1: What's your background in making games?

I've always dreamed of making games since I first boot up my Super Famicom, but life took a weird turn when I majored in Graphic Design thinking that it is the major to make games. It is not until I went to graduate school (Carnegie Mellon University, Entertainment Technology) 5 years ago that I really have the opportunity to make games. I also met my buddy Brian there and we founded Team Signal (now SIGONO), and we have been making games ever since.

2: How much time did you spend working on the game?

We started developing OPUS in the beginning of May 2015, and the first version of the game is finished in about 6 months.

3: How did you come up with the concept?

OPUS took a unique approach when it comes to concept development. Normally we come out with a cool gameplay mechanic, and start expanding from there, but we thought that was not enough to make a lasting impression for the players. For OPUS, we started with a phrase containing a feeling of emotion, which is "From loneliness to affluence through exploring", and then we start to piece together the story, art, music, and gameplay, all fitting to the emotion we wanted to convey.

4: What development tools did you use?

OPUS is made with Unity, along with Adobe Suite for graphic assets, and lots and lots of Google Docs.

5: What were the significant changes between the presented games and games you developed before?

Mostly answered in question 3, we developed OPUS with a central emotion first, and throughout the development we only focus on adding content that conveys that emotion, even the gameplay needs to convey that emotion strongly. All of our previous games all started with a cool gameplay mechanic, and then trying to add emotion on top of it.

6: What is your goal as a game developer?

Develop games that can instantly connect with the players emotionally through experiencing it, while still be able to sustain ourselves by doing so.

7: Please write a message to future SOWN attendees regarding your expectation and feeling about being selected to be a finalist.

We have been striving to create something that is meaningful for us, and words can't describe how happy we were when we found out OPUS has been nominated, it seems like we've created something that is meaningful for more than just us. For all the attendees of TGS, please do come by our booth and say hi!

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