Hi everyone, this is Remy Siu, the creative director of 1000xRESIST. I grew up playing point-and-click adventures and JRPGs and I was so spellbound by them, it inspired me to study art and music. Many years later, I had the opportunity to start my own indie game studio, and after a three year development cycle, we’re releasing our debut game 1000xRESIST TODAY!
Launch Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nUnwsTQkDg
1000xRESIST is a sci-fi narrative thriller. The year is unknown, and a disease spread by an alien invasion keeps you underground. You are Watcher. You dutifully fulfil your purpose in serving the ALLMOTHER, until the day you discover a shocking secret that changes everything.
The game features 10 hours of narrative twists and turns, and 15,000 lines of fully voiced dialogue.
We were heavily inspired by movies like “Millenium Actress” (Satoshi Kon) and “In The Mood For Love” (Wong Kar-wai). On the game side, we took influence from “NieR: Automata,” “13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim,” and “SIGNALIS.”
Bringing this game to the Nintendo Switch was one of the most difficult challenges I’ve ever faced. We love the console, so we persevered, and everybody on our team really levelled up to do it. In many ways, we had to rebuild the game to make it work. Overall, I think the final experience benefited greatly on PC and Switch.
Today, starting at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 4pm GMT, I’ll be here to answer any questions!
Additionally, we have some Switch keys to giveaway to our favourite questions!
eShop: https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/1000xresist-switch/
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1675830/1000xRESIST
Twitter: https://twitter.com/1000xRESIST
https://reddit.com/link/1co0au5/video/q1kaz5rb4fzc1/player
EDIT: Hi everyone! Thank you so much for all the questions!! It's been a real pleasure to answer them.
I think I have to take a break now — but I hope for those who do purchase the game, that you have a great time 🙂
I'll be sending out keys to my favourite questions, so keep an eye on your reddit inbox!
by sunsetvisitor
31 Comments
Very cool! Looks like a great game. Congrats on the release!
If you could develop any Nintendo IP, which one would you choose? What kind of game would you make?
Hi, congrats on the release! At the risk of sounding parasocial, I feel a closeness to your game because of the Asian diasporic stuff. I don’t really want to talk about my personal life, but I will say that I feel seen by stuff from the likes of Ling Ma, Solmaz Sharif, and Diana Khoi Nguyen. I say all that because I feel like 1000xResist will be like that for me in the space of games. The demo reminded me of them in some places.
Anyway, speaking less heavily on that sentiment, what would you say is one of your homes away from home? It doesn’t have to be a physical place. For example, one of my homes away from home is the music of this Korean shoegaze artist Parannoul. ^_^
Hi, just wanted to say that I loved the demo and I’m currently downloading the full game, eager to jump back in. Congratulations on the launch!
Question(s): Most narrative games coming out of indie devs/teams are predominately 2D or 3D first-person for budget reasons, but 1000xRESIST is third-person over-the-shoulder 3D, similar to Life is Strange which is very rare in the space and makes it immediately stand out.
How do you believe the incorporation of 3D and the third-person perspective enriched the game’s storytelling in contrast to other interactive fiction formats like Twine or visual novels?
What were the major hurdles and technical challenges you faced to accommodate this style of presentation? I imagine making the animations, environments and character models at scale wasn’t easy.
And my final question: Do you have any tips/guidance for people looking to develop narrative games, especially 3D ones? What are some pitfalls specific to narrative game development to avoid and general things to consider? (like gameplay-narrative cohesion etc).
Did NieR getting a switch port, have an influence your team to release 1000xResist to switch?
This question is inspired by your dev name. Do you have any favorite sunsets, be it from media, painting, or a specific real life memory? Two of mine are from Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation and from Naoko Yamada’s Liz and the Blue Bird, and I just want to say that I’m so excited that Yamada is one of your inspos!
https://preview.redd.it/xeq50m6cdfzc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5c71b916ab34cd0e04948be87c01bce1e62a3e9c
Hiiiii~ I made a Reddit account just to participate in this AMA. I fell in love with your game after playing the demo last year, so to celebrate I’m currently eating feng zhao and tiramisu. Not the healthiest pairing, I know, but I can’t resist on this occasion! :))
So following that, I have to ask, what are some things in your life that you jsut can’t resist, even if you try to resist 1000 times? >:D
Hey Remy, congrats! You mentioned you studied art and music. How did your experience from those fields manifest in the development in terms of your work process, who you sought to work with, and collaborative style?
Your game looks ridiculously cool. I love the atmosphere, unique character designs, the synopsis and the role of playing investigator; learning the truth, really sparks my interest.
I’m curious as to what birthed the idea of having a society of clones? Assuming you can say without your answer treading near spoilers of course! I think that’s a very eccentric, creative idea that is extremely rare.
I imagine the few developers who’ve pondered the idea, likely shied away due to worrying about differentiating the characters enough. But if the developer does exactly that, which is the vibe I’m getting so far, it’d becomes a big pro. Haha
Props to you all for your inventive minds, and thank you for allowing my question.
Congratulations on the launch. I’ve been intrigued by this after coming across it in a Resetera thread about upcoming indie titles. Feels like a good companion piece to the TV series ‘Silo’ which i’ve been watching.
Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to rebuild and optimise this game for Switch. So many developers opt not to do that, leading to games with performance issues, and blame being wrongly cast on the Switch hadrware itself.
Q. What games, TV shows, comics, or moments in the lives of the development team inspired the story and setting for 1000xRESIST?
This looks incredible! Very excited for it.
If you had unlimited budget, is there anything you’d change about the game?
Hello devs thanks for this AMA. From what I could see in the trailer there’s a lot of surreal emotional imagery displayed. Is the game dealing with psychological themes or is it more of a philosophical exploration?
What was some challenges you find when developing for a console like Switch?
Any potential for a future console release, like Playstation?
Congratulations! (🐧 squawk squawk!)
Got a few questions:
Since how long has the idea been brewing in your heads? for the game of course
Was another medium ever considered? or was the spark born as a game from the get go?
If given the chance to adapt the game to another medium, what medium would that be? it can be anything, manga, movies, audio dramas, a novel or even a theather play
and finally, in the case you could pick ANYBODY to adapt the work for you to said medium, anybody at all, any musician, illustrator or film director, etc, who would you choose? unless you would want to do it yourselves of course! (we’re talking about hypothetical unlimited budgets here, go all out)
Congratulations on the release! 😤🙏🏾🔥
Seriously excited to check out the game. I could feel the passion and creativity oozing out from the latest trailer (Been replaying that theme song on repeat all of yesterday)!
In the mini-documentary you mentioned that that quarantine had a big influence on the game. Now that we’re past that event, were there any changes or additional influences on the story besides that? If so, what were the main ones?
Congratulations on the release!
What went into the decision to release the game on both the switch and PC at the same time? I know a good amount of developers will start with the PC version and port it later.
Was Shin Megami Tensei V an influence at least art/presentation wise?
They look very similar like even the color/art/scenes etc
Just threw it in my steam cart along with a ton of other indie games today! What a great day for indie devs.
Congratulations on doing what you did for Switch. No denying it’s a hair long in the tooth.
In light of something you seem to possibly be at least inspired by superficially: Top, Bottom, or Middle?
Congrats on release, I heard about yalls game today on twitter. SIGNALIS and NieR Replicant + Automata were some of my most favorite games I’ve ever played. Ehhh on 13 Sentinels. How did these games influence yall in regards to 1000xResist? Story beats? Aesthetic? Gameplay? I’ve always been curious about how other artists try to find a balance between homage and originality in their works. Not to say much about whether anything truly is original or if we are always influenced by something consciously or unconsciously.
Congrats on the release! I’ve been eagerly anticipating this game since I’ve played the demo.
One piece of promotional material that really stuck out for me was the song in the launch trailer. It sounds both whimsical and haunting at the same time. What were the inspirations behind the track and the rest of the OST?
Judging by the trailer, and a really brief look at a synopsis because I don’t want any major spoilers, it looks like you’re starting in media res, I don’t see too many games go that route as opposed to books and movies, what inspired that creative choice for the beginning? Also and not really related to my previous question, do I see some Xenosaga influences here too?
Omg I hope it’s okay to ask a second question but I just thought of this one. As a tribute to the Allmother, and in the spirit of Mother’s Day, do you have any favorite fictional moms? As for me, I love Princess Mononoke’s Wolf Mom and Izumi Curtis from FMA, the mother figure of the Elrics!
P.S. Everyone here, make sure to tell your mom you love her!
Wow, I’m getting so many vibes from the trailer (persona 3/4/5, Bayonetta, Xenoblade)! You definitely have my interest!
Hello, and congratulations on the launch – the game looks amazing!
My question relates to your process for such a narrative-focused game. Did you and the team have most of the world building set in stone before getting into scripted dialogue and character interactions? Or did the rules & characteristics of the game’s world evolve and change more as you worked on the script/dialogue trees? (Or a combination of both?)
As someone who finds difficulty in “getting the ball rolling”, I’d like to ask how the foundations of your game were built — in what order did things develop? Did you start with the story, the gameplay, the artwork, or even the music?
How many people did it take to complete the core game?
And last of all, are there any neat facts or stories about this game’s development that you haven’t already shared?
Thanks for your time, and congrats on releasing your game!
Congratulations on the release of 1000xResist, and thank you for answering our questions today! I am really intrigued by the mixture of influences you described – “Millennium Actress” and “In the Mood for Love” are two of my favorites.
What aspects of those films in particular stood out to you and the team during development? Was it the narrative style, the cinematography, the themes of their plots? Perhaps all of the above, or something else entirely?
And overall, how do you as developers strike the balance between paying homage to something while staying true to your own vision and ideas? As a writer, it’s always something I’m seeking to do – maintaining originality while acknowledging and appreciating the great stories that have served as influences!
Hello Remy,
Thank you for the AMA and cheers on the launch of the game!
I saw another interview where you spoke about the variety of genres and creative mediums that inspired you and the team. I was especially curious about how theatre/stage influences may have played a role in development. For you & others working on 1000xResist, did this relate to the staging/“blocking” of scenes and character placement, writing styles, virtual set/environment design, and/ or other aspects?
Hi everyone! Thank you so much for all the questions!! It’s been a real pleasure to answer them.
I think I have to take a break now — but I hope for those who do purchase the game, that you have a great time 🙂
I’ll be sending out keys to my favourite questions, so keep an eye on your reddit inbox!
This looks so fucking cool! How much do choices made by the player factor into the narrative?
Looks incredible! As an aspiring writer with the same narrative influences as your game I’m really interested in how you went about constructing a complex narrative that threads all the needles while still keeping the characters and motives compelling, not losing sight of the “emotional core”. It’s such an incredible and difficult feat and always blows my mind when done well. Congrats on the release and looking forward to trying your game 🙂