Jett: Far Coast like the jagged colossus that roams its lavender-colored sky, is a strange monster. When it arrives on the Epic Game Store in the fall of 2021, you can see the conflict simmering within it – between the linear sci-fi short story on the surface and the free-to-battle “Metroid ski game” Fight to escape from underneath it.
“Once the story is over, I hope an endgame opens up and allows me to play freely in its world,” I wrote in jet review. “That I would have more opportunities to see the great Ghoke, the red sun, rise in real time and ponder the fascinating mysteries of the Far Shore. Instead, I could just replay the previous chapters. If only Jett would adopt an organic rhythm as its inspired ecosystem.”
When the Jett team read that review, they disagreed. “You put your finger on it more precisely than anyone else, which is, ‘Looks like this is really being built for some kind of system-focused, open-world end game’ ,” said Craig Adams, founder of Superbrothers. “And internally we were like, ‘That’s right.’” What they knew and I didn’t, was that The Far Shore was just the beginning of a two-campaign saga. That journey has now been completed with the launch of Given Time, an additional 12-hour adventure that coincides with Jett’s long-awaited Steam release.
After four or five hours of working on it, I can confirm that Given Time is exactly what The Far Shore is about: a much easier playground for problem solving in the open world, evoking both Super Mario Odyssey and Death Stranding, in which you set the pace of self-discovery. It was a satisfying fulfillment of Jett’s original promise. But why such a winding road to get there?
“I can field it,” says Adams, “because I was on the 1,000-year project with Patrick [McAllister].” Development of Jett began in 2013, with early prototypes centered around traveling aboard your rocket-powered ship, interacting “slightly nonviolently” with large creatures, and solving puzzles. about the environment in an alien ecosystem. As early as 2016, Adams and McAllister had a free-roaming version of the game in which you would pick up orbs and transport them into the ocean, where they would transform on contact with water – a description fits perfectly with the goal and structure of the game. Certain time.
“That’s always been the destination for Jett’s design, but in the process, we started to feel like we should invest some energy in explaining what the world is.”
“That has always been the destination for Jett’s design,” says Adams. “But along the way, we started to feel like we should invest some energy in explaining what the world is. And it’s an unorthodox design, it’s not like [a game in which] you already know how to swing swords, use shields and get loot. Everything about the game is a bit weird. It feels like if we [invited] participants without engaging them in the story, it will be a struggle.
Then come There is no human sky, which takes up much of the mind around the idea of procedurally generated alien worlds. And so the Jett team decided they needed to add something else to the mix. “We were always thinking of these characters in this story and a little bit of action,” Adams said. “And I feel like if we strengthen that part, it helps get people interested in what’s going on. And that could be the start of getting them involved in that more engaging simulation.”
Walking Sim 2016 fire clock was an important source of inspiration, and as such, Jett evolved to include the first-person story sequences that make up the majority of The Far Shore’s run time. As beautiful as they are – and arguably necessary, for the gradual development of Jett’s unusual premise and universe – they’re also responsible for the startling pacing, as dictated by the first campaign, which never reached the position of freedom represented by those early archetypes.
At one point, the Jett team was working on The Far Shore and Given Time simultaneously, and planned to ship them together. “We thought it would be funny to roll out the credits, and then surprise everyone with this semi-secret sequel,” Adams said. “The last episode will be where we finally teach you everything, we can help you relax, and it’s all about that systematic exploratory gameplay. And so that format was adopted and that’s what we’re aiming for.
In a few years, after the legendary Thief Randy Smith joined the project full-time as lead designer and gamer, it seemed possible: “But we had to look at it. breaking it, because we need to join hands. deck to make sure The Far Shore plays out the way we want it to.”
As Adams notes, there’s a poetic upside to the “clean break” the team made between campaigns. At the end of The Far Shore, protagonist Mei and her fellow scouts fall into a ‘hypnotic’ state, resting at the Ground Control Agency until their research mission can be completed. Fort. Returning to her perspective after more than a year away to re-acquaint herself with controls and characters in a sleepy manner feels appropriate. And of course, those discovering Jett on Steam for the first time this month will experience the entire journey as one, the way it was originally intended.
Richard Flanagan, the former indie developer behind FRACT OSC – recently caught up in “the Ubisoft Montreal whirlwind”, as Adams put it – joined the Given Time team as a design consultant. “And when Craig first invited me, I could see how much work was pouring in [The Far Shore], this really fun, really special game, what a great feeling,” he said. “But I can also see that there are some loose ends. And I’m fully prepared to step in [after playing Given Time] and asked their group to leave. ‘You did something good, this is a lot of work, it’s exhausting’. But after playing Given Time, I said, ‘You have to submit this now. Because it’s really good and it’s almost done.’ And that line between the two pieces was very present.
Following The Far Shore’s pioneering momentum, the new campaign begins in a deliberate “strange location”. Following a prophecy to a new world, Mei must face self-doubt, the skepticism of pagans, and the specter of the family she left behind on a fractured planet. “It’s part of a dark chapter in the middle with well-deserved rewards,” said Adams, who has studied climate science. “And we wanted it to be like that. As time has passed, the characters have become a bit weathered, and there’s an interesting taste to that sort of thing.”
“There are a lot of similarities between the story of Jett and the creation of Jett… It’s a group of good people struggling against adversity to win the best day possible.”
I’m struck by it as a story devised by game developers, who are all very familiar with the challenging mental decline that forms at any point midway through a project. long creation. “I would say there are a lot of similarities between the story of Jett and the creation of Jett,” Adams laughs. “It took 1,000 years, that’s true when making the trip to The Far Shore. It’s a group of good people fighting against adversity to win the best day possible.”
Given Time’s dialogue retains Jett’s distinctive and captivating voice, stoic and divine – serious in a way that the Superbrothers’ beloved EP Sword and Sworcery never has. Adams created mind maps locating specific characters somewhere between Tolstoy, Tom Wolfe, and Moby Dick. “Without really being able to explain it to myself, I see that Jett has the jargon it wants to have,” he said. “Specific words and phrases that are appropriate.” Scouts speak biblically tinged with science about Hymnwave, and see Far Shore’s new awakening as a ‘year of jubilation’. But they also talked about Boombuds and Polypops, giving their new discoveries memorable funny names. “A lot of those Jett-isms will blend into a lot of our jokes and for the rest of our lives,” said Zack Wheeler, a designer and QA lead. “’Tsosi bless’ is a common phrase in the QA Slack channel.”
During the making of The Far Shore, Adams removed his writing from Randy Smith, Nick Suttner and Terri Brosius – the latter of whom helped shape Thief’s distinctive Hammers and Taffers language. For Given Time, British writer Dan Berry took on that role. “My idea was to walk in and leave no fingerprints on it,” he said. “It can’t start to be something else as soon as I start touching it. And there’s a degree of ambiguity in the story already, and things are alluded to and talked about in the way scouts talk to each other.”
With clear moments of story scattered throughout the Given Time, the team has less room to achieve the kind of thematic echo they’re aiming for. But it is a balance that Adams is most satisfied with. He said: “I think the ideal story experience is in the given Time. “And it comes across as, you’re just relaxing listening to music, going from island to island or doing something. But you’ve got all this texture to sink into, and the memories of what happened in The Far Shore, and all the other themes just keep popping into your head.”
It’s an experience that I can attest to. Given Time exists in a meditative space where creative problem-solving and plot issues float comfortably as you enjoy Jett’s ability to control the “gooey” and allow the mood to kick in. copper attracts you. It’s as if you’re slowly tuning the radio to a particular signal – looking for Hymnwave, but don’t rush there, gliding over the soft crackle of emanating alien noise.
