What Motion Twin learnt from making Dead Cells

pcgamesinsider.biz:

Dead Cells from Motion Twin was no doubt an ambitious title. Not only was it the French studio's first PC and console project, it also combined elements from both the Metroidvania and roguelike genres- well-trodden ground, especially in the indie games scene.

Yet, Dead Cells has not only been a smash hit for the studio, selling over two million copies to date. That follows the one million copy milestone when we sat down with them at GDC 2019 - but also a huge learning experience for Motion Twin.

"We severely underestimated the complications of what it meant to simultaneously ship on console. When we last spoke with PCGamesInsider [at GDC 2018], we were out of Early Access and in March we were preparing for the console launch," marketing and comms boss Steve Filby (pictured, above right) says.

"We thought the world was all rainbows and unicorns. Then we started to say: 'Okay, this is what you have to do to be able to sim ship on console and this is the timeline for that work' and that was super complicated - certification, that whole process, all of the things you have to do to be able to get things out on time. You have to count back six months."

Motion Twin designer and chief Sébastien Bénard (pictured, above far right) adds: "Looking back, this proved to be a good decision at the time but it was the most stupid thing. We didn't have experience in making a simple PC title. Deciding to make the console versions all at the same time was ridiculous."

The duo says that they wouldn't change anything about Dead Cells' development if they could go back as what Motion Twin did ultimately worked just fine. They do, however, say they would probably give themselves a few more months to work on the game.

"When we announced we were