Avalanche Studios Founder & Just Cause Creative Director Talks about "Zero-Nonsense Video Game Development" in His New Studio
His upcoming game, Samson, powered by Unreal Engine, was inspired by Mafia, Max Payne, The Last of Us, and Disco Elysium.
Christofer Sundberg, the founder of Avalanche Studios and Creative Director behind Just Cause, is now busy with his new studio, Liquid Swords, established in 2020, and his upcoming game, Samson, is something to look forward to.
Perhaps the most curious part of Liquid Swords is its "Zero-Nonsense Video Game Development" motto, which means "we cut the BS," he told Epic Games.
Liquid Swords
"We offer no filler features, no content for the sake of PowerPoint slides, and we don’t chase trends. We create only what earns its place in the game. Every system has a job. Every mechanic has weight. If something does not make the player feel tension, power, or consequence, it doesn’t make it into the game.
"Zero-nonsense is about respect. Respect for the player’s time and respect for the team’s craft, but also respect for the game itself. We ship fewer things, but every one of them hits like a freight train."
Liquid Swords
Now that's an approach I wish more companies had. Hopefully, it will help the studio make Samson a great game devoid of crunch and delays.
Samson is a character-driven action-adventure set in Tyndalston, "a city with a history of bad habits and a long memory."
"You play Samson McCray, a former enforcer and getaway driver, coming back to his hometown with a huge debt to pay off. After the St. Louis heist went completely sideways, his sister Oonagh made a deal with a group of criminals, meaning that Samson's and Oonagh's lives were spared, but only if Samson paid back what they owed, with interest."
Liquid Swords
Liquid Swords' zero-nonsense philosophy bleeds into the game's design: it is "tight, focused, and pressure-driven," with no grind or checklist open world. "You wake up, you owe money, the clock is ticking, and the city does not care how you feel about it."
"Every punch, crash, and choice matters. The world reacts. Systems overlap. Consequences stack. That, to us, is zero-nonsense design made playable."
Samson was inspired by the titans of the genre: Mafia, Max Payne, The Last of Us, Disco Elysium, as well as movies like Heat, The French Connection, Ronin, and Sicario: "The common thread is restraint. When something happens, it means something."
Your life will be brutal every game day, made harder by its mechanics: "Action Points limit what you can do in a day, while the debt tells you what you must do. Law Response and Debt Collectors punish how you do it. Together, they force hard decisions."
Liquid Swords
To make the world alive, the team used Unreal Engine and its many tools, such as World Partition, Unreal Insights, and various plugins and programs that are supported by the engine.
You can see what their combined power turned into when Samson launches. For now, you can check it out on its website.
Don't forget to subscribe to our Newsletter and join our 80 Level Talent platform, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, and Instagram, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.
