Chucklefish opens up about its magic school sim

Get this on your radar

Stardew Valley makes a whole bunch of us feel all warm and fuzzy. Can its publisher, Chucklefish, do it again, trading in the care-free farm for a school of magic? I sure hope so! Last month, the company teased a new, not-yet-formally-announced game “that builds on what we learned from Stardew.”

SDV still in testing, no news yet. Thought this sneak peak might tide you over. We’ve learned a lot of lessons from working with Stardew. pic.twitter.com/EcabZ8DGb7

— Tiy (@Tiyuri) August 31, 2017

Speaking to PC Gamer, Chucklefish has dished out some new details about the project.

“Stardew Valley is a masterclass in establishing tone, charm and theme,” CEO and lead designer Finn Brice told the outlet. “With Stardew, Eric Barone has created the most refined game of this genre and manages to make the player fall in love with every interaction. With this project we’ve taken that idea of simply falling in love with a game world and gone all in. The mechanics are going to be tight and that’s important, but from the outset our goal has been to create a game world that is entertaining and charming simply to inhabit.”

Tonally, that sounds right on the mark. But what about those mechanics? “There are many different kinds of magic/crafting/potion making/farming systems in this game and each of those needs to be rewarding and satisfying in their own right,” said Brice. “Expect to have a lot to do in the final game, but to progress regardless of the activity.”

The game will also strive to capture “the nostalgia of school life as much as possible,” according to designer Rosie Ball. “A school operates very differently to a town. We’re working hard to include what we think are the essential elements of a school simulation while remaining within a familiar format that existing fans of the genre will be able to jump straight into.”

I like the sound of everything I’ve heard so far. The game doesn’t even have a final name yet, so it’s still relatively early days for the project. Between this and Wargroove, Chucklefish is onto something

New details and screens from Stardew Valley publisher’s magic school RPG [PC Gamer]