Las Vegas – Back in 2013, unique PlayStation Vita title Tearaway released to rave reviews from fans and critics alike, but unfortunately the game didn’t reach the broad audience many believed it deserved since it was released for Sony’s struggling portable gaming platform.
Tearaway was designed from the ground up to take advantage of the PS Vita’s unique hardware, so bringing the game to the PlayStation 4 required a complete overhaul of many of the title’s mechanics. The handheld console’s back touch panel played a large role in the original Tearaway, allowing players to launch their paper crafted character metres through the air, and Media Molecule needed to find a way to recreate this experience on the PlayStation 4.
At Sony’s recent PlayStation Experience fan-focused event in Las Vegas, Tearaway’s Lead Designer, Rex Crowle, from Media Molecule, explained the thought process behind bringing his studios’ critically acclaimed title to the PS4.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMP_P45F8Ho?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent&w=680&h=413]
“We’d already crafted our adventure on the Vita and we were really unsure if we’d be able to bring it to PS4 and do it justice. Through working with Sony external development, they were very keen that we just try it out – just experiment, you know? It might be a failed experiment and then we wouldn’t go any further, but because it was kind of a “game jam” period – a lot of it was while people were on vacations after finishing the first game. We had a free-form approach of letting everyone contribute ideas and that’s kind of how a lot of the mechanics came out,” Crowle says.
Crowle explained that his team needed to come up with what he describes as the “right metaphor” for Tearaway’s re-imagining on the PlayStation 4. The concept his team ended up defining their game with is not that dissimilar from Tearaway Unfolded’s PlayStation Vita counterpart.
“What we sort of homed in on was just the fact that much like on the Vita you’re holding the world in your hands, this time we were making something that in fact it’s a world inside your TV and you’re holding the controller. It’s almost like the controller is some sort of artifact that’s come out. That’s the thing that bridges the world between you outside of the game and the character inside of it,” said Crowle.
Tearaway Unfolded is even better looking on the PlayStation 4. Media Molecule
Players will use the Dualshock 4’s touchpad to shoot items and characters around Tearaway Unfolded’s world, point the controller at the screen to illuminate areas of the map, and also tilt it left and right to navigate their character in certain segments of the game.
According to Crowle, when making the PS Vita version of Tearaway his team didn’t really feel constrained by the consoles limitations. Instead the biggest challenge in bringing Tearaway Unfolded to the PS4 hinged on making appropriate use of the Dualshock 4’s unique capabilities.
“It was more about the interaction. The Dualshock 4 has a lot of innovation, but it’s not necessarily really always being used to its advantage. We’ve got a touch pad, so we must be able to do something more interesting than scrolling a map. We really wanted to bring some personality to all of these hardware features.”
When asked about whether or not his next project would be headed to the PlayStation 4, Crowle gave a cryptic, non-committal answer.
“I think it’s whatever hardware works best for the story that you want to tell and the mechanics and things like that – what the team naturally responds to and whatever helps the team generate ideas.
Tearaway Unfolded is set to be released at some point in early 2015.
Source:: canada.com
