What is the purple thing in unpacking?

Audiences who follow the game more closely will also notice more interesting events; Like a purple glass that is healthy at first, but then leaves cracks and the main character goes to another use, namely the location of the toothbrush and toothpaste.

Interesting story of making Unpacking game; Dreams of an independent team

Unpacking game was one of the surprising and fascinating works of last year, which achieved a lot of success. In this article, we take a look at the production process.

Check out the Unpacking game

In addition to the big and popular games every year, there are smaller works that do not make much noise until the release, but it is enough to enter the market to achieve great success with their special features and become one of the surprise works of the year. In 2021, we saw the release of such works, one of which was the game Unpacking; A compact and lovable game that many had not even heard of before its release, but in addition to attracting the attention of critics and the public, it even won several awards as the best game, even in the presence of other works.

The independent game Unpacking has gone through an interesting production process, and the reporter of Edge magazine narrated these stories from the two main designers of the game, Ren Bryer and Tim Dawson . Join trends as we take a look at the game’s production process and see how even the simplest ideas, in the simplest possible way, can lead to interesting results in the world of video games.

Spoiler Warning: This article hints at some of the story points of Unpacking, and if you have not yet experienced the game and want to know nothing about the story, it is best not to read the article.

In the gaming industry, like many other industries, there are companies called accelerators that help novice game developers and small studios come up with interesting ideas and find investors. One of these accelerators is called Stugan, which Ren Bryer and Tim Dawson went to in 2018 and tried their luck by coming up with an interesting idea for arranging furniture after moving furniture.

The two game developers used a GIF (animated image) to show their idea to the publishers, which showed the gameplay of one of the stages of the game at high speed; Images include removing objects from cups, plates and cleaning cloths to kettles, microwaves and pastry containers from boxes and placing them on kitchen tables and on wooden shelves.

What does the red outline mean in unpacking?

“At first we thought the project would have a small audience, but the popularity of the idea was so high that we realized it had the potential to attract a large audience,” says Ren Bryer of those days. “After that, various publishers came to us one after the other and talked about the project in ways such as a private Twitter message.” One of these companies was Humble Bundle, which eventually took over the game.

Of course, the story of Unpacking goes back to before this story, and the initial spark was struck when the two game developers had a close relationship with each other and decided to live together. The day after the move, and as Dawson’s team was opening the boxes in which they had moved their belongings to their new home, it occurred to Ren Bryr how the process of opening the boxes and putting their contents in the house would feel. Now it has a video game.

According to Tim Dawson: “We were both game makers, and when the idea came to us, we went to work on it very quickly; The idea was to take different objects out of the box and place them in different parts of the room and move on to the next box, along with strategies such as placing some objects temporarily on a closed box and then doing other things. “He went back to them and, by putting them in the right place, he was able to open the next box.”

Why is the diary flashing in unpacking?

Although it was Bryr who first came up with the idea, he did it more or less as a joke. But Dawson took the idea more seriously than Bryer, and began to think about how to implement it. The two game developers, who already wanted to get help from Stugan to develop their ideas, decided that now was the best time possible and went for it. “Ren did not think we would have a good chance of being accepted,” Dawson said. “Not to be sure our idea would be dropped, but I thought we had a lot of work to do,” says Ren Bryer.

unpacking achievements

In any case, they made their decision, and the idea was so fresh and creative that it could not be easily ignored. Of course, it was not that simple, and to present this idea, they had to prepare an initial version of the project to show to the Stugan officials. “We were going to test the gameplay mechanics before we went into the game’s story,” says Breyer. We had to make sure that opening the boxes and putting things in the environment at all could be fun and attractive. “To do this, we had to design different systems that allow objects to be moved and placed in different shapes around the environment, and at the same time we had to consider a suitable system for creating different objects and environments.”

For the initial demo, they decided to move to an environment where a variety of objects could be placed in the corner, and the kitchen was the best choice, and Bryer and Dawson modeled their home kitchen. “The kitchen was a good choice because it allowed us to stack some objects, such as glasses and plates, and thus try another feature of the game, which is to stack objects on top of each other,” Dawson said.

Eventually they prepared their prototype and went to Sweden to deliver it to Stugan officials; A demo that included about 12 different items; Items that Dawson and Bryer do not remember at the moment and, for example, doubt whether it was a juicer or a microwave designed for a demo. After that, the game was produced under the supervision of Stugan, and two months later, the number of items reached about 70, and finally it was time to create a GIF related to the game.

By that time, the ideas behind the game’s story were almost complete, and they had come up with a lot of ideas for seven of the eight final stages, but had not yet produced them. According to Dawson, the initial plan was to design between three and four stages of the game during his two months at Stugan. But all that time was spent perfecting the kitchen design. This happens during the production of many video games and the situation does not go according to previous plans. He also says that after a while, they came to the conclusion that instead of working incompletely on different sections, they should work on only one section, namely the kitchen, in order to present their idea to the publishers in a better way. To attract them; Which they finally did at Day of the Devs.

Unpacking game with the help of an accelerator called Stugan succeeded in attracting the publisher and went from a simple idea to even winning the award for the best game of the year from some media.

On the other hand, it made it easier for game developers to calculate how much time they needed to produce the final version with all the rooms; According to Bryer, it took about 2.5 years to design the art sections, and of course the other sections required their own time and energy.

unpacking steam

Finally, the game was supposed to consist of eight different stages or time periods and 35 rooms, in addition to more than 1000 different items. Given the small size of the game development team, it was not surprising that the release time was delayed twice, first being released in late 2020 and then once again missing the release time in early 2021 until finally Published on November 2, 2021 (November 11, 1400).

The first item after the kitchen design, the bedroom was the main character in the form of a child. But still, the two game developers had problems combining the story and its environments, so when they got to designing the third stage, they decided to get help from someone else. So they hired a narrator and he helped them build the third to fifth steps.

unpacking walkthrough

Then it was the turn of the details of the game characters’s life and the different stages of the main character’s life that had to be represented by different elements. “We asked a lot of questions, like what city does the main character live in now?” What is his mental state? Are you going through happy days or is there a problem? What relationships does he pursue? what’s his job? What’s her job? “Is he physically healthy or has he had a specific problem or illness?”

Dawson paid so much attention to these details of the protagonist’s life that he began to draw diagrams and tables that would indicate how the character was in each period of time and what items should be considered for each stage, given his living conditions. And which items go to the next step and which items should be deleted.

How do I speed up steam unpacking?

“The number of items in each stage was very important, and if we saw a lot of items designed for one stage, we would delete some of them, and if the environments seemed empty, we would design new items,” he said. “Of course, at the beginning of each stage, we usually designed more items than needed so that there was no shortage, and in the end, if there was not enough space in the environment, we would leave some of them aside.”

Many Unpacking game items have a special meaning and are very important in terms of story

Each item had its own story with the game’s creators, and its presence or absence at various stages was never without reason; Items that Brier and Dawson designed many of them inspired by the objects of their place of residence. For example, a football award came into play because Dawson had won a similar award as a teenager: “I remember once I was given an award for the most progress or something. “The award was not very important and special, but it was very attractive to me, and when it was placed next to three smaller awards with its large size, it made me feel good.”

“The presence of a soccer ball in the main character’s room shows that he has some connection to the sport, and although he may not be a professional player, he is very interested in playing soccer,” he said. He kept this ball with him. We designed such items both with regard to the objects of our place of residence from childhood to the present day and to better shape the main character of the game. “None of these items are designed to be purposeless in the same way, and each has its own reason.”

What is the blue thing in unpacking?

Given the way the game was narrated and the age of the main character, it was natural for some items to be phased out. But Bryer and Dawson felt so close to these items that they were sometimes upset to leave them; “We knew we had to remove a number of dolls with each step, and it was very difficult for us, and we could not easily choose the elimination option because we liked them all,” Dawson said.

In the real world, however, as we get older, many old things are removed from our lives, and many of the books we had as children, for example, do not stay with us when we go to college. Of course, sometimes there are exceptions that remain with the person until adulthood, and we see such cases in Unpacking. “We were arguing about some of the items, and we were saying, ‘Can’t we keep this one in the next steps,’” Dawson said. Doesn’t the main character hold this doll? “When this doll is so dear to us, it will definitely be of great value to him and he will not throw it away.”

Sometimes things happen in the game that make the audience pay attention to certain items and remember them. One of these cases is when the main character enters his friend’s house, and from the very beginning it can be seen that this house does not have much space. On the one hand, the main character is forced to leave some previous objects to enter the new house, and on the other hand, an item such as his diploma, which has been framed and has always been of great value to him, this time finds no place on the wall and he is forced. Place the diploma elsewhere; An event that has its own impact in terms of narrative and story.

unpacking switch

Of course, according to Bryer, at first this was supposed to happen for the main character’s drawings and drawings, and he did not have enough space to put them on the wall, but later, when the diploma item was added to the game, the creators changed their minds. Placing this item was considered more interesting than the lack of space for paintings.

Dawson says that people’s reactions to the issue have been very interesting and understandable: “Our goal was that when you enter this stage, you first enjoy being in a new environment and immerse yourself in its charms and tell yourself.” “What an orderly life this boy has, and he has put everything in order in the rooms.” But after a while you realize that the situation is not so great and flawless and the condition of the rooms is such that there is not enough space to place the main character’s objects next to the objects of the landlord’s son and maybe even this boy is very important to this “It does not matter.”

“I met players who were upset at the time and complained about why, as the main character, they did not have enough space to place tables and painting tools and could not put their artwork in it,” he said. Place the corners of the environment as desired. “It simply came to their notice then.”

Tim Dawson & Ren Breyer, creators of Unpacking

Initially, the next stage was supposed to have a different shape and image; The stage that takes place after the main character leaves his friend’s house, and Bryer says: “We had planned the next stage in such a way that after leaving the previous house, you would enter a new house that was a little big for you. The stage started at night and it rained and it was a sad situation overall, perhaps exaggerated. “Then, with the installation of various equipment and the completion of the work, it would be morning and the sun would rise and the new house would feel good about life.”

But later members of Witch Beam Studios came to the conclusion that such a narrative, from heartbreak to hope, is a little too heavy to show in one stage, and it would be better to take it more subtly so that it is consistent with the other stages: If we did that, that stage would be very sad, and then in the next stages, when the main character would find an emotional partner again, the mood of the game would be happy. It also conveyed the impression that the main character is happy in the presence of only one emotional partner and can not be happy alone. That is, he seemed completely dependent, while we did not want that to happen, but we wanted to show that everything (from the new friend to the other) had worked together to make him happy again, as someone who “It does not depend on this or that.”The main character of Unpacking game changes his house many times and sometimes he has rooms that affect the way things are arranged.

Dawson had initially suggested that the main character’s intermediate stage be designed to be a small, crowded apartment, but he had a more interesting idea: “I thought it would not be bad if the main character returned to his parents’ house and took a step. Spend there and then go to the new house. “In this way, we could revisit a house we had visited before and experience a sense of nostalgic moments for the main character in this house.”

“Returning to the parents’ home had its own meaning and was an important milestone in the development of the main character,” Dawson said. “I think at the time, he had given up football and turned to karate, listening to bands and people like April Levine .” “The most interesting part of the details for me at this stage was that another football award was added to the main character’s objects, but much smaller and less important than the previous award; “The subject that makes the audience think to themselves that perhaps the peak of the main character’s football was at the age of 10 (the time of receiving the previous big award) and that he has not made much progress since then.”

In general, different objects are designed in such a way that each has its own importance, and the goal of the game creators was that the audience remembers various objects and in different time periods, sees them in different houses and thinks about the game story. . Audiences who follow the game more closely will also notice more interesting events; Like a purple glass that is healthy at first, but later leaves a crack and the main character goes to another use, namely the location of the toothbrush and toothpaste.

Of course, although the story of Unpacking is very important to Bryer and Dawson and they want the players to communicate well with it, but these two game developers were also aware of the fact that some players do not have the patience to follow the story and only want to play with the game. Have fun. Because of this, the gameplay alone is so satisfying and entertaining that this group of people also enjoy it a lot.

The simple user interface, far from any complexity of the game, is designed for this very reason, and it can be used very quickly. The only thing the game developers realized in the initial tests was that some of the testers and people who tested the game did not know that it was possible to rotate and change the angle of objects, so in the final version, this was announced to the player from the beginning. It becomes.Among the gadgets of the main character of Unpacking game, you can also see consoles such as Gimbo, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox 360 and him.

In general, the simplicity of the Unpacking game interface has been one of the main goals of the production team, and Dawson said: “The thing I really like about the game is that when you start the first stage, you only see one icon for the menu at the top left of the image The icon on the top right is for zooming in and out, and there is no other icon or menu. Then you open the boxes and when the camera comes out of one of the boxes, the photography mode (Photo Mode) is available to you and its icon is added to the game. But this happens gradually and we tried from the beginning not to confuse the player with multiple icons. “Another icon is the star, which arrives at the end of the stage.”

The stages of the game gradually get bigger and when the third stage is reached, the house map is provided to the player; Because the number of rooms in the house has reached such a level that the player can not move between them at the previous speed. Such events take place very subtly in the game so that all audiences can communicate well with it and not get caught up in its complexities.

Another case concerns the design of game items whose creators have tried to use the Skeuomorphic UI atmosphere; A user interface that shows the actual shape of the items in small dimensions so that everyone can easily understand the meaning of those items, such as smartphone icons that do not matter if you are a young techie or an old person unfamiliar with mobile phones, just the clock or calculator icon See to see what you are up to.

The main character of Unpacking is very interested in video games, and in this picture, you can also see the GameCube and Xbox 360 consoles.

One of the first things a player encounters in Unpacking is the albums that are used as profiles and must be selected by entering one of the first steps. According to Bryer, the same albums were originally intended to be used, but after a while they decided to go for Scrapbook, a notebook in which one writes their memoirs, draws, pastes photos and stickers, and so on. But in the end, they went back to the ideal of the album and found it more suitable for their game; As it now seems, all the stages of the game are photos that the main character is looking at in his album and remembers the previous years. The photos in this album are not professional and pre-programmed images, but snapshots that the main character takes from his room every time and puts them in the album.

One of the features of the independent game Unpacking is giving players high freedom of action to determine the location of various objects. That is, in most cases, objects can be placed in the environment as desired (of course, by considering the logic, not to put, for example, a bath towel in the room!). “I’m very happy to use this idea, and I’m happy to see that players can arrange their stuff to their liking and sometimes even create weird scenes,” Dawson said.

After completing each step, you can use the Replay feature to create a GIF of how objects are arranged; Something like the GIF that the game’s creators had prepared to introduce a few years ago. At first, the idea of ​​such a thing did not cross the minds of the two main designers of the game, until Sanatana Mishra , one of the founders of Witch Beam Studio, proposed it. “It was a very interesting idea and we welcomed it, but we soon realized that it was very complicated to implement,” Bryer says with a laugh. “We did not have much time to do this, and we went to implement the idea at the last possible opportunity.”

“It was very difficult to design this section, and it caused a lot of bugs in a row,” Dawson said. “But in the end we managed to do it, and later I really enjoyed seeing the creativity of the people in this section, and I realized that we did not try in vain.” Dawson’s reference to the players’ creations is related to things like the following clip; A video posted on Twitter by a fan of the game, in which we see a funny football match between the dolls, and the creator of this clip, by moving objects and then preparing its GIF, has managed to prepare a mass football match:

In the meantime, one of the creative ideas of the game creators is related to special items that the player can not put in the desired place and must look for another place that does not seem to be suitable for that item; An issue that some audiences may not have paid much attention to, but for interesting reasons.

The main character diploma is one of those items that we mentioned earlier. The other case concerns the stage when the main character leaves his friend’s partner’s house and returns to his parents’s house. At this stage, we are faced with a photo of the main character and his friend that no matter what we do, we can not put this photo on the table or in a suitable place, and finally we have to put it in a closet so that it is not in front of our eyes; An issue that shows the relationship between the two is broken and the main character no longer wants to see the image of his ex-boyfriend.Some Unpacking fans have come up with some interesting creations with the help of the Replay section, including showing a football game between dolls.

“Some people were so involved with this item that they told us the game was buggy and we could not put it in the right place,” Dawson said with a laugh. “They just had to look at the photo more carefully to understand the story!”

Objects that are of great storytelling do not end there, and for example, players are confronted with mountaineering tools as part of the Unpacking game, and after a while, a cane and painkillers arrive; Together, they create the mentality for the audience that the main character is a mountaineer and may one day fall and be injured.

In general, such points make it possible to imagine interesting stories in the mind, despite the minimal and elegant narration of the game and the lack of the use of multiple interfaces; “We wanted the story of the game to have the ability for everyone to have their own interpretation of their life experiences and to be as close to them as possible by putting themselves in the role of the main character,” Breyer said.

In addition to these special items, there were items that were originally supposed to enter the game but were eventually deleted and did not reach the final version. One of them was the main character’s stocking socks, which, according to Bryr, were not very attractive, and it was difficult to discern what exactly this item was from that angle. Another case was the jeans of the main character; Pants that might have been confused with the main character’s pants and thus gave way to a chino (linen pants).

With the help of various stickers, an interesting atmosphere can be given to the photos

They also designed a can of tomato sauce for the game, which they eventually decided to turn into a non-removable item; Because some audiences might be upset about not being able to open the refrigerator door and put the sauce in it. So the game’s creators placed it in a corner of the kitchen shelf to show that a friend of the main character had already left the sauce there.

The laptop of the main character’s friend was also supposed to be in the game, but it was removed by mistake! That is, the creators of the game did not intend to leave it out, but during the testing and testing process of the game, it was accidentally deleted, and they only realized this after the game was released!One of the items removed from the final version was a cat that occasionally moved around

The most interesting omission was a cat; The cat was supposed to be there before the main character entered the last house and could be picked up and put in the desired place like the other items. Then, when the player left the room and went to the other parts of the house and came back, the cat got up and sat down somewhere else. But the cat was removed from the final version for reasons such as the crowded environments of the stage and not having enough space to add related items such as food, soil box and cat tree (shelves for cat sleep and entertainment).

Unpacking game has been able to achieve many successes due to its different and unique shape and image; A work that, although Ren Bryer and Tim Dawson did the main work, they were not alone in this, and a few others came to their aid; From artist Angus Dolan , who helped them design many items, to Jeff Fondick , co-founder of Witch Beam Studios, who has extensive experience in the gaming industry and has produced 14,000 WAV audio files. Designed the sound of different objects and their interaction with the environment. He and his wife even dedicated one of the rooms in their house to sound recording (recording sound effects with things like tapping a glass or moving a book, etc.), and his wife helped a lot in this regard.

The standalone game sold 100,000 copies 10 days after its release and gradually gained more fans, and many may be waiting for its expansion pack. But Witch Beam Studio has no such intention. “We went for everything we wanted in this game and put all our big ideas into it and got it to the fans as a final product,” Dawson said. “People are asking us to publish more steps these days, but I do not know exactly what more should be added.”

“We wanted to tell a story, and we did it completely in this game,” Bryer said. Of course, he is not against producing another version of the game in the future, but if he does, he would prefer to work on the second version of Unpacking, not an add-on package, not so soon. “If I want to do this, I’ll not go to it so quickly because I’m so tired right now and I want to work on something other than unpacking,” he says with a laugh.

Unpacking showed once again that to produce an attractive effect, you do not need to use stunning and realistic graphics, and with the help of a small and comprehensive team, you can present products that entertain your audience in the best possible way; The feature is currently available for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox X Series and Xbox S Series , and GamePass subscribers can also access it.

If you have experienced this lovely game, tell us your interesting moments in it and which parts of the game you like the most.


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  1. […] playing Unpacking on Xbox Game Pass, PC, or Switch, players will need to get through 2012 to get to her later years. In order to […]

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