"On the mystery and depth of the world"- Okomotive talks about the making of FAR: Changing Tides

In my playthrough of FAR: Changing Tides, I found it evoked a pensive mood. With the ever-fluid world suddenly brought to a standstill due to the pandemic, the indie title perfectly reflects the notion of taking things slow. Out on the open seas, the game often lingers simply on the poetic nature of the journey the player takes.

I recently had the opportunity to engage with the developers behind the FAR series. They provided a look into the thought-process that went into designing various aspects of the sequel, the experience of developing it, and things in between.

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Okomotive discusses the development, difference and influences of FAR: Changing Tides

Q: To begin with, can you describe FAR: Changing Tides and its story to our readers?

Okomotive: The game is about the journey of you and your mysterious ship through a flooded world. As you drive through beautiful landscapes and adventurous waters, you learn more and more about your ship and the world.

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Q: FAR: Lone Sails was quite a success. The game was beloved by many with special praise for design and music. Did the title influence what you planned to do with the sequel?

Okomotive: Yes definitely, but we also reviewed the game intensely before starting with FAR: Changing Tides to define what we wanted to keep and what we want to change. Also, we wanted to give Changing Tides its own personality that focuses more on the mystery and depth of the world, and utilising the water to create new gameplay challenges.

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Q: Given the post-apocalyptic theme prevalent in the game, in my playthrough, I felt there was an underlying commentary on climate change and its adverse effects. What were the inspirations for the world of FAR: Changing Tides and the story it tells?

Okomotive: In both games, there was some kind of conflict in the past that resulted in unreasonable expansion but in the end got covered by a natural disaster.

The world of FAR: Changing Tides (Image via Okomotive)

But the stories the games tell, happen afterwards, when everything has mostly quieted down and it’s mostly you surrounded by nature and ruins of the past. Before we created the background story, we defined what the setting and the locations of the game could be and what could have led to that.

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Q: What I thoroughly enjoyed in FAR: Changing Tides was that the game does not attempt to hold my hand during the playthrough with a distinct emphasis on environmental storytelling. There is only a little amount of text and it was up to me to figure out how to progress, especially in the context of operating the ship. Was there any particular reason behind this?

Okomotive: This originated from the very early prototypes of FAR: Lone Sails, where players had to figure out how to start the vehicle. It was and still is quite risky to have this challenge so early, but solving it rewards the player by creating an immediate connection with the vehicle.

But we had to learn and iterate a lot to get to this point. The mechanisms in the ship have to visually show their function and we had to build on existing knowledge of how to use a bellows on a furnace, for example.

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Q: I think one of the things that really drive the aspect of environmental storytelling in FAR: Changing Tides home is its soundtrack and picturesque landscapes. What can you tell us about the thought process of the developers regarding it?

Okomotive: When we started planning the world, we first thought about what kind of memorable moments we wanted to create. They also work best when we can combine audio, visuals, narration and gameplay to create an impactful emotion. For example, the first moment is when the player is sailing the ship for the first time.

Moving forward (Image via FAR: Changing Tides)

After we chose around 5 of those moments, we structured the levels and the story around it to create build up. Of course there are other factors, like introducing new mechanics and showing beautiful environments, but these too work best when combined with the other elements like narration and music.

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Q: Coming to the ship, did the developers draw inspiration from other games or films? I liked how as the game progressed more features were added to the vehicle, making it further interesting to control.

Okomotive: Early in the process of designing the ship, we drew inspiration from old oil paintings and fantastical submarines. But we noticed that in every case, the design looked too much like a normal ship. In the end, it became something more massive, more beast-like that looked more like a floating iron tower.

It still had to have parts that make it recognizable as a ship, like the sail, but the new design created a lot more possibilities with more fantastical or extraordinary mechanisms, which fit the story and the gameplay very well.

As it became a more mysterious ship, we wanted the player to unlock more rooms inside the ship to explore it further and learn new aspects of the ship's function.

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Q: I read that the first game was a personal thesis. How has the experience been over the years with the team and the development of the two games?

Okomotive: The team grew a lot during the development of both games and I’m really happy that it worked that well. It’s generally not easy to have people share a vision and work on that for many years, but everyone helped to achieve it.

With the larger team size, we also had to change the company structure and processes, given we were a small student team at the beginning of FAR: Lone Sails. It’s still really important for us to keep some things flexible in the process and to meet the needs of everyone in the team.

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Q: In Lone Sails, players controlled a steam-powered vehicle on land whereas in the sequel they are put in charge of a ship. What drove or inspired the change from traversing land to sailing the seas?

Okomotive: We really liked the vehicle in FAR: Lone Sails, but we wanted to try something new in FAR: Changing Tides, and the water setting gave us many options that still allowed us to use the recognizable mechanics and features of Lone Sails.

The water created a more dynamic environment and the hills from the first game became waves. With the added underwater environment and the ability to dive with the character and the ship, we could explore an additional axis and some more freedom in exploration and play styles.

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Q: It has been more than a month since Changing Tides was released. How has the response been so far from the players?

Okomotive: We’ve been really pleased with the response from the players so far. It’s great to see a number of FAR: Lone Sails players have continued with us on this journey, and also enjoyed FAR: Changing Tides.

Seeing players share their favorite moments, screenshots and pieces of music from the game will never cease to put a smile on our faces.

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Q: With the success of both the FAR titles and the ending of the sequel, will we see Okomotive make another foray into the series? Or are you guys planning to work on something else entirely?

Okomotive: We’re going to enjoy the success of FAR: Changing Tides first, so we won’t be sharing any future plans at this point.