{"id":882,"date":"2020-10-20T06:37:22","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T11:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/ggndev\/?p=882"},"modified":"2020-10-20T06:37:24","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T11:37:24","slug":"an-interview-with-the-creator-of-specular-stranded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ghostgamer.news\/an-interview-with-the-creator-of-specular-stranded\/","title":{"rendered":"An interview with the creator of Specular Stranded"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Just last week I was mindlessly scrolling through Reddit, when my brain registered something new on the Splinter Cell subreddit: A video of someone in a space suit creeping through darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After I watched the video, I was immediately intrigued. I reached out to Patrick and asked if he\u2019d subject himself to an interview so we can talk further about his new game, Specular Stranded. He\u2019s such a great sport that he said yes, and here\u2019s the results of that interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WFL: What prompted you to make Specular Stranded?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n PF: I had been travelling across Asia for the past 7 months from the Summer of 2019 until March of 2020. I had intended to go to South America after Asia but unfortunately the trip was cut short due to the Coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suddenly, I had found myself back at home, with no full-time job (I had quit to go travelling) and a lot of free time. I had always wanted to make a game and release it on Steam. It was sort of a bucket list item to me, like travelling the world. I realised that I would probably never have this much free time again in my life, so I decided to make a game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WFL: What made you come up with the title?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n PF: I struggled with a title for a while. One day, while writing an outline for the game\u2019s story, I decided to name the ship that the player is stranded on \u2018The Specular\u2019. Then it just became obvious: \u2018Specular Stranded\u2019. My little wink at Black Hawk Down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my opinion, there are simply not enough hardcore stealth games being released and those that call themselves \u2018stealth games\u2019 tend to rely heavily on action to appeal to a wider audience. <\/em><\/p>-Patrick<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n WFL: What are your primary sources of inspiration for the game?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n PF: Some of my favourite games of all time are the original three Splinter Cell games, especially Chaos Theory. In my opinion, there are simply not enough hardcore stealth games being released and those that call themselves \u2018stealth games\u2019 tend to rely heavily on action to appeal to a wider audience. This alienated me from the genre, and I suspect for many others too [WFL: Preaching to the choir with this audience]<\/em>. Gone were the tactics of hiding in shadows, being patient, learning patrol routes. It was now all about just shooting whoever you came across without much reason to be silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wanted to change this and make a game that went back to the roots of stealth games. So, I replayed the original Splinter Cell games and noted down the features that I felt embodied stealth. I had also recently played Dead Space and loved the claustrophobic atmosphere of being stuck on this ship, in space with your enemy. I decided to combine the playstyle of Splinter Cell with a Sci-Fi vibe and that was the origin of Specular Stranded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n