Woven

Alterego Games and Digital Forest's upcoming woollen adventure, Woven, has recently been made available to back on Kickstarter and we played the pre-alpha demo that is available on Steam for free. We were impressed by what the demo had to offer, and we also got the chance to speak to the team behind the game to find out about their plans moving forward.

The thing that stands out about Woven is the visual style. The bright and vibrant colours are clear from the outset although they never feel like an eyesore, and the variety within them is impressive. The demo alone sees the player traverse luscious green hills and orange deserts as well as purple and black night time forests.

What makes this all the more impressive is the level of detail that has gone into making all these look like different materials as well, with the desert being made of leather, for instance. Seams and buttons crop up everywhere as reminders of the structure of the world too, and the protagonists Glitch and Stuffy are wonderful in their design, the shimmering metal of Glitch contrasting with the softness of Stuffy.

Going back to the variety of environments, this is something the team wants to focus on. "[Variety] is very important for us. Stuffy and Glitch will be exploring many different kinds of environments and will meet a lot of exciting creatures. The environments and characters seen throughout the pre-alpha demo are just a small taste of what is yet to come. We are currently working on a huge new environment with a very exciting new creature that will introduce a whole new kind of puzzle."

Problem solving will be a central theme in Woven's gameplay. "The whole game will feature many different kinds of puzzles placed in such a way that they properly fit within the environment and the context of our narrative." The way this works in Woven, as evident in the demo, is that players will have to work out how problems can be solved using the different abilities and patterns that can be swapped around, as Stuffy and Glitch both have different abilities that do different things. One instance early in the game, for example, requires you to swap Stuffy's elephant legs for rabbit ones to jump over a pile of rocks blocking your way, and another has you searching for a pattern to dress yourself in to impress a snake that is blocking your path.

When you go to the machines to swap your abilities you can also customise Stuffy as well. You find collectible patterns and fabrics throughout the game which give you new appearance options for Stuffy and they include everything from grass colour to zebra stripes. There were 27 different fabrics and patterns in the demo alone so it seems like there will be a lot to collect in the future.

Regarding the future of the game specifically the team say they are looking to make the exploration of the worlds more diverse. "We are currently working on more vertical exploration possibilities; how cool would it be to be able to scale the mountains or fly towards floating volcanoes? Apart from new environments, we are also planning engaging cinematics. For example, how Stuffy & Glitch travel to a whole new and far away continent." We found that the level design isn't too simple for now though, and in our time with the demo there was a lot to see and explore and even some hidden nooks and crannies where extra pickups could be found, although more diversity in how you explore the world wouldn't be unwelcome.

The pre-alpha demo didn't give much away in terms of story, but the core of the experience is that Glitch and Stuffy are "by circumstance connected, but now by friendship bound" as the narrator surmises towards the end of the demo. The team shed a little more light on the story of the demo in saying "Stuffy & Glitch just found out that together they can do a lot more then separated from each other. However, at the end of the demo they are attacked by a spider... We'll give a (very) small sneak peak of the next part of the game. Right after that moment, the players will play as Glitch, who will find himself alone, searching for Stuffy who has been taken away. But how will he be able to do that, without Stuffy's abilities? He will face many obstacles in his path, can he save Stuffy before he will be unravelled?"

One complaint we would have about the game at this early stage, however, are the controls. You move Stuffy by looking at where you want to go and pressing the mouse to move there, shifting the view with the keyboard. This makes for awkward navigation at times, especially when you need to stop and press a button to activate abilities, and when the team told us "we are looking to implement alternative control schemes - i.e. controllers" we hope they introduce alternative controls for keyboard players too.

Despite slightly unwieldy controls, Woven's adorable adventure shows a lot of promise thus far and there is a lot to be excited about, from the customisation options to the puzzle elements and everything in between. In terms of console support, this also depends on where the game goes in the future. "Woven is Currently being developed for PC. Depending on the Kickstarter success, we can reveal more and more of our future plans," they told us. It sounds as if Alterego Games and Digital Forest have a lot up their sleeve in terms of plans for the future, then, so time will only tell how it shapes up.