Yellow Brick Games’ Eternal Strands serves as a heartfelt homage to some of the most cherished action-adventure titles in gaming history, skillfully blending features from iconic games like Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colossus, Dragon’s Dogma, and even Monster Hunter into an exciting new experience. Although this marks the first release for Yellow Brick Games, the team behind it boasts a wealth of industry expertise, with many members bringing decades of experience to the table. This extensive background is evident in various aspects of the game, from intricate level design to resource management, but the standout element of Eternal Strands is undoubtedly its innovative physics systems, which play a crucial role in shaping the gameplay experience.
To ensure that these powers are not only effective but also enjoyable to use, Yellow Brick Games has developed a comprehensive set of systems that enhance the gameplay experience. These systems are designed to make the world of Eternal Strands feel alive and responsive to the player’s actions. The directors, Mike Laidlaw and Frederic St-Laurent, shared insights with Game Rant about their vision for transforming the open-world environment into a powerful tool for players, effectively making it a key component of the gameplay.
Eternal Strands Uses Complex Physics-Based Thermodynamics
In the world of Eternal Strands, Brynn possesses a remarkable ability to harness her powers, allowing her to shape the environment and interact with various creatures. One of her key skills is Telekinesis, which enables her to lift and hurl objects, including adversaries, with ease. However, it is her mastery over the thermodynamic elements of Frost and Flame that truly expands her capabilities, providing players with a deeper understanding of her diverse skill set. The game’s directors, Mike Laidlaw and Frederic St-Laurent, emphasized that the mechanics behind these thermodynamic abilities are intricately woven into the fabric of the game, influencing every aspect of gameplay.
Laidlaw emphasizes that a significant hurdle in creating an engaging experience lies in ensuring that the powers players wield not only feel satisfying but also interact meaningfully with the world of Eternal Strands and its adversaries. He describes the challenge as crafting a thermodynamic system that goes beyond the traditional concept of heat merely representing fire damage. Instead, he envisions a dynamic where heat is quantified and can cross specific thresholds, influencing gameplay in a more profound way.
“Instead of going for more of the classic recipe, which would be: you have this power. How does this power interact with this object, this object, this object, this object, etc.? We go with ‘Here’s the power, here’s the simulation, physics-based and thermodynamics-based, so heat and cold. How does this power speak to this, and then how does the object in the world speak to the simulation?'”
Designing an Open World That Could Be Used as a Weapon Presented Some Challenges for Yellow Brick Games
Creating a semi-open world that incorporates thermodynamic principles and features interactive environmental elements posed significant challenges for Yellow Brick Games. Laidlaw emphasizes that the focus on extensive destruction, where the character Brynn can tear down pillars or harness her Frost and Flame abilities to manipulate the surroundings, necessitated a careful design approach. Each environmental asset had to be meticulously crafted to ensure they had realistic weight and properties, allowing them to respond appropriately to Brynn’s actions.
St-Laurent emphasizes that identifying the various parameters for every element within the game was likely the most significant hurdle faced during the development of Eternal Strands. This intricate task involved a deep dive into the mechanics and materials that make up the game world, presenting a unique challenge that required careful consideration and creativity.
The end result, of course, is Eternal Strands where the world is the player’s weapon.