FWA Feature: A talk with the lead designer of Capucine

As revealed last week, there is a new Wii adventure game by an unknown French team of game design students in the works. Titled Capucine, the game is an eerie adventure title that focuses on exploration. While the game isn't exactly for the Wii, it does use the Wii remote and Nunchuck.

Capucine takes place in a world where everything is dead. The main character is an eight-year old girl who in possession of two items: a flower, the Capucine; and a beam of light that she can cast from her own hands. The purpose of the game is to prevent the world from dying.

I recently managed to get in touch with Yohan Cazauk, the lead designer for Capucine in order to gain a better understanding of the game. Hit the big, bold "ADVANCE" to read on.

Ishaan: OK, first off; Would you like to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your team?

Yohan: My name is Yohan Cazaux and I'm 24. I'm a French student at Supinfogame ( a Game Design school). This is my last year of studies, and with 5 other classmates I've worked all the year on Capucine, our final study project.

Ishaan: Does your team have a name or do you plan to give it one?

Yohan: Yes, we've called it "NoCulture Team" because of someone who told us last year that we had a lack of culture when we presented the concept of Capucine for the first time.

Ishaan: Hahaha. Well, Capucine certainly does look like it doesn't cater to any one culture in particular. That, in my opinion, is a good thing.

Yohan: Yes, we would like to make the game as widely appealing as possible.

Ishaan: From a gamer's perspective, Capucine looks very intriguing. It seems to be an adventure game, and the official site says that it emphasizes exploration and a tale "based on shadow and light". Could you elaborate a little on this?

Yohan: Yes, Capucine is an adventure game, but a quiet adventure We had favoured exploration side rather than pure action. "Shadow and light" sum up the gameplay mechanics. Your only way to interact with the game is the lightbeam, and with it you've got to push back the shadow, but you also can create it : both notions are opposite but interdependent.

Yohan: For the tale aspect, as I said, we would like to make a universal game, and for us tales are universal. Everyone, adult or child can find sense in their stories.

Ishaan: The site says "Young adults and Adults interested in tales". So, does this mean that the game will be understandable by people 13-14 years of age?

Yohan: Absolutely. 13-14 is a good age for players to understand the gameplay and the subtlety of Capucine. Of course, younger people can play the game as well, but they might miss some things.

Ishaan: But at the same time, the game will also appeal to older gamers? I'm guessing that's where the "Quiet and disturbing" aspect of the game comes into play?

Yohan: Well, I hope older games will enjoy the game. It was mainly designed for them. Our target is those people who like video games but are looking for a different gameplay experience. The disturbing aspect of the game comes from the dynamic enemy creation, which propels the player to be careful in his actions.

Ishaan: So, the prototype platform is the PC and the final platform will be the Wii?

Yohan: As students, we don't have access to the Wii devkits. Moreover, we're not programmers or graphic artists, so we've decided to make a mod for an existing game. It allows us to use powerful tools and simplify our work. But in order to carry out Wii gameplay, you can play on the PC with a Wiimote and Nunchuk.

Ishaan: So, what existing game does this one modify?

Yohan: We've chosen Farcry. The Cryengine can display lots of vegetation and large areas. And the editor "Sandbox" is pretty well designed, especially for team work.

Ishaan: Will the final game eventually be playable on the Wii or do you plan to make it a PC game with Wiimote/Nunchuck controls?

Yohan: Well, we don't know if a "final game" will exist one day. Capucine is just a prototype, and so it will stay on the PC with Wiimote/Nunchuk controls available.

Ishaan: Will it be playable with the keyboard and mouse as well?

Yohan: Yes, both controls are possible because synchronising the Wiimote on PCs isn't so easy for novices. You need a Wiimote, Bluetooth etc...

Ishaan: Coming back to the actual look and feel of the game itself, what did you look to for inspiration while coming up with the concept for Capucine?

Yohan: I was very inspired by the lyrics of a french song, "La fleur" for the original concept. It’s from this song that we came up with the flower concept; the "Capucine". The team was also inspired by various movies, especially Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo Del Toro and all traditional tales. And as far as video games are concerned, we were inspired by Ico - by its poetry and its amazing graphics.

Ishaan: Judging by what you said, it sounds like you plan to focus on the music in Capucine to a great extent.

Yohan: Yes, music is very important. It gives a real identity to the game. Our composer, Soheil Forouhi has put together some very impressive work, and voluntarily.

Ishaan: Could you tell us a little about the gameplay mechanics? How does the flower come into play?

Yohan: First, the flower is a part of the character - it's her life. Without the flower, the child's life starts to decrease. That's why the shadows are trying to steal the flower. They can't hurt directly the character.

Secondly, in order to preserve life in the game, the player has to make water circulate in the world. Without water, nature will die. The flower can serve as a substitute for water. If the player puts it down near to a tree for example, the tree won't die. But by putting down the flower, the child's life starts to decrease... it's a dilemma for the player, and it's very interesting.

Ishaan: So, basically, your purpose is to use the flower to keep the world alive? What about the "beam of light"?

Yohan: Well, the flower helps you to keep the world alive, until you "unblock" water to it. The light beam is the way for the girl to transmit her life to the environment. I say "transmit" because when she's using it, her life decreases. But she can retrieve life soaking by the flower in water. The beam is the only way to interact with the world. Everything in the universe of Capucine revolves around light. There are 3 ways to use the beam : continuous lighting, rhythm lighting and movement lighting.

But if the player uses too much time of the light beam on an element, the shadow of this element will come alive and attack them.

Ishaan: So, it's about timing and using your lightbeam and flower in careful amounts?

Yohan: Exactly.

Ishaan: That sounds rather interesting. Also, this is an adventure title ... does story play a big role in the game?

Yohan: Not really. The player doesn't know who the child is and how she got there. Giving away too many details about her background would ruin the mystery and the atmosphere. We prefer that players dream up their own story, as in a tale.

Ishaan: Sounds good. How far into development is the game?

Yohan: The prototype is practically finished. We're going to present it in front of professionals on Friday at school, in order to confirm our degree. So we're just polishing it right now.

Ishaan: And how do you plan to release the game to consumers? Digital distribution or DVDs?

Yohan: A few days after the presentation, the game will be downloadable for free as a Farcry mod on our website. For the moment, we don't plan to make money with Capucine.

Ishaan: Excellent! So, any plans after you graduate?

Yohan: Yes, all the students have to undergo a training period and I'll start mine in July. After that, we're going to find a job.

Ishaan: In gaming?

Yohan: Yes, in video game design.

Ishaan: That sounds great. Do you have anything you'd like to add before we wrap up?

Yohan: We want to thank you and all the people on the web for their interest and support! Young and unknown game designers never get to express themselves often enough.

Yohan is set to intern at Ubisoft Paris after he graduates, where he hopes to land a permanent job. The very best of luck to him and the rest of NoCulture!