And at first, we had a more platform, action-y type of idea, but very early on, we felt like it didn’t suit a pop-up very well, because one of the most magical things about pop-ups is that you can see how they fold and unfold, and then you can kind of try to look into the folds as you’re flipping through. We started working on Tengami about three years ago, when we had the idea: “Let’s experiment with pop-up as a game mechanic.” What happens when you make a videogame that takes place in a pop-up book? But not just as a visual gimmick – it’s really the folding of the world that is the core game. JS: Even though pop-up books are something that we all know from childhood, it’s something that hasn’t been explored in a digital context at all. NoE: How long did it take you to develop the idea? But we wanted to bring mainstream quality to it, and so we call it a beautiful craft game. When we founded Nyamyam, we had each been in the mainstream industry for many years, and once we’d formed a small team, we really felt like we needed to do something special, like take some risks – because otherwise, what is the benefit to being a small independent developer? So with Nyamyam, we wanted to make really different games games that don’t exist already. JS: I think it’s just our philosophy as a studio. I unfortunately don’t have them with me today but we have shown them at shows before, and it really blows people’s minds when they see the physical scene, and then see exactly the same scene in the game. She really loved the game and she came to talk to me after she played it and said, "How can I be involved with the game?" So we commissioned her to replicate some of the most iconic scenes in the game as physical pop-ups.
#JENNIFER SCHNEIDEREIT TENGAMI HOW TO#
But it’s true that everything that you see in the game is constructed like an authentic pop-up book, and you can replicate everything that you see in the game with paper, scissors and glue – if you know how to make pop-ups!Īctually, at a show we did, I met a lady called Rebecca Sawyer, who’s a professional pop-up artist. As our technology gradually got better and better, we switched over to doing everything in our 3D editor. But the hand-crafting process is very slow for pop-ups, because if you make a tiny mistake, you need to start again from scratch. How do you actually make a folding house? How do you make a folding tree? How do you make a folding Japanese temple? Things like that. In the beginning we obviously liked to draw on paper and work it out sometimes. NoE: Did the team learn origami in order to create the game’s assets by hand beforehand? In the beginning, we studied how to make physical pop-ups, and through understanding that process, we figured out the mathematics behind the folding, and then we were able to create an editor that allowed us to make authentic digital pop-ups. JS: Yes, that was really the most difficult part of making Tengami – coming up with the technology. How did you go about creating the game engine? NoE: You mention that you interact with the backgrounds and the paper world. Essentially, you play Tengami in the same way that you would read a pop-up book – it’s very quiet, a calm and relaxing sort of game that you play on your sofa, or in your bed with the headphones on and a cup of tea! You play very much at your own pace, gently exploring some really gorgeous-looking paper worlds, and you come across puzzles and obstacles that you solve by flipping, folding, sliding and pulling parts of the world. JS: Tengami’s an atmospheric adventure game that takes place inside of a Japanese pop-up book.
NoE: Could you give us a short introduction to Tengami for those who are coming to the game completely fresh? Jennifer Schneidereit: There are three of us working full-time on Tengami: Phil Tossell, Ryo Agarie, and me.
How many people are on the team over at Nyamyam working on Tengami? Nintendo of Europe: First of all, thanks for taking the time to speak to us today.