Sahlin talks about how they have tried to bring something unique to every level and assign a slightly different tone to each part of the journey while making do with the same core set of tools. On the game design front, the team at Coldwood has worked hard to translate these emotions into challenging yet moving adventures. And the realisation that these bonds can be very strong if we look after them, if we take care of them but it does take effort." "I guess it's slightly related to" - he sighs deeply at this point, and then explains it in words - "the fear of ending up alone or something like that. And that's I guess what the game symbolises to me in many ways - just longing for someone," says Sahlin. We didn't want it to be just cute and sweet, we wanted it to have a certain sadness as well because, you know, we have all longed for someone sometime. And that's something Sahlin wanted to explore with Unravel. With that, being all by yourself can easily be the other side of the coin. As people grow older, they make less of an effort to stay in touch with their loved ones. The yarn represents love, and the puzzles and problems players will face in-game are a representation of the difficulties you must overcome to reach people in your life. "It is definitely a symbol, of course," he explains. Moreover, the yarn isn't merely a gameplay tool, as can be deduced from the game's origins.
Although the yarn will be a factor in some chapters and require you to take a strategic approach, Sahlin and his team have used it sparingly to avoid gamer frustration. In Unravel, the player controls Yarny, who loses yarn as he walks and must complete his journey without fully unravelling.
#UNRAVEL TWO STORY PC#
( Also see: Unravel to Launch for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on February 9) That was basically when I figured out more about how the game would feel, what types of abilities he would have," adds Sahlin. And the gameplay sort of developed as I created this yarn doll, and started playing with it. "The character and the theme of the game were the first things created. Meanwhile, the game's protagonist Yarny, an adorable made-of-yarn character the size of your phone, which along with his maker has been the recipient of much Internet love over the last year, came to life on a camping trip in Sweden. "So that was the moment where it was all born," Sahlin tells Gadgets 360 over a Skype call. The song's opening lines: "While you are away, my heart comes undone / Slowly unravels, in a ball of yarn" got Sahlin to think about creating a video game where the bonds between people were real physical bonds. Although the world might know Unravel from its rather emotional presentation at E3 2015, life for the Electronic Arts-published physics platformer began, of all places, at a wedding.Ī friend of Martin Sahlin, creative director at indie developer Coldwood Interactive, was singing Björk's "Unravel".