Some games stand out for having exceptional narratives, while others try to find a gameplay hook that will stick in player's minds. Many acclaimed titles find ways to blend these elements together in inseparable ways, such as 2018's indie platformer darling Celeste. Finish Line Games' upcoming physics-based puzzle platformer Skully looks to have a similar appeal going for it, with a narrative and world design that thoughtfully weaves into its core mechanics.
Skully is the third title to come out of the Toronto-based studio since it was founded in 2013. It follows Cel Damage HD, a remake of its owners' 2001 vehicular combat game on the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox; as well as Maize, a comedic narrative-driven adventure game about crazy scientists creating sentient corn people. According to Finish Line Games' Lead Designer Jason Canam, the goal with Skully was to take the narrative elements from Maize and add another level of "action, interactivity, and mechanical depth." Game Rant spoke with Canam about Skully's design process and the importance of finding a unifying thread to base a video game around.
The initial driver for Skully was its gameplay Canam said, as the team was attempting to create a unique platforming character with interesting mechanics. Skully is a literal skull reanimated by an elemental deity named Terry who sends it on a journey across the island he shares with his siblings to stop a disastrous family feud. It can move and jump in 3D space just like Mario, but because Skully is spherical its movements when landing are "unpredictable," and require players to be vigilant and make adjustments all the time. The character can also access pools of magical clay throughout the island that act as checkpoints and allow Skully to create one of three bodies with different utilities to advance through the world.
Using clay was a "natural" evolution that the team came to quickly when imagining what kind of tactile elements a rolling skull might come into contact with, and that drove the rest of the game's design. Narratively, having Skully be created by an earth deity in a family of elemental forces led to a world design where much of the harm comes from elements like water that dissolve the clay. The art direction also leaned into more naturalistic locales like beaches and volcanoes with no cities, temples, or other architecture — quite the opposite of maps in games like Cyberpunk 2077, designed by real-life city planners. Canam said having this kind of focus helps to avoid arbitrary design choices or explanations.
"As always is the challenge when you're doing design for a game, you want to make sure you have a constant thread. [We] try our best to have a purpose for these things."
Skully had an extended prototyping phase according to Canam, and proper development began in January of 2019 once the mechanical ideas and art style were finalized and approved. Because of this "front-ended" process, development was "fluid" and the game was finished by March 2020, after which it was announced to the public in May with an August release date. The short reveal-to-release window is "welcome and appropriate," Canam said, as he is more concerned about making the mistake of having a game be announced years before anything concrete is revealed. This kind of issue with lingering hype is not uncommon, as seen with titles like Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls 6.
Part of that development involved creating a demo for outside feedback. The demo took the first three hours of the game and condensed them into a 15-minute package, Canam said. Much of what Finish Line Games was told is it proved to be "overwhelming" due to all the options provided by Skully and its three clay forms. The idea of keeping more of a smooth difficulty curve emerged from this, that way "there's only one thing players have to put their energy and thought processes into at a time."
That gradual introduction of new abilities meshed with the creation of seven different ecosystems across the island for Skully to explore, each of which appears multiple times and denotes a certain challenge level: Beaches being easier with smoother terrain, while volcanoes are fraught with dangers and harder platforming puzzles. Inspiration from Rare's Donkey Kong Country series also contributed to this overall world design, as the periodic return of the different naturalistic biomes mimics DKC's repeating environment types.
As much as taking the time to create a unifying thread for Skully's gameplay, narrative, and art design helped to streamline its development process, it became more challenging with the onset of the global coronavirus pandemic earlier this year. Canam said they reached its hardest bugs and "most critical polish" when the team was spread out working from home, but that they deserve credit for staying productive all the same. He adds that Finish Line Games' management was "way ahead of the curve" setting up architecture so the team could hit the ground running once social distancing mandates were enacted.
Their primary means of communication post-COVID-19 has been the messaging and voice chat application Discord, where members have been using live mics near constantly during work hours to keep a flow of conversation. Canam said that it helps to dissuade any feelings of being isolated or lonely when he can always talk with his coworkers about what's on their minds, or throw around references to The Simpsons at random moments to keep everyone on their toes.
"From talking to other people about working from home, I know the one thing we haven't lost is the social element, which is nice."
The closeness of the team at Finish Line Games speaks to the process of developing Skully, which came out on the other end of its extended pre-production period ready for the group working on its family-driven narrative to "join hand-in-hand" with the gameplay side. From its conception, Skully was a high-quality, single-player experience for fans of puzzle games and 3D platformers alike to enjoy; one that can be completed by anyone but rewards completionists and speedrunners, according to Canam. These are ambitious goals, so it should be interesting to see how far they carry the reanimated skull.
Skully will be available August 4, 2020 for $29.99 0n PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.