It’s already been an interesting year for the Nintendo Switch. It had a couple of big releases in January, nothing major in February, and now at the end of March, it’s about to get another major release in the form of Yoshi’s Crafted World. While not the most challenging game out there, the reviews have applauded its aesthetic, charm, and looks. Which are powered by the Unreal Engine 4.
The team actually spoke about the challenges of making Yoshi’s Crafted World with IGN. And they noted that ironically, it was the looks they struggled with most:
“As our theme for this game was ‘crafted,’ we set out to give the game a look and feel of something a child might create by hand. However, creating this sort of aesthetic was very difficult, and we had a hard time nailing the look we wanted at the beginning of development. You really need to get the details right when trying to make crumpled up paper or paint splotches look convincing in a game, and players also need to be able to tell at a glance what type of materials they’re seeing on-screen.”
What helped them though was the ease of which the Unreal Engine 4 allowed them to make changes on the fly:
Unreal Engine made it easy to make adjustments to the visuals, and allowed us to produce textures we were satisfied with. And when it comes to making these crafted objects feel real, their physical properties are every bit as important as aesthetics. The physics engine the Unreal Engine makes use of also proved handy for accomplishing this goal.”
Many expect the game to be another of Nintendo’s million sellers on the Switch. And given that the next major 1st party title won’t come out until June, that’s a likely possibility as gamers will want to try something new. We’ll have to wait and see.
