Neon White and designing for player creativity

gamedeveloper.com:

This interview is part of our Road to the IGF series. The IGF (Independent Games Festival) aims to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize independent game developers advancing the medium. Every year, Game Developer sits down with the finalists for the IGF ahead of GDC to explore the themes, design decisions, and tools behind each entry.

Nominated for Excellence in Design and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Neon Whiteis a parkour-based shootout through heaven—one where you sacrifice guns for powerful movement abilities.

Game Developer spoke with Ben Esposito, the game's director, to discuss how they designed the stages to encourage players to get creative with approach, the accidental origins of the game's card-based weapon system, and the ideas that went into making it easier for players to make decisions while running and leaping at high speeds.

Who are you, and what was your role in developing Neon White ?

I'm Ben Esposito, an independent game designer based in Los Angeles. I acted as director on Neon White.

What's your background in making games?

I've been a game designer for 12 year now. I started at Giant Sparrow as a designer on The Unfinished Swan and What Remains of Edith Finch. After that, I created a handful of indie games like Donut County and the mascot horror game Tattletail. I like being involved in every aspect of games, but my true form is a designer.

How did you come up with the concept for Neon White ?

I made artsy and wholesome games for a long time, and after Donut County shipped I felt I had said what I wanted to say. One day my (brilliant) wife Geneva Hodgson turned to me and said "Neon White. That would be a great name for a game." I agreed and we came up