{"id":149997,"date":"2023-02-20T18:39:44","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T10:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/d27fq2mgp64qlg.cloudfront.net\/en\/?p=149997"},"modified":"2023-02-20T20:26:04","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T12:26:04","slug":"thymesia-dev-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d27fq2mgp64qlg.cloudfront.net\/en\/post\/149997\/thymesia-dev-interview","title":{"rendered":"Thymesia Interview – The Inspirations Behind One of 2022’s Best Souls-Like"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2022 saw the release of many Souls-like games, but that year also saw the release of Thymesia<\/strong><\/a>, one of the more impressive soul-like games developed by Taiwanese studio OverBorder. The game has you play as a plague doctor slicing up enemies with a sword, parrying knife, and a magical plague claw, uncovering the stories and enemies locked behind his memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We got to talk to Ross Huang, Lead Game Designer for Thymesia to get an inside look at what development was like for Thymesia. We talked about what challenges they’ve encountered and lessons learned during development, and how some of the game’s most unique mechanics came to be from just a studio of 7 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re interested in learning more about one of the best Souls-like games from 2022, read on to see what makes Thymesia truly distinguish from the sea of Souls clones, while keeping true to the core tenants of the genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u258d<\/strong><\/span>Memories of Thymesia’s Influence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Q. Thymesia\u2019s story is one about memories, and exploring them plays a key part in the many levels and story segments. What was the inspiration behind telling the story, and presenting the levels in this way?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> This project was named Thymesia very early on. Thymesia means “memory” in Greek. We chose it because we liked the concept of memory and it sounded cool However, at that time, we didn\u2019t know how to tie the concept of memory into the story or gameplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one of our design meetings, we realized the process of recalling memories is actually very similar to the playthrough of a souls game. You piece together a result through trial and error. This concept soon became the main theme of the game. It also answers why the protagonist can revive over and over again in the game. That\u2019s because Corvus didn\u2019t actually die. He just keeps recalling different memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q. Thymesia is clearly inspired by Souls-likes and features parrying as a main form of defense, yet it feels very different from something like Sekiro. How did the team land on this specific control scheme, and what challenges came from developing a move that can deflect practically anything?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> Our game director is always a big fan of FromSoftware and Souls-like games. So from the beginning of the project, we decided we were going to make a souls-like game with a fluid combat system(At that time, Sekiro wasn\u2019t even announced yet.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest advantage of our final combat system is there’s always something you can do during combat. Unlike most Souls-like games, the player can only wait and dodge when the enemy is attacking. On top of that, all the defensive moves (deflect, dodge, and feather) are optional. You can choose to use any combination of them and still beat the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest challenge we encountered was actually how to explain the combat system to the player. Because our combat system borrows a lot from Souls-likes and action games, but we put them together in a different way. People unconsciously bring past experiences into Thymesia and expect different things. In order to solve this problem, we updated the tutorial level several times to make it better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q. Where\u2019d the idea come from to have 2 separate health bars, one that needs to be taken down with a weapon, and one with the claw? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>At first, we simply didn\u2019t want the player to finish the game by spamming just one single attack button. The white and green enemy health system was inspired by the medieval act of bloodletting practiced by plague doctors. In the past, people believe when the blood flows out, the virus also flows out. That’s why whenever Corvus deals damage to any enemy, he leaves wounds on them and the enemy emits some of their plague energy into the air. He can also use his claw to harvest the plague energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u258d<\/strong><\/span>On The Game’s Reception From Fans<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Q. Now that Thymesia has been released, is the team at OverBorder happy with the reception? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>Overall we are very happy with the result. That\u2019s because Thymesia is our first project and we had to release it after Elden Ring. Even though the two games have very different budgets, we were prepared for the inevitable comparisons. After release, the reviews were mostly very positive. Some players even say Thymesia has the best combat system in the souls-like genre except for the Nioh series. Those are the best remarks we could ask for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q. Speaking of reception, the Demo for Thymesia was released in early May, then the game was released in August. What kind of feedback did the game receive that made the team have to rethink parts of it or was the feedback all positive and as expected? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>Most of the feedback we got was about the responsiveness of the main character and the timing and hitbox of enemy attacks. We can tweak these numbers very easily, but they could make a world of difference. Many players and streamers were very surprised that we could make the game much better in such a short amount of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q. After a game\u2019s release, it’s not uncommon for players to find ways to break a game or push it to its limit. What\u2019s the most surprising thing you\u2019ve ever seen or heard from a player who picked up the game for the first time? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>Maybe because the playtime isn\u2019t that long for Thymesia, we didn\u2019t notice that many surprising things. One of the more impressive ones is a twitch streamer who just refused to use the claw attacks for some reason. When he faced the second boss, the hanged queen because she can regenerate health during some moves. That fight lasted almost half an hour. After he finally beat the hanged queen, we were all relieved because we were afraid he would just quit the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other than that, some of our favorite content creators also played our game and liked it. That all made us very happy and proud. (The developers then shared some of their favorite gameplay clips from fans).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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