We’re currently working on a review for The MISSING: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories, so I got in touch with SWERY to talk about the game’s development. Come check it out!
PS4Blog: Good afternoon! Thank you for joining. How are you doing today?
I’ve been in the US for a while now, and at the beginning, I was suffering from a pretty intense stomach ache. But thanks to everyone’s support, I quickly recovered! Now I’m back to 100% SWERY!
PS4Blog: The MISSING: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories is now available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch. How would you describe the game to someone who’s never heard about it?
In The MISSING, an immortal college student named JJ searches for her best friend Emily, who’s gone missing. She has to overcome a lot of suffering to find her friend. As the player, you’ll use your immortal powers to burn and cut up your body in order to solve puzzles. It may seem like a grotesque, gore-centric, shocking game at first glance, but the story has a very powerful message. At the end, I’m positive that it’ll move you to tears. That’s it.
PS4B: How long did it take to develop The Missing? Where there any particular hurdles or challenges you had to overcome?
Development began on Oct. 1, 2016, for a total of 21 months. The biggest hurdle was in the first stage of the development cycle, when we were trying to decide whether to make the game a puzzle game or an action game. Once we made up our minds, it was smooth sailing.
PS4B: You teamed up with Arc System Works for The Missing. How did this partnership came to be? How did it impact the development of the game?
I’ve known Arc System Works’ CEO, Kidooka Minoru, for many years. Whenever we went drinking, we always talked about how we wanted to make a game together someday. After I created White Owls, I asked him to let me create my first White Owls game with him. That’s how this partnership began. They let me freely create the game as I saw fit, and from this point on, I’m sure they will continue to do a lot of PR for us and help the game sell a ton. And that’s about it.
PS4B: How goes the development of The Good Life?
Extremely well. We’re working together with another studio, Grounding, on this project, so it’s a brand new challenge for us. But they’re all very skilled, and continually impress me. I’m confident that with this game, I’ll be able to show the world and entirely new side of SWERISM.
PS4B: And that’s all the time we have for today. Once again, thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Would you like to add anything else before we go?
The MISSING was made with the belief that nobody is wrong for being what they are.
