever to finish this first project.
The Crow’s Eye appears to have heavy American influence, but your studio is Spanish, will there be any Spanish culture scattered throughout?
As you very well say, the story is splashed with a heavy American influence. The essence of the story takes places there. Nevertheless, regarding the atmosphere, we might have (unconsciously) probably taken Spanish or Mediterranean references.
You have said that atmosphere is one thing that thrills you about The Crow’s Eye. How are you wanting to achieve this beyond graphical details?
Sound can make over 50% of the overall atmosphere.It’s something difficult to assimilate from the start, but try playing a horror game with no sound, or watch some fighting scene in an epic fantasy atmosphere with no music, with no sound of swords clashing. Much is lost.
On the other hand, there’s also the story. Not just the main one which some characters narrate, but the one that can be found beyond: documents with pictures which hint disturbing facts, conclusions reached by reading something written on the wall, or macabre contrasts between opposite things, and which demonstrate that, whoever it was, wasn’t right in the head.
You have said that your team has grown up playing games such as Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Super Mario Bros., have any of these provided inspiration for the mechanics within The Crow’s Eye, will I be eating mushrooms to tackle tougher parts of the game? Please say yes.
Hahaha! We don’t think anything so outside the atmosphere of a game of these characteristics will be seen, but we will indeed find details which will break the monotony of the genre small-scale. As we always say, video games should be made to entertain, but we’ve loved the idea about the mushrooms!
The Crow’s Eye is set to be a PC only title at the moment, are there any plans to bring it to console at any point? If you would like to do so, what are the barriers hindering it being a multi-format title?
For now, we haven’t planned bringing the game for consoles, though if there is the chance we’ll take measures. The main obstacle is the lack of knowledge on how to publish a game adapted to consoles; we’d have to make a few in-game changes in order to adapt it, but we don’t rule anything out.
Where is The Crow’s Eye in your development cycle? And will you be looking to bring in members of the community to test the game, or will you be going the Early Access route?
The graphics are at 95% from being finished; we’re currently working on animations and with the programming section, which is a very important point for us. It’s the section to which we must dedicate more time to in order to achieve the desired level. We’ll be testing the game ourselves, we do it daily and write down the aspects that can be improved inside the game to give a better impression. The game won’t have an Early Access route, since our goal is to release a fully finished game with as fewer bugs as possible, and the best quality possible. There’ll be a demo so that people can try it out.
The divide between physical and digital purchases is shrinking slowly, will The Crow’s Eye be pure digital? (follow up) If so, what platforms will you be hosting on?
For now we’ve planned to release it for digital purchase only, but we wouldn’t mind considering, if it is well received, bringing it to the physical format for greater satisfaction from players.
Our idea (short-term) is to release the game for Steam, but we’d be thrilled to bring it to any other available platform.
A lot of people adore video game OSTs, myself included, will you be releasing the soundtrack for The Crow’s Eye to the public, if so will it be separately or as part of a package?
It isn’t something we’ve considered yet. We’d like to make the OST available for the public interested in it and in the best way possible, so that both the user and us will be satisfied.
Are you aiming to make the universe that The Crow’s Eye is set in one of expanded depth? Online comic books? Pre-release lore?
We don’t have in mind expanding The Crow’s Eye universe in any aspect. The story is already created and we don’t want to add up anything more to the game that turns The Crow’s Eye in some money leech. It’d be an interesting idea to expand its universe, but we want to finish this game properly and as we had it in mind. We don’t rule out getting back to The Crow’s Eye in the future, though it’s not something we want right now. We also want to be careful when expanding further, because credibility may be easily lost.
In a nearby future, we’d like to surpass ourselves by trying new genres.
What are your plans to support The Crow’s Eye post launch?
It’s quite likely that, after releasing the game, it has some bugs. It’s something which we believe everyone is counting on. Our goal is releasing a full, quality game, and we’ll work until we achieve it, no matter if the game has already been released. The game won’t be released if we consider it has some flaws, even if we must postpone its launch.
Are you working on any other games? Even just in the concept stage?
We’re focusing on this one. Every now and then ideas arise, yet impossible to add to this game, so we note them down for the next one, or, if we have some free time, we experiment with various styles and even dare to imagine entire games, but it’s a condition that already is part of us. We’re dreamers, and the beautiful thing about it is that there was a time in which we imagined The Crow’s Eye as a full game. And, almost 2 years after, the game is at a much better level than what we fantasized at the beginning.
The one that everyone is aching to know, release date/window?
We don’t have a release date yet for The Crow’s Eye, so I’m afraid you’ll have to follow us to know more about it. Game development can be put back in order to improve its quality, and we don’t want to release a poorly made or an incomplete game.
Thank you for your time!
Thank you. 🙂
