An extended interview with Subnautica director Charlie Cleveland



[ad_1]

Of course, you can watch a movie on Netflix this weekend … or you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about the big one. Subnautica. Directed by Sean Dacanay, edited by Jeremy Smolik.

Around Ars, we have always known Subnautica was special. The game world has been littered with different tricks on a survival game – from Minecraft at Don’t starve et al. – but reviewer Steven Strom pointed out the main difference when reviewing the game in February 2018:

Unlike other survival games I’ve tried, [Subnautica] has a beginning, a middle and an end. The time spent by the player stuck on planet 4546B has a purpose. By ending the means, survival doesn’t just feel like satisfaction for itself – for my own self-aggrandizement.

Naturally, when we got the chance to bring director Charlie Cleveland to a play last year to explain the backstory of this modern classic (er, War Story), we first dove into the headset in deep waters. Cleveland introduced us to its initial inspiration (a game that was not built around weapons and combat), which made the mysteries of the game so effective (being engaged is more important than being engaged in combat), and how he decided to place this alien world below rather than above the ground.

But really, for the game with the depth of Subnautica, 20 minutes is not enough. So we’ve finally made our entire 90-minute conversation with Cleveland available for your enjoyment. If you like Subnautica or even just curious about it, this cut has much, much more detail than our initial war story. Make sure to stick around until the last third of the interview, especially if you want to see some of the early versions of the game.

Ad image by Sean Dacanay / Jeremy Smolik

[ad_2]

Source link