Oskar Stålberg joined UsTwo Games for two reasons. Firstly, the pay was better than he could get at Ubisoft. And secondly, like 26 million others with a mobile phone, he'd been wowed by Monument Valley-the mesmeric, Escher-like puzzle game about manipulating miniature dioramas.
As it turned out, however, Monument Valley was the business of UsTwo's London office. Working in Malmö, Stålberg was stuck instead with a Play-Doh project-not the kind of snowglobe worldbuilding he'd hoped for.
Since going indie, Stålberg has made up for lost time-making a name for himself as a developer of exquisite, shrunken worlds. "I've always been fascinated by those kinds of things," he says. "I've always liked looking at maps." Since Google Earth came out 20 years ago, Stålberg has spent many happy hours flying around its facsimile planet, appreciating the geological and manmade patterns that can only be observed from a great height.
His first attempt to tap into that joy was, you might say, Monument Valley-esque: a maze game about picking a path across a tiny urban environment. "You were maybe going to be a cat jumping around," he says. "Maybe delivering mail or something. But I didn't manage to make that fun."
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
YELLOW CARD
Flawed deckbuilder DUNGEONS AND DEGENERATE GAMBLERS rarely plays a winning hand
GODS AND MONSTERS
AGE OF MYTHOLOGY: RETOLD modernizes a classic RTS with care
SPACED OUT
After a strong first impression, WARHAMMER 40K: SPACE MARINE 2 runs out of steam
SLIDES RULE
Redeeming a hated puzzle mechanic with SLIDER
DINER HARD
Rewriting the rules of horror in ALAN WAKE
"Kay Vess, galactic tomb raider"
Feeling like Lara Croft in STAR WARS OUTLAWS
LETHAL COMPANY
A return to some explosive post-launch patches.
MARVEL: ULTIMATE ALLIANCE
Enter the multiverse of modness.
TRACK GPT
Al's teaching sim racers to improve-what about other games?
FINDING IMMORTALITY
Twenty-five years on, PLANESCAPE: TORMENT is still one of the most talked-about RPGs of all time. This is the story of how it was created as a 'stay-busy' project by a small team at Black Isle Studios