Behind the Schemes: GRIS with Nomada Studio

Beautiful Barcelona where Nomada are making the equally beautiful game, GRIS. Well, this is Nomada Studio. We are in Barcelona in a neighborhood called Gracia, one of the probably most artistic neighborhoods in Barcelona.

You met at university? We met at University, yeah. Roger went to.

. . Well, he was studying in Montreal, a degree, and started working in Ubisoft.

So he told me they were having a nice time there in Montreal if I wanted to join, and then I followed them. So when you came back to Barcelona you both ended up working back at Ubisoft in Barcelona? Yep.

So at one point we went out on a birthday party with some friends and that's where we met Conrad who's the artist. So this was just serendipity? Yeah.

You went to a party with some friends, you were still working at Ubisoft, Yeah. Yeah exactly. and you met.

. . Super random.

Conrad entered the room. . .

Yep. Pretty much. We needed an artist, he had an idea of a game and he didn't know any programmers, so yeah, we just started chatting, everything went well and at some point we just decided to leave Ubisoft, focus on this, and let's do it.

This is your first game. Yeah. Why did you want to work on a game?

How did you come up with the idea? How long did you have it in your head? He had this pitch of a game where it starts in black and white and you bring colors back to the world, and we kinda started talking about mechanics or what could we do and everything, and we saw it was doable, was feasible, because it's very easy to get lost in huge projects when you start your small things.

We knew we wanted to keep the scope small to be able to finish it. But there was a bit of a, some crazy ideas at the beginning. There was a point that we were thinking about making the game like, drawing every frame of the game on paper and then scan it, and then put it in the computer and it's like, OK, that's probably too much.

OK very authentic, very real, and I know of some teams that have done that before. Yeah and props to them. Yeah it's amazing, it's a lot of work, but way too much work.

We still scan some watercolors, we scan some things. We spent much time figuring out which brush we should use or how we could add this kind of paper effect to the game. So we work for it to look like if it was a real thing but it's not.

Did you have to adapt or maybe even compromise what you wanted to do artistically in any way to make it work in a game? The most empty development shedule I've ever seen. Yes!

But at the beginning, especially the first year, we had a lot of post-its saying like, OK we have a milestone here, we have to do that, that, that. But I like it because you walk in here, you look, you think development schedule, you're expecting something really busy, and you get. .

. It fits with the whole. .

. Yeah. Ahh I can breathe.

Not too stressful. No stress, no stress. How many people did you have at the peak of production?

At the peak I think I would say 17 or 18. Maybe there's only four of you who ever worked in video games? Yeah four or five top.

I think that the type of game we have is so artistic that it makes sense that most of the people were artists that were working on the game. The music is quite amazing as well. How did you find these guys?

Twitter. Twitter! Connecting creatives all over the world since 2006.

I remember Conrad told us, well I know this band that maybe they could suit very well this game, and we listened to it and we were like, wow that's really, really good. Berlinist is a band based in Barcelona. During the last year we made a couple of albums Oh yeah?

and also it seems that we make music for video games. It seems like you're making music for video games now. How did you end up making music for GRIS?

First is that he contacted us because we worked together, but also because he knew that I am a gamer so it was easier for him also to. . .

he had the perfect music for his game, but also he could have a fluid communication with me explaining how the game had to be structured and so on. So how long ago was this when you first started talking about it? Two and a half years ago.

So at that point there was no game. What did he give you to work with? How did you know what to do with the music?

So Conrad just in two seconds he drew a landscape that later will become what it is now. He's like, this is it. So from here the story begins, this is the protagonist, this is the landscape, imagine this world and so on, and from that moment everything started.

What I think the GRIS soundtrack is really missing is some solid percussion. What kind of gameplay would you say the game has? Well it's a, I would say it's a 2D platformer with puzzles and some platforming challenges, but from the beginning we always wanted to make something accessible.

All in all it's kind of an experience. We kind of like to say it's a big mix of Inside, Journey and Ori and the Blind Forest, but taking a bit from everywhere. Did you come up with art elements and say, here, what can you do with this?

Did they come with gameplay elements and say we need something for this gameplay element? How did that work? So how did you come up with the whole thing of attaching the abilities to the dress?

This is like a metaphor, OK. Let's say that there is a few elements in the game that for us represent something. Like for example the dress could represent, let's say, the ability, or how she grows and how she gains new things.

That's something that happens to all of us in life, it's like new tools you get when you are growing that will help you to overcome problems, so let's say that that's a way of expressing her maturity, in a way, that makes sense in the story that we have behind it. One of the most amazing things that I think you've done with this game is create something that is so emotional. As I said I was doing a demo last week, just rehearsing a demo, and someone came up to me at the end with tears in her eyes just from watching my awful demo practice on screen, she was just.

. . I mean, have you experienced that a lot, people's reactions?

Has it surprised you? Yeah there was I think a guy from Famitsu was it? In PAX no?

Yeah in PAX, who cried playing the game also, which is pretty impressive. When I played the first few times, the combination of the music, of course I know a bit the story, but the music, the art and I think that the pace, that when it brings you to some moments in the game, particularly when you reveal either new colors or whatever, there's a few scenes that the music it actually just gets you there, I don't know. I don't know why, it gets me as well.

It puts a bit of a tear in your eye even just because of the music, the art, and what you think is happening. It feels something. Yeah you get goosebumps.

Yeah. I think at some point of the game you can be really moved for what is going on on the screen, especially 3 or 4 moments of the game. It's a game that wants you to feel moved, to ask what is going on, what is the story about, what is happening to GRIS?

So you're approaching the end of this project. How do you feel now? Alright.

- I'm really happy. I want holidays. - That's amazing.

I want holidays, yeah, me too! I just need to rest. No, you're supposed to be nervous, you're supposed to be scared and thinking, what if everybody hates it, no?

No, I think we're pretty happy with the end result. Yeah. We're just kind of nervous now, we're waiting for.

. . I know why, I know why, this is because you're programmers not artists.

We are robots, we don't have feelings. Honestly I think we really had an amazing experience doing it, it was a great thing we did it. I think the end product is very similar to what we had in mind, so we are very happy with the results, so I hope people like it but if they don't it's like, well I'm sorry but we like it, we think it's a really good thing.

I think you should try it, because even though you might think it's not your type of game, you should try, honestly. It's a really special thing and we put our hearts in it. Well I'm really anxious to play it alone, in my home.

I just hope the best for the game. I can't see just the music. I always look at the game as a whole.

I'm very happy right now.