An Aardman director has told Checkpoint Magazine the studio would like to do more in the videogame space.
Bram Ttwheam, art director on recently released 11-11 Memories Retold (11-11), said there “is definitely an appetite within the company to explore this and push it further”.
Ttwheam is largely responsible for the art direction in 11-11 and said working on a game like that allowed for the studio to explore its already impressive digital arm. Having already worked on a variety of mobile and flash-based games, 11-11 was an opportunity to make a mark in the gaming world.
“It was important that we didn’t want to produce a point-and-shoot game and it was important that it was more a depiction of how war happens to people, then people happen to war,” says Ttwheam.
And it ticked the three boxes in Aardman’s “consistent themes”. This consistency runs through the studio’s body of work, and 11-11 was no different, Ttwheam says.
“We have a love story telling and that fits nicely into this game, with it being inevitably driven one, and the narrative is the core mechanic like on this game. And of course, telling good stories you need good characters, which we pride ourselves on. And even the digital work, we try to give a handcrafted feel. Sit these three consistent themes that seemed to sit comfortably with this particular project. And apart from that, there’s an enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility within the company to take it games into new realms.”
Ttwheam has expressed the company’s interest in building on the foundation of 11-11’s success and expanding their digital arm further, but there is nothing planned just yet. Whatever it is, it’ll have to hit the three ‘consistent themes’ of story, character and handcrafted feel.
“What that story will be or what route it will take is hard to say at the moment. I personally would like another crack at the whip at trying to tell an expansive and emotive story.”
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