Noah Lone, also known by the handle SomeHumbleOnion, is hard at work bringing Shumi Come Home to life for a projected 2023 launch. The cozy and casual indie exploration title sees players take on the role of a two-inch mushroom who has been separated from his family in a big forest. The game is primarily driven by exploration, with familiar open-world mechanics around platforming, gliding, and climbing, as well as some light puzzle-solving elements.
Shumi Come Home's next big moment will be at Jirard "The Completionist" Khalil's IndieLand charity livestream, scheduled to run from Friday, November 11 until Sunday, November 13. During the stream, Lone hopes to connect with gamers as a developer, and answer questions about the upcoming title. Lone spoke with Game Rant about the titles that inspired and shaped Shumi, including A Short Hike, Breath of the Wild, and Pikmin.
Keeping Things Short and Sweet
Before starting work on Shumi, Lone was working on an extremely ambitious project that left him no time to promote, as building the game's foundation swallowed all of his time. The catalyst that inspired Lone to take on a smaller, more wholesome project was indie developer Adam Robinson-Yu's A Short Hike.
"I ended up playing A Shot Hike around the end of the development of that game, and I was like 'Wow, this is amazing!' because I hadn’t really played that many short games before, and I was super inspired. I absolutely fell in love with that title."
Lone said he has come to prefer shorter experiences, becoming his "go-to style of game." The wider gaming industry is awash with 100-plus hour experiences, and Lone feels even eight-to-nine hour games can be too much of a time commitment. He prefers playing creative, emotionally impactful games in a single sitting rather than longer-running, interminable games. But that's not to say Shumi isn't borrowing from larger, more epic titles. Lone attributes the game's gliding system to Breath of the Wild, which he admires as a trendsetting mechanic.
A Pikmin-Esque World in Shumi Come Home
While Shumi Come Home draws its concise creative format from A Short Hike, and its mechanical emphasis on exploration from Breath of the Wild, the aesthetic owes an unquestionable debt to another beloved Nintendo franchise.
"Pikmin is my all-time favorite game series. Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2 are my favorite games ever. Love them to death. Been playing them since I was a kid. Just the environment alone in those games, where you play as tiny plant creatures, but you are on Earth, so objects and things seem huge - I love that."
Lone said Shumi's story takes place on Earth at a time when humans are not present, which is another commonality with the Pikmin franchise. While many games play with scale in interesting ways - Obsidian's survival-crafting game Grounded springs to mind - Pikmin was one of the most notable early series that allow players to interact with a world on a minute level. While the real-time strategy franchise heavily features combat, its cute character designs, emphasis on puzzle-solving, and wholesome narrative could also make it an early predecessor to today's cozy games.
Shumi Come Home Takes Notes from Adventure Time
Lone is hoping to tug at gamers' heartstrings with Shumi while maintaining an upbeat, humorous, and generally light-hearted vibe throughout. To balance those elements, he is drawing writing inspiration from Cartoon Network's Adventure Time. The show is generally surreal and hilarious, but Lone noted dialogue and plot can occasionally take detours into more serious situations. Adventure Time is also known for its eclectic cast of characters, and Lone said Shumi will encounter many distinctive entities throughout his travels.
Fans of cozy games and wholesome experiences will want to keep an eye on Shumi Come Home's development, as will those with a fondness for Adventure Time and A Short Hike. But the title should be especially welcome to fans of Pikmin waiting for the fourth entry in Nintendo's plant-plucking franchise. Fortunately, gamers might not have to wait long to dive into Shumi's world.
Shumi Come Home launches on Steam and Switch in 2023. The game will appear as part of IndieLand 2022 on Saturday, November 12 at 6:00 a.m. PST.