Eric Chahi was the creator of the all-time classic Another World. He’s also working on the rather spiffing From Dust. Speaking to CVG, he went into detail on how the new boom in console digital distribution helped aid the development process of his new game, bringing creativity back to the games industry.
“Today we have more creativity than some years ago,” claimed Chahi. “2000 to 2003/4 was really a time where there was no independent scene, there were few risks – it was very rare.
“But digital distribution, which started on PC then later on the console, was a really, really major step that saw originality coming back.”
According to Chahi, the dearth of ideas in the industry, and the nature of big budget titles, led to him taking his time on his latest project. Now that digital distribution is easily accessible on consoles, he feels like this is the perfect time to release a game like From Dust.
“We think that around 2000 there was no place for small games,” he said, “there were big games with big prices – a lot of cost and a lot of cost means we want a level of profitability, it was difficult…
“So during these two years I saw the industry, like I said before, and didn’t feel any opportunity but I had some ideas and in 2004 the industry was changing slightly.”
From Dust will be released this winter on Xbox LIVE, PSN and Steam.
From Dust: ‘PSN and Xbox Live have allowed us to do something creative’ [CVG]
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