Hello everybody! We’ve been hard at work since we first unveiled Papo & Yo last summer, and the game has come a long way in the past few months. As we get ready to (finally!) show off more of the game next week at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you all a little bit about how Monster – a character very important to both the story and to me personally – has evolved since my initial concept into the Monster you see today.
If you’ve been following Papo & Yo, you may remember that Monster represents my father, a man I had a difficult relationship with. To tell the story I wanted to tell – my story – I knew that this character had to show the positive aspects of the man I loved… and the negative aspects of the man I feared. This turned out to be challenging – I knew who Monster was, but not what he looked like. Luckily, I’m extremely fortunate to have friends like Nilo Rodis, a man who has worked on the art for movies ranging from Pixar titles to Star Wars, and the man who helped me find my father in Monster.
Nilo and I met during my time at EA, and when I started Minority as a way to make more personal games, he was one of the first people I started talking to. After I came to Nilo with the concept of Papo & Yo, we didn’t talk for a while – I basically buried myself in developing the game. When I finally had a prototype ready, Nilo liked it but saw problems with the way Monster looked – too much like a puppy, he thought. He asked me, “Do you see your father in that character?” and I honestly couldn’t say I did.
Nilo agreed to help us redesign our characters, and our final Monster, which you can see below, is big and powerful. He’s scary, but there is something that attracts you to him – something that makes you want to play with him, help him, even though he’s a beast who could fly into a rage and kill you.
Can’t wait to show you more of Monster and the game in the coming months!
release date please
nice i cant wait to play this for sure looks quite interesting!… also which platform is it going to be released on?
They probably don’t have a release date yet because they’re not sure when it will be finished. And if they announced a release date and couldn’t make the deadline, some people would just fly into a rage for announcing a date they couldn’t keep.
your game Definately stands out to me. You have great inspiration and I’m enjoying following your progress. Can’t wait till the release.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so interested in a PSN game this much ever.I hope it comes out during summer in a lull where it’ll have a chance to have more attention on it
Looking forward to playing this. Thank you for the update.
One of my most anticipated title! I can’t wait to read more information about this.
I would prefer that they take their time developing this game rather than rushing to a certain release date.
I wan to to play this game since I first saw it long time ago. Looks really amazing. And its totally amazing using such personal story to develop a game.
btw, I think i like more the Rhino version. But it really dont give the idea of something more “human” like the new design. And thank god you didn’t used that “Monsters inc like” design from the first image! Specially for the boy.
I’ve gotta say I’ve been anticipating this one for awhile, but I’m sorely disappointed by the new monster look: It’s severely lacking in detail compared to the rhino looking one and looks more like an enemy that I’d wanna gun down ASAP so I wouldn’t have to look at his ugly mug anymore. And what’s the deal with the one to the right? Is that some type of enrage ability it has?
This whole new concept does not look remotely human or make me care about it, nor could I ever relate to it–it’s very off-putting. It doesn’t even look fearsome if that’s what you were going for, it’s pitiful to be honest. Please, go back to the rhino esque one or to the drawing board altogether.
Hola I’m Vander, the creator of PAPO & YO, Thanks for your feedback on the monster, I really like the Rhino too. I remember going from the first sketches to a 3d model to putting him in the engine, but inside of me there was always something wrong with the character I couldn’t describe. Talking to my friend Nilo I realized what it was – I was mixing the monster with my dog! I love playing with my dog and got stuck in the loop of playfulness I wanted to have with my father which I never had. But when Nilo asked me if I see my father in the monster I had to be honest and admit that Rhino, as much as I liked him, was more my dog than my father.
The monster looks a bit scarier now and that is how I felt when I was a kid. When Nilo sent me some concept art for the new monster I saw my father in it and I feel that is a more honest view of my past.
We are still working on improving the texture and I look forward to showing you his animations soon, new monster is attaching too.
I know many will not like the new monster but I really could not ship with Rhino knowing he is the representation of my father mixed with my dog.
V