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The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories - SWERY talks gameplay mechanics, attractive elements, and much more
4Gamer managed to grab some time with developer SWERY, the man behind the upcoming The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories. Not only do we get some new screens and art, the interview brings us a bunch of new details on the game as well. Check out all the tidbits below.
- the game came about thanks to the friendship between SWERY and Kido Oka, Arc System Works’ CEO
- Oka promised SWERY in the past to publish one of his games
- Oka was very surprised with the concept SWERY came up with with the game
- SWERY is quite happy that his previous games are acclaimed for their stories
- now he’d like to make a game that also gets praise for its game design and gameplay
- the main heroine J.J has an immortal body and she progresses by solving puzzles that make use of her body
- SWERY wanted to make a side-scrolling action + puzzle-solving game with an immortal character
- he thinks it’s quite the novel idea, as these games usually work with a die-and-retry mentality
- SWERY was influenced by the original Prince of Persia, Another World, and The Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse
- he realized side-scrolling games like these still have an audience nowadays
- the game’s brutal world and the dangerous obstacles J.J faces represent how far she is willing to go to save her friend Emily
- J.J and Emily became friends despite their different personalities, with J.J being a realistic girl while Emily is very naive
- there are 271 different donuts hidden in the game's stages
- finding these will unlock artwork galleries, music and development stories
- once you've cleared the game once, you will unlock “Cheats”, allowing you to speed up J.J or modify her immortal body
- you can change her clothes once you cleared the game
- the number of donuts obtained does not affect the story at all
- stamps and emoticons used in the game’s smartphone chats were designed by the various members of White Owls
- SWERY and everyone in the studio had a great time designing them and writing the chat conversations
- SWERY thinks the attractive aspects of the game are the cool & beautiful heroine, the game mechanics, story, and gore
- the gore might not be considered as attractive by many though
- SWERY says he personally thinks the game's ending is a happy one, though you will judge for yourself