Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more.
The genre mashup Thirsty Suitors was a ‘refuge’ for its developers
07.11.2023 - 18:25 / polygon.com
After nearly three years in development, Outerloop Games and Annapurna Interactive’s Thirsty Suitors was released on Nov. 2. From the beginning, the Outerloop Games team knew a few things: They wanted to make a game about relationships, and they wanted it to reflect the lived experience of its developers in telling an immigrant story. So much of the game was built out from there to create the wholly unique, genre-bending Thirsty Suitors — a game that blends its story up with cooking games, turn-based battles, and skateboarding.
What you get is a video game that goes beyond its individual labels. In the lead-up to Thirsty Suitors’ Nov. 2 release date, Polygon spoke to Outerloop Games co-founder/Thirsty Suitors director Chandana Ekanayake and narrative designer Meghna Jayanth about the complex, “more is more” game that explores both trauma and joy while player-character Jala kickflips her way through her hometown.
[Ed. note: This story has been edited for length and clarity.]
Polygon: Thirsty Suitors is so many different things — turn-based fighting, cooking, romance. It’s an immigrant story, a skateboarding game. How did you pull all these elements together?
Chandana Ekanayake: Where do I start? It starts with the theme and the stories we wanted to tell, and everything else stemmed from there. We wanted to do an immigrant story, because a lot of the folks on the team are — it’s a fully remote team made a lot of immigrants.
That’s where we started. And then we knew we wanted to do a game about relationships. The battle system came out of that, like, how do we balance this argument personified into this battle, plus the writing, the dialogue back-and-forth. So from that, the story came through, throughout just a lot of iteration. Then we added the cooking — it was always gonna be a big part of it, because culturally it’s significant to be able to talk through things while cooking. And then skating was just something that made sense after — I don’t know, it just came about.
Meghna Jayanth: I think skating began as a loading screen. There’s so much creativity on the team; it was really just a loading screen that people loved. And then we built it. Working as the narrative designer, week after week, I would come back and be like, Oh, it’s been two weeks. I haven’t checked in on this. Oh, we’re making a minigame. There’s a little bit of exuberance and creativity on the team.
I think we pulled all of that in. Eka loves to call this a “baby Yakuza,” which I really love as a description. There’s really a sense of joyful abundance, like we’re presenting you with all of these delightful things to do, but hopefully it has some focus as well.
With regard to skateboarding, it comes into the story as well. It’s
The website gametalkz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Top Authors
Popular Topics
gamespot.com
22.11.2023 / 03:01
Amazon Has The Lord Of The Rings Card Game For Its Best Price Ever
You can also snag deals on Lord of the Rings-themed versions of Risk and Monopoly as well as other games.
mmorpg.com
21.11.2023 / 23:47
The Day Before Announces Regional Launch Times For Its December 7th Release Date
Survival MMO The Day Before is fast approaching its new launch date of December 7th, with the team at Fntastic confirming when players can jump into the game in their respective regions.
gematsu.com
18.11.2023 / 09:17
The Last of Us Part II Remastered announced for PS5
Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Naughty Dog have announced The Last of Us Part II Remastered for PlayStation 5. It will launch on January 19, 2024. Users who already own The Last of Us Part II for PlayStation 4 can upgrade to The Last of Us Part II Remastered for $10. Save data can also be carried over.
techradar.com
07.11.2023 / 12:20
7.5 million players took to gameshow FPS The Finals for its open beta
Competitive, team-based FPS The Finals has just wrapped up its open beta which boasted an impressive 7.5 million players.
tech.hindustantimes.com
07.11.2023 / 08:59
Microsoft and Inworld AI join forces to create AI tools for game developers
Last month, Morgan Stanley analysts predicted that Microsoft and Sony could benefit from the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in video games, stating that both companies will be “the most clear-cut beneficiaries of AI adoption in the game industry”. As development costs increase and product prices remain stagnant, more and more developers are adopting AI tools, which could help cut costs by 15 percent. Microsoft has now announced that it is partnering with Character Engine for AI NPCs called Inworld AI to develop AI tools. Let us take a closer look.
polygon.com
04.11.2023 / 15:21
The powerful Asus ROG Ally is $80 off for the first time
Black Friday is still a few weeks away, but several retailers have already begun rolling out some excellent deals worth checking out this weekend. For example, our top deal this weekend is the inaugural discount on the Asus ROG Ally, knocking $80 off the speedy handheld PC at Best Buy. Some other noteworthy deals include a pair of Humble bundles, a sizeable discount on the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, and some personal favorites from my board game library.
polygon.com
03.11.2023 / 19:32
Thirsty Suitors has one of the best dog petting sequences in a game I’ve ever seen
A lot of Thirsty Suitors is just so extra in the best of ways. A conversation with an ex isn’t just a conversation, but a full-blown cinematic and choreographed battle. Even aunties can take on the proportions of a kaiju in this game. Luckily for us, developer Outerloop Games brought this same sense of style to petting dogs. The new adventure game has what I think is one of the best dog petting sequences I’ve seen in a game, ever.
gamespot.com
03.11.2023 / 05:53
Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller Is On Sale For Its Best Price Of The Year
This deal on the Xbox Elite Series 2 discounts the high-end controller by nearly $60.
mmorpg.com
02.11.2023 / 18:09
The Day Before Confirms Beta Test Will Be Only For Its 'Volunteers'
The Day Before is now dated for a December 7th Early Access, and according to a new report, the previously-announced beta test will be open only to “volunteers” that work on the game.
gamesradar.com
02.11.2023 / 16:59
Cities: Skylines 2 CEO "no longer afraid of the marketing department," admits the city builder's launch was "rightfully" overshadowed by technical issues
In the wake of a messy launch for Cities: Skylines 2, Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen has published a new blog post addressing the game's issues and detailing some of the fixes that are now in the works.
venturebeat.com
02.11.2023 / 16:19
Revenue opportunities for game developers in the wake of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act
The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) — all 66 pages of it — was activated almost exactly a year ago, became generally applicable this year on May 2, and will start to be enforced around March of next year. Its aim, of course, is to regulate major online platforms and gatekeepers, and the goal is to establish fair competition, consumer protection and data privacy. It’s pretty certain that the online global gaming industry, in which developers and game studios are profoundly affected by platform dynamics, will feel the brunt of the changes wrought by the DMA.