“Outside of games, we were always drawn to heavily art-directed films like Lord of the Rings and Blade Runner, and the unique and often whimsical animated worlds of Studio Ghibli,” adds Grier. It’s probably unsurprising for a company that started out as an animation studio, that popular films, cartoons and anime were also key touchstones during development. Our diverse team brings a variety of influences, and you can see aspects of many cultures in our character designs and music.” “Mike, the creative director on Kena, drew on his experiences of living in Japan and exploring the countryside, which is evident in the lush, detailed environments. “On the games front, we were always drawn to adventure games such as Legend of Zelda, but we have gained a lot of inspiration from the world around us as well,” says Grier. We found inspiration in many things along the way, including eastern philosophy and art, themes of finding balance, letting go, and traditional Balinese music called Gamelan. It’s fair to say, though, we never in a million years dared to dream it would become this popular. “Making a game was a new challenge for us but we felt that we could leverage our skills in animation and VFX to create a prototype to pitch. We originally considered making Kena’s story a short film, or an animated short, but as we started to develop the characters and the storyline we began to envision gameplay mechanics that could work really well with the story we were telling. “The team is full of gamers, so we were naturally attracted to games because they allow for such an immersive experience. “The studio’s original background was in commercials and VFX, but we’ve always wanted to tell our own unique stories,” explains Grier. Thankfully, the team possessed a great deal of passion for games that could be harnessed to drive towards their goal. That desire to create a story driven adventure game meant a fast transition for the team, away from the creation of animation for external clients in other industries, and into a game development firm in its own right. Indeed, the combat is not for the faint of heart, and it should give more experienced gamers some exciting and memorable moments.” Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a story driven adventure game, with rich environments to explore and challenging combat. “All in all, we stayed true to that pitch. Because there is still a lot of it everywhere.“We set out to make a story-focused, action adventure game in a smaller but AAA quality package, and we pitched an experience that was digestible – something you could complete in a weekend, but with high quality visuals and really fun gameplay,” says Josh Grier, COO and co-founder at Ember Lab. I like warning people of elements within this industry. As a teacher, mentor, and someone who loves collaboration. I'm not angry anymore after all these years. So I don't think I'm wrong to of come forward.Īnyways, hope you can chill with the anger. I know the weird manipulated things they were planning as well in social media. I know more information of shitty things they have been doing, and continue to do. So I don't think this is a isolated case. Since the article has been released, three others have come forward to me personally with similar stories. But people who knew me from before, and after. What people define is cool is a constant reminder of the real pain and suffering this studio forced upon me. The initial trailer in fact, was something I helped build 3 to 4 years ago with their team. Something I helped build from "humble" beginnings. This had harmed me both mentally, and to a point physically.Īnd now I see this game constantly. After that fact, I was left with heavy debt, a very traumatic experience, and put my family at risk of all this. To a point I couldn't accept the position. I was 80,000 a year for a lead designer position). and reduced the salary they promised by 50,000$ (They said it was market rate in response to the article. I had to turn down lucrative jobs because of those promises. The reason I came forward was that Ember Lab let me go after months and months of telling me to reject offers from other studios, promises of a bonus, a stake in company, and of course, the lead design position. And vs the evidence I had provided and wrote what they did. Followed up with Ember Lab to get their side of the story. This did not include all the information that I knew, as the journalist did what you know, journalists do. There were people who corroborated parts of the story posted. But I just wanted to make sure people knew my story.Īnyways.
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