Nobody Saves the World

gamedeveloper.com:

Nobody Saves the World sees players take on the role of the titular Nobody, a featureless sprite with the uncanny ability to change their shape at will. That inherent skill gives players the freedom to take on a variety of forms as they see fit and change between them at any given point, presenting the team at Guacamelee! developer Drinkbox Studios the rather daunting task of designing a game that both comfortably allows for and rewards that level of on-the-fly freedom and creativity.

According to Drinkbox Studios lead designer Ian Campbell, fine tuning the wide range of forms and abilities players can use throughout Nobody Saves the World took a careful level of attention and its own fair share of iteration. Sitting down with Game Developer, Campbell shared a look at how those core mechanics evolved from first pitch to to the game's eventual release and how the team at Drinkbox approached designing for many potential combinations of abilities and forms without overwhelming themselves or their players.

Game Developer: Can you explain Nobody Saves The World's form mechanic in a nutshell? What was the elevator pitch, and what sold you on the idea?

Ian Campbell: In Nobody Saves the World, the player has access to a large roster of forms (eventually over 15), each with their own abilities (around 80 total). Forms can be customized to use the abilities from other forms, and players can swap between forms at any time.

It’s exciting because it means we have tons of meaningful rewards to constantly hand out, and players have plenty of freedom to create their own powerful, customized forms. As a designer it was a fun challenge to not only create those possibilities, but also the conditions that would encourage players to actually