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I expected Lost In Cult’s Sable Design Works to be as beautiful as many other video game art books I own. It lived up to its promise, including a beautiful double-page spread of game screenshots alongside annotated sketches created early in the open-world indie design process.
But this meaty book isn’t just a visual treat, it also includes 50 pages of developer interviews detailing detailed insights into every step of the design process, as well as further commentary from the developers. I came in expecting a picture book, but I ended up learning more about game design and understanding all the decisions that went into making Sable.
I’m a big fan of Sable. This desert exploration game has officially become my second favorite title of 2021. It’s also thanks to his lithographic Moebius-inspired art style and expansive gameplay. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Shedworks had started developing the game before Breath of the Wild was released.
Sable quickly drew comparisons to Breath of the Wild thanks to its open world, go-anywhere attitude, and anti-realist art style. The distribution method for side quests is also similar. I always thought the developer played Breath of the Wild and immediately created his own take on Nintendo’s instant classic, but that wasn’t the case.
If anything, Breath of the Wild’s release mid-way through Sable’s development served only as a signal to Shedworks creators Gregorios Kythreotis and Daniel Fineberg that they were on the right path. . The premise was already pretty advanced when Zelda hit store shelves, but The Adventures of Link at least helped me understand how the game started and ended. They call it “lemon-shaped structure.” The beginning and end of the game are very narrow and mostly connected by railways (think Great Plateau or Jug), but everything in between expands into countless options and routes.
Kythreotis seems honest about every aspect of development, talking about the first prototype shared in a pub with other game developers, the horror of the E3 demo, the crisis of getting the trailer ready by deadline, and more. Guys, game development is hard work. Especially in the early stages, when he’s working in pairs in his garden shed, or when a global pandemic prevents him from seeing his closest collaborators. Every hurdle and accomplishment is detailed, but reading the history of Sable’s development never once outstays its welcome.
All developers are passionate about their work, but few get the chance to sit down and read a book as thick as this one. Shedworks’ humble origins make for great reading, but some of the best conversations are about how the founders wanted to leverage his Fineberg architectural background more than previous mobile titles, and Mobius It revolves around artists like and inspired by world cultures.
Sables are not influenced by any particular culture, and designers traveled extensively to understand how cultures develop before creating their own. Despite the obvious sandy similarities, Shedworks doesn’t pick an IRL religion or race to base its world on, as it elucidates how the Sable people adapted to life in the desert. , Sable is almost the anti-Dune.
A 50-page developer interview is part of the book, and as it is, it’s full of interesting trivia. Interviewer and writer Ewan Wilson speaks mostly to Kitreotis, but Feinberg, Michelle Zauner (better known as Japanese Breakfast, who produced the game’s soundtrack), and others tell the full story. The remaining 150 pages of his book are filled with sketches and landscapes, notes and scribbled references, measurements and designs for Jet’s bikes. Feinberg’s background in architecture is clear, and it’s a revelation to see the work that went into ensuring that his three eras of Midden have distinct architectural styles that hint at Earth’s deeper history. It’s a target.
The structure of the book itself is almost as impressive as the structure of the game itself. The paper is thick, the printing is perfect, and the finished book is weighty and impressive. Every page flows before your eyes, interviews are carefully planned, edited and composited onto the page, and the art is carefully selected and carefully placed. I can only imagine how much time was spent collecting and organizing such beautiful game screenshots. This is a feat of virtual photography itself. Lost In Cult has produced quality publications before, but this first in his Design Works series, which focuses on the development of indie games, is special. Needless to say, this book is well worth the £40 price tag.
The book Sable Design Works by Lost In Cult is more than just a collection of art. This is a treatise on game design, an oral history of a beloved indie development, and a book you’ll want on your coffee table to impress your friends. But above all, this book is a work of art in itself.
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