Ubisoft has revealed more new details about the company’s upcoming title, Child of Light. The game is under development by a small group of seasoned developers based in Ubisoft Montreal, with Far Cry 3's Creative Director Patrick Plourde and Lead Writer Jeffrey Yohalem working on the game.
As DSOGaming describes, Child of Light is, “a reimagining of classic fairytales, inviting players on an epic adventure into the magical painted world of Lemuria. Players will uncover mysteries, participate in turn-by-turn combat inspired by classic JRPGs, and explore the mystical kingdom.”
The game has been developed via Ubisoft’s UbiArt Framework, a powerful engine that is known for allowing programmers and artists to bring their work to life just by allowing original concept art to be inserted (while unedited) into the desired game world.
Child of Light tells the story of Aurora, a child abducted from her home. Aurora, in her quest to return home, must also bring back the sun, the moon, and the stars, which are being held captive by the mysterious Queen of the Night.
Assisted via her companion Igniculus the firefly, and other several unlikely allies, Aurora will take on her darkest fears – including dragons and other mystical creatures “in this modern take on a coming-of-age story.”
The game has been developed in such a way that parents can play it together with their kids. “I'm a father, and fairy tales are about parents telling their children stories that carry values," said creative director Patrick Plourde, as reported by Polygon. "So one day our marketing director said, 'Why don't you make a game where you can play with your son?' and I was like, 'Ah! That's so true!'”
"It's fun to share an adventure. Ni no Kuni is a great game, and it looks like it was made for the whole family, but you're playing alone. You can't be with your son or daughter and play together because it's only single-player."
Child of Light should give families a nice bit of bonding time. Speaking with OXM, Plourde described Child of Lights length as " a long game - more than 10 hours, easily."
Plourde also told Polygon it was important that the game didn't feature too many menus because a lot of very young children are still learning to or can’t yet read. He said that while he loves the tactical choices offered by JRPGs, this time however, he wanted to try offering that same tactical play without the menus.
"So I had the idea of what if we took the Super Mario Galaxy approach where you have a character that helps? What if he could move around on the screen and it's not a nuisance for the parent?”
"But the thing I felt was missing in Super Mario Galaxy was the second character is not really helping. You just collect coins. It's not a collaboration — you're more of a spectator," he added.
Child of Light is currently set to head over to PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, and other current generation consoles and PC in 2014. Check out the trailer below.
