BIOMORPH
Biomorph, an anticipated release from Lucid Dreams Studio, invites players into the life of Harlo, a feline-esque character in search of discovering the mysteries of their past. The Biomorph demo displays incredibly beautiful visuals, and its 2D cutscenes remind me of cartoons I love. Harlo embarks on a journey navigating puzzles, leaping across platforms, and combating fascinating monsters.
During our interview, the developer brought up the game's nod to a certain endearing pink gumball. This inspiration shines through as players defeat monsters, absorbing and morphing into their abilities – a nod to the "morph" in the title. My experience in the demo allowed me to transform into a deer capable of plowing through obstructions and a mighty gorilla with the ability to shatter nearly anything in its path. Sounds good, right? But there's one small issue: the more you transform into these creatures, the more they learn from you as well. After my deer transformation, my deer adversary not only showcased its inherent skills to run, kick, and smash through obstacles but it was also able to hurl bubble-like projectiles my way. In Biomorph there are a plethora of creatures in the world — I can't wait to see how they upgrade themselves to challenge us.
Harlo is no slouch either, armed with a versatile arsenal. Biomorph equips players with close-combat and ranged weaponry, each with its respective enhancement paths. The ability to craft unique playstyles through a blend of distinct skills adds a layer of strategy. While I couldn't access it in the demo, there's an added city-building dimension set in Blightmoor. Players can rejuvenate Blightmoor, forging bonds with its denizens by diving deeper into their histories and the town. Personalizing the city also ensures every playthrough feels distinctly your own.
With its rich, nonlinear narratives, breathtaking landscapes, an ensemble of captivating characters, skill-based platforming, brain-teasing puzzles, and an adaptive combat system where foes evolve based on your tactics, Biomorph deserves a spot on your wishlist.
Sam: Alright guys, we're back here at PAX West 2023 and I am with Lucid Dreams. And go ahead and introduce yourself to the audience.
Maxime: Yeah, I'm Maxime Grégoire from Lucid Dreams Studio. I'm the CEO and co-founder and well, we're making 2D games that are fun and are for everybody.
Sam: Tell me a little bit about the game I just played.
Maxime: Yeah, Biomorph. Well, this is the second title that we've worked on. The first one was Legends of Ethernal and we released it about three years ago and now since then, we've been working on Biomorph. It's a Metroidvania, a 2D set in a dark science fantasy universe, and the thing, how we like to describe it, is like it's a blend of Hollow Knight meets Kirby.
Sam: I get that, yeah.
Maxime: In the sense that the creatures that you kill in the game, you can become these creatures and this is how you move around and even fight other creatures.
Sam: That's what finally he made the game and he says Biomorph, oh I am morphing into these things.
Maxime: Exactly, exactly.
Sam: With this game, I guess, what was the vision, why make this game?
Maxime: Well, we're huge fans of Metroidvania, first of all. And this is, when we did the first game it was mostly like a 2D single player, more a platformer. And we're only three people, but we wanted to create a more complex game and that is the type of game that we really wanted. So I was playing Mario Odyssey…
Sam: Really?
Maxime: Yeah, yeah. I was throwing the hat and I really liked it and I thought that it could be great in a Metroidvania and so me and my team, we started doing a small prototype and it turned out to be pretty fun. So we said, “Okay let's create a game with a unique selling point where this would be the main mechanics of the game: being able to transform into creatures and use their skill, again, other creatures.” So this is how it came to be.
Sam: Okay. If you could go back, like with what you know now, and go back to day one, what would you tell yourself?
Maxime: Hmm… about the game?
Sam: About the game, about the development, about like any advice you would give yourself, basically.
Maxime: Okay, maybe doing some better benchmark with other titles.
Sam: Okay.
Maxime: What we usually do is, well, you have an idea in your head, when you create games, and you think like you have the best mini-map and you have the best things.
Sam: (laughs)
Maxime: And I think it's really important to be able to see what the standard is, you know, in the industry.
Sam: Yeah.
Maxime: To be able to know for players, what their expectations are. So I think this is something that is really important: even if we play tons of Metroidvania, maybe think more, about why they chose that decision and how, in our game, we don't want to make the same mistakes. So this is what we had in mind.
Sam: Okay. And just really quick, is there a window of release?
Maxime: The game will be completed by the end of the year, but it's not a good time to release a game in Q4, especially for smaller indies like us. So we aim maybe to ship the game at the end of February or maybe early March.
Sam: Like Quarter one?
Maxime: Yeah, quarter one. Because now, triple-A games, there are many of them coming out in like April and May. Like we see, I think it was Elden Ring and even, well, big games.
Sam: Yeah.
Maxime: So I think that would be a good period for a game like us to get some courage because this is the most important thing about smaller teams like us: having the game known to the gamers.
Sam: Right. Now, what got you guys into indie games?
Maxime: Oh, that's a good thing. Lucid Dreams Studio, I met Francis, who is the other co-founder, 20 years ago.
Sam: Ah, okay.
Maxime: Yeah. We were doing physics, a major in physics, and we're like, “We don't want to do physics, we want to do games.” So, we jumped into computer engineering. And after that, we worked together for four years and a half, and when we got our degrees, we said, “Hey, we would like to create our own game.” But at the end of 2007 Unity was not really a thing. Unreal, at the time, you needed to pay like one million, something like that. So it didn't make sense. So we said, “Hey, look, Francis (it's his name) let's work in the triple industry for like 10 years. We will have some experience and have some money on the site to start a studio.” And this is exactly what we did. So for my part, I worked at Ubisoft and after that, Eidos Montreal. And after 10 years, I called Francis, who was a game programmer at the Far Cry franchise, and I told him, “Hey, now it's time.” And we were still friends and all that stuff. He said, “Okay, give me a month.” So he started this to do with me. And the main reason why we wanted to do that compared to work in the triple-A industry is that we wanted to have a better trade for our own game as younger people. And we wanted to do games, this is how we were always like.
Sam: Yeah.
Maxime: And this was like the best way for us to be able to create exactly what we wanted to do. Otherwise, it's more complicated. At Ubisoft, there are not that many people that really choose what is the actual game. Of course, they all have different parts, but the actual vision of what is the entire game, it's really hard to do. And by being in these, it was the best decision based on that. But we had to push on the side our good salaries that we had and jump into that. But we were so happy to do that move.
Sam: Okay, okay. Last question for any up-and-coming indies: any advice for them?
Maxime: Hmm, what would be the best advice… I think it's… Never get, um… I may need to speak French… I think it’s never get discouraged.
Sam: Okay.
Maxime: You know… I'm looking for the right words… Keep dreaming about what you do. It's super important. Even if it's hard, keep trying. And make the game being played by other people too. This is super important. Most of the time when you work on a game, you are super close to it. And you think that your game is the best game ever. But by putting the game in the hands of other people, this is how you really know how it is. And the earliest that you do it in your process, I think the best you will be able to adjust yourself. And be able to fix the things that you thought were the best. But in the end, it's not. It's your vision, but again...
Sam: A few tweaks might need to be made.
Maxime: Exactly. It's super important. So yeah, this would be my advice.
Sam: Alright. Thank you so much for taking this time out with me. I hope you all have a wonderful PAX.
Maxime: Hey, thank you. You too!
