Wolfeye Studiosmay only have one game under its belt so far, 2022’sWeird West, but this won’t be the case for too much longer. The first details, along with screenshots, of its new unnamed project have emerged. Alongside this news, Wolfeye president Raphael Colantonio and CEO Julien Roby have begun to share details like howthis immersive sim is comparable toPreyin scope.
In an interview with Game Rant, Colantonio and Roby sat down to discuss all things game development. They also gave some insight into the difference between working on bigger-budget AAA titles, and smaller,indie games. Having worked on projects of varying sizes, the two veterans were keen to explain that each has pros and cons, but ultimately it seems their preference lies somewhere between the two.
Wolfeye Studios Devs Explain the Variables of Game Development
While thebig-budget production values of a AAA titlecan serve as a huge pull for many gamers, this can sometimes come at the expense of other equally important things. Bigger expectations, spiraling costs, and the sheer number of people working on the project, among other things, can result in a difficult development cycle. When it comes to development cycles in the indie and AAA spaces, Colantonio stressed the importance of getting the team size just right:
“I think in an ideal world, you’d have a small team working on a big game…To me, working on a game with 1000 people would not work. I would hate that. We can do much more now than with the same number or with a smaller number of people than we could some years ago.
Ideally, I want to make the most impressive company in games as long as I can keep a good-sized team. That’s where we draw the line. It’s like, are we getting inhuman at this point where we don’t even know people’s names? That’s not fun.
The Wolfeye Studios Developers Have Carved Their Own Path
For many developers, the size of most projects they get to work on is out of their hands (to a certain degree). This means that things like team sizes and budgets are not always factors they can influence. However, for Colantonio and Roby, this is not the case. Colantonio was keen to point out just how lucky they both are.Since he founded Arkanein 1999, they have always been able to work on projects they have actively wanted to, unlike some of his other friends in the industry. As Colantonio explained,
“I think that we are super lucky because, if I compare it to a lot of my friends in the industry in general, there’s always someone who works on something they don’t really want to work on. We are super lucky that, I would say for our entire career, we’ve always worked on things we wanted to work on. We’ve decided our own road. We say ‘we want to go there,’ and then we make it happen.’’
Colantonio and Roby’s success at Arkane over the years has allowed them to focus on creating immersive sims that they felt passionately about. This seems to be the vision for Wolfeye Studios moving forward. With thesuccessful launch ofWeird Westalready under their belt, all eyes will now be on the next game, which they seem confident will be another hit for fans of their previous titles.
