The Creativity Process behind GRIS
summary
A wordless platformer that maps grief through changing color, sound and movement rather than exposition, built as a 15‑minute prototype shown at Gamescom and funded by Devolver Digital. Development uses Unity with custom exporters and watercolor shaders, Photoshop for frame‑by‑frame animation, a mostly non‑gamer art team (about 80% had never worked in games), and over 1,000 concepts before polish. Design choices: linear hub levels to show world evolution, no death but return contraptions, optional hard puzzles for completionists, and music by Berlinist tied to colors via synesthesia research.
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chapters (24)
- 0:00Introduction and speaker intro
- 1:08About Gris and Nomada Studio
- 3:04The game’s creative vision
- 5:58From bar idea to studio launch
- 8:49First prototype and early development
- 10:39Narrative and story design
- 14:17World design and linear approach
- 16:27Art and character design process
- 18:55Animation techniques and challenges
- 23:02Designing the antagonist and creatures
- 26:39Game mechanics and audience appeal
- 28:45Level design and failure states
- 30:10Music and its emotional impact
- 34:57Music progression and synesthesia
- 38:36Game trailer showcase
- 39:05Q&A: Iteration and decision-making
- 41:35Q&A: Music composition process
- 44:03Q&A: Technical tools and challenges
- 47:57Q&A: Animation tools used
- 49:01Q&A: Development timeline
- 49:46Q&A: Diverse team and recruitment
- 51:30Q&A: Balancing art and gameplay
- 54:38Q&A: Switch vs PC and future projects
- 56:31Q&A: Accessibility considerations
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