Innovation is often a buzzword tossed around the gaming industry, so much so that it’s more a marketing term for many games than a reality. To innovate means to shake up, or sometimes tear down, established ideas and introduce new methods, concepts, or ideas, but for better or worse, the AAA industry is oftentimes dominated by established franchises, sequels, and remakes. It is hard for anew IP to break into mainstream gamingwhere attention is divided among the countless releases every month. Where the industry truly innovates more than any other is not the AAA space, but the indie one, and no game reflects that more than Inflexion Games' upcoming release ofNightingale.
Nightingaleis so much like, yet unlike, every other survival game currently on the market. To innovate for the future, it seems to pull from the past in one regard. It’s been a long time since we’ve heard any video game described as a place, but ever since Inflexion Games' CEO Aaryn Flynn mentioned it to us two years ago, it’s been in the back of our minds. What does it mean for a game to be a place? Of course, this idea right now may seem a little muted given the recent trend of Metaverse investment across the industry, but make no mistake, this is not a Metaverse project. It is not something where someone works as an avatar in a digital space, where someone does the mundane of everyday life in some kind of meta-conceptual experiment;Nightingaleis nothing mundane.
Game Rant recently spoke with several developers at Inflexion Games, includingCEO Aaryn Flynn, art director and head of audio Neil Thompson, director of production Leah Summers, and lead designer Bjorn Taylor, about everything from its lore to the minutiae of its gameplay. However, when we sat down with Flynn, Thompson, and Summers, the idea that kept coming back, the thing we could not let go, is what it means for a game to be a place.
Nightingale and Games as a Place
What it means for a game to be a place is perhaps a bold question, but it’s not necessarily a novel concept. By all means, it is in the current gaming landscape, but gamers the world over have perhaps experienced games as a place before, even if that wasn’t exactly put into words. Every time Flynn mentioned games as a place, we were reminded of the hours we sunk intoRuneScapeto obtain our coveted level 99 fishing and friends we had there that we hadn’t spoken to in a decade. We were reminded of the games we’d play to escape childhood hardships, likeWorld Destruction League: Thunder Tanks, and games where we were able to unashamedly be ourselves and live out fantasies such asPuzzle Pirate. It didn’t have to be anMMO to be a placebecause many games, over the years, have invited us in and away from the mundane things life had to offer. Perhaps those games never put it in such words, as Flynn did two years ago.
When we started the studio, my wife asked me the question, “If you want to do good in the world, why would you go make games?”
He told us how he talked with others at Inflexion and tried to find an answer to this very good question. Incidentally, COVID-19 happened not long after. They lost their home away from home, the office in which they worked, and public places like the coffee shops they loved. It reinforced the answer that Inflexion settled on: that people need places and video games are equipped more than any other entertainment medium to be that place. As Summers added,
It is very much in our DNA as a studio that we want to create these things that are inclusive and meaningful in people’s lives. I think when we hit upon this kind of phrase and sentiment of giving players a “place,” it was something that very much resonated with who we are as a studio and a culture.
Now, players will be able to check out that place comeNightingale’s February 20 Early Access release. It is not certain how longNightingalewill be in early access, but when Inflexion says that the upcoming content, the direction of the game, will be determined by player feedback, that’s not just marketing. It’s in the very DNA and lifeblood ofNightingale’s purpose.
Nightingale Gives Creative Ownership to the Players
Beyond just offering players a place inNightingale, Inflexion is handing them the keys. This is clear from the character creation. Even though it’s in Early Access and some features are limited, it’s clear just how much controlNightingalegives players. It lets them own who they are, recreated in aGaslamp Fantasy setting, and even go so far as to design their family tree. Players can take this as seriously or as silly as they want. During our time with the game, for example, we made our family tree all clones of ourselves, who we also made look like Nigel fromThe Wild Thornberrys. Thompson would explain how this character creation is an evolution of the team’s past work:
The Character Creation in Nightingale is an evolution of similar systems that members of the team here have created for BioWare games in the past. What was uppermost in our minds was to provide a large amount of customization options, while trying to ensure that players could create aesthetically pleasing characters. We had a motto:“Easy to master, difficult to monster”to reflect just that. While there is everything you would expect from a fully specced customization standpoint, the Ancestry feature adds something a little bit different and unique in that you can pick characters to be your “ancestors” and blend your appearance accordingly.
Character creation will grow throughout Early Access as well. One element that Inflexion is considering expanding is the character backgrounds, with Inflexion explaining that they currently serve, “as an added backstory for their character to help ground them inthe world ofNightingale. There is still further iteration to be done with these backgrounds, but one potential we’re exploring is unique dialogue options for players based on their backgrounds.” After players handle this, they move into the tutorial of the game and, after its completion, are handed the keys to the kingdom.
Players can grow from fledgling Realmwalkers to experienced masters throughout Nightingale, but every player’s journey will be unique. If it is their place to own, then it must be their road to walk as well. We robbed a follower of all their equipment, decided to create entire areas dedicated to crafting, and put our Estate Cairn—where players can build their settlements with some warding against Nightingale’s elements—on a lake. Someone else may be nicer to their followers, scatter crafting all across a realm, and place their Estate Cairn in the woods, in a swamp, or wherever they see fit. Lakefront property made it a place for us, but being a survivalist in the woods or a hag in the swamp may bring that same sensation to others.Nightingalewill have 7 core tilesets available at launch for players to express themselves however they want, and those sets will grow as more are added throughout Early Access as well. The character expression, the adventuring, the estate, and so many other elements ofNightingalemake it the perfect place forsurvival gamefans to put down roots.
Nightingale Build Sequence - Example 3
Nightingale Build Sequence - Example 4
Achieving this sense of place was no simple feat, of course, with Flynn explaining the importance of Realms as places, the identities of the player and the Realm, the meaning of these Realms and this lore to players, the available development technology, and the abundance of creative energies that went into this “game feel” forNightingale.
I think Nightingale is at its best when you feel like you’re in a place and that place is specifically yours. A place really should be something that reacts to your presence there, and you get to do things that change it and impact it. I think Nightingale’s at its best when you, as a player, are combining and working with the various systems to make a space we provide into a place that is yours and your friends.
The one constant forNightingaleplayers is Puck, and whether someone is familiar with their role in Shakespeare’sA Midsummer Night’s Dreamor not, they immediately make it clear that the player has no choice but to listen and follow them. They are as dubious of a guide as they come, but they are far from the only characters players will interact with in this world. Almost like villagers inAnimal Crossingor Disney characters inDisney DreamlightValley, players will interact with historical and fictional characters. The Pale has scattered many faces across the Realms, and while players may recognize some names, their identities may not be the same. Because of the magic offered by the Fae, these figures may have their stories changed slightly.
Mr. Hyde (of Jekyll and Hyde) is less of a murderer, for example, and more of an indulgent figure shunned by Victorian Society. Inflexion promised some “complex things” with Victor Frankenstein surrounding topics of guilt and redemption. Ada Lovelace is alive inNightingalewhen she should have died years prior. Nellie Bly remains a journalist, but she also joins the Explorers faction ofNightingale. Even for solo players, it’s clear they are never alone in the Realms. All of these characters are adjusted to fit thealternate history ofNightingale, but the process of bringing in historical and fictional figures was quite similar.
When it comes to implementing a fictional character, we start by familiarizing ourselves with the source material. Once we have a good sense of the characters, we start to mold and shape them to fit in our world. One important thing to consider is that, if this fictional character is no longer fictional in our world, how true is their portrayal in the piece of fiction published about them? This gives us the freedom to add unique elements to the character.
In a lot of ways, it’s actually a similar process [for historical figures]. We familiarize ourselves with the historical figures and what they did or represented. We also read any publications or letters of theirs that are available to get a sense of their voice. But then we also consider how this person may have changed if the Fae were an important part of their world.
The Realm Cards Up Your Sleeves
As if in-depth character creation, the ability to design an estate with various tile sets, and engage with unique denizens were not enough, the world is the player’s stage. The defining feature ofNightingaleis the player’s ability to travel andcustomize Fae Realmsfor the game’s story or their own self-told journeys. Perhaps they need certain resources not available in their current realm, perhaps they want to huntNightingale’s Apex Creatures, perhaps wanderlust has struck and they’d simply like to move their Estate Cairn, or perhaps they just want to travel for the sake of travel. No two realms are completely alike, and players can modify them on a whim. As Thompson explains, there are only three biomes available for Early Access launch (Forest, Desert, and Swamp), but the number of possible variations is incredibly high already because of the player’s ability to change the parameters of each Realm.
If you don’t include vaults, there could be around 20,000 realmic variations.
Imagining where that number can be a year into Early Access is exciting, especially as the cards grow and expand alongside biomes. Each time players travel to a Realm, they play a Major Card and a Biome Card. The latter dictates which biome dominates the Realm, while the Major Card dictates what populates it. According to Taylor, “As players play through the game, the major realm cards will have increasingly powerful enemies, as well as scaling overall enemies' health and damage. In addition, players can adjust the difficulty to their preference, easier or harder. The more difficult a realm is, the more they can acquire essence (used as store currency) and the resources available in the realms will be more powerful.”
The third factor at play here is Minor Cards, and Summers explained that some of the things they impact include traversal, crafting times, harvest yields, and ultimately, gameplay systems across the board. To do so, players have to find a Realmic Transmuter inNightingaleand play their Minor Card there. We’ve experienced moon gravity, rain, and a blood moon, and Flynn told us about a particularly exciting Minor Card called Trickster. It essentially ensures that players get random resources when gathering, such as meat from a tree, as the rules ofNightingale’s Faebend reality. And perhaps the most impressive part is that these changes are near-instantaneous, ensuring that players can customize their realms as they see fit.
Nightingale’s Realms Are Our Realms, Too
The amount of ownershipNightingaleprovides players is truly innovative and one of many reasons it is aperfect fit for Early Access. If players have half as much say in its Early Access period as they do in its moment-to-moment gameplay, then it will truly be a game led by the community. Ever since the founding of Inflexion Games, that’s what its aim has been: to make a game that is a place. Games as a place is a concept thatNightingaledredges up from the past, expands with ideas of player ownership, and puts into a modern world where places are so important.
When it comes to everything that makesNightingalea game as a place, perhaps Shakespeare put it best inAs You Like It:
I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it.
Ultimately,Nightingale’s launch into Early Accesson February 20 is an invitation for players to put down roots in the Fae Realms and see where this journey takes them. The biomes, cards, and all of its gameplay systems will expand, but it will be the players' Realms at the end of the day.
Nightingale
WHERE TO PLAY
Nightingale is a PVE open-world survival crafting game played solo (offline or online), or cooperatively with friends. Build, craft, fight and explore as you venture through mystical portals into a variety of amazing and fantastical realms.You are stranded beyond our world, cut off by the collapse of the arcane portalnetwork. This catastrophe has left you fighting to survive in a labyrinth of beautiful and dangerous Fae realms.Your goal: become a skilled Realmwalker, and navigate the web of transdimensional portals. Only then can you discover your way to the magical city of Nightingale, the last known bastion of humanity.Prepare to make your way through Faewild forests, harrowing swamps, and shimmering deserts as you unlock the portals leading deeper into the lands of Fae. Cook meals, build shelter and muster the spirit to persevere in the face of adversity.
