Interview With Developer of Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles

• Last month we published a review for Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles by Prideful Sloth. We thought it was a fun and unique game, so we decided to do a little interview with Prideful Sloth co-founder and director of Yonder. Here it is!

Caution: Minor spoilers for Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles may exist within this interview.

Josh Thompson: The art style and even the world of this game reminded me right away of Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. What games inspired the making of this game? Were there other inspirations outside of video games?

Cheryl Vance: Wind Waker was definitely an early inspiration for the minimalist approach, but our focus shifted to emphasize the overall art direction, with lighting and mood/tone instead of stylization.

In terms of the world, we drew a great deal of inspiration from the works of Studio Ghibli, and the Dofus/Wakfu franchises are quite influential for their bold and interesting designs.

JT: The choice to have no combat is very uncommon in video games today. What made you decide to omit combat from the game? Did you set out to make a game without combat? Or did you arrive at that decision along the way?

CV: When we started to talk about what Yonder would be, we talked about the world that Yonder would take place in.  What was the tone and feel of the world would be.  We then started to talk about what the player would do in the world. Over time, we realised that combat just didn’t fit with the vision we had.  So it wasn’t a decision to, or not to.  It was a non-decision.

JT: It seems as though the storyline of Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles was less featured than the unique gameplay and beautiful world (Gemea). Was that your intention, and, if so what factors encouraged you to choose that path?

CV: We wanted to give the player a story that informed them of why they were in Gemea.  However, our aim was give the player a more freeform experience which allowed them to tell their own story.  We wanted each player to talk about what was important to them.  So we intentionally kept the story light.

JT: Who composed your music? How did you choose the types of music you wanted for different environments, times of day, and events?

CV: We worked with Sound Librarian, who developed the score for Yonder. They did a great job tailoring the variations to the world and its various moods/events. It’s quite a beautiful soundtrack, and was built in a modular fashion to adapt to changes in the game over the course of a day, and with layers changing when moving between environment types.

JT: What do you think that Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles offers that other games do not offer?

CV: Yonder offers an oasis from the pressure and stress of life.  It is a very relaxing experience and it invites you to play at your own pace!

JT: What is your personal favorite part about this game?

CV: Personally, I find the character’s interactions with the animals one of the sweetest, most adorable things I have ever seen.

Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is available for PS4 and Steam.