To release an 8-hour long demo of your upcoming game, like Italian studio Jyamma Games did with their soulslike Enotria: The Last Song, takes guts and confidence. When the studio offered this generous slice of the game for players to try out during the last Steam Next Fest, reactions were very positive. Producer Edoardo Basile says he understands that it looks like a unique choice, but the reasons behind it were very clear. “The intent was to give people enough time to appreciate our RPG-system while at the same time receiving more accurate feedback from them.”
The results for the extended demo turned out great in the end for the Milan-based team. They received a lot of positive feedback on the gameplay, confirming they’re on the right path. Also, wishlists skyrocketed and put the game in the global top 100 almost immediately. “Of course we also had our fair share of bugs, as was to be expected,” says Basile. “But thanks to our amazing community we managed to find them, so we can provide the best experience possible at launch later this year.”
Enotria: The Last Song is a Soulslike game inspired by Italian folklore, set in a sunlit world filled with danger and secrets. Players, as the Maskless One, must defeat the Authors of the Canovaccio, an eternal play trapping the world in stasis, and use the power of the masks of fallen foes. The developers expect over forty hours of gameplay with three large areas to explore and more than hundred different enemies to fight.
Severely stereotyped
The idea for Enotria was born out of the desire to do something great for the region. “Italy is severely stereotyped abroad, and we wanted to showcase what living in Italy really means,” says Basile. “We want to focus on more intricate cultural issues that we suffer from with a specific attention to convey this paradox where everything is wonderful, but rotten inside. Of course, we also wanted to switch the user’s attention to other less known folkloristic sides of our beautiful country, in order for people to also get to know something new about our vast culture.”
To evoke that typical Italian atmosphere in the game, the team internally coined the term ‘Summer-Soul’. “It provides a Mantra to follow throughout the entire development process,” explains Basile. “It’s very easy to understand and immediately gives a strong direction the game would have to take. This being our first big game as a team, it is very important to communicate properly and keep an agile environment where changing game components can be done as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
Danger and decadence
Visually the game benefits from the Summer-Soul mantra with impressive vistas of medieval Italian towns bathing in sunlight. “The look of the game has been a very challenging part of the development process. Conveying the feeling of danger and decadence is easier done with a dark and gritty setting, but Italy is not dark at all! It is quite the opposite. So, the direction was to create believable designs based on our folklore and the ‘Commedia dell’Arte’ masks, to depict our wonderful landscape, but, at the same time, give it a dark twist without jeopardizing the true colorful nature of our culture.”
“Artistically speaking, we managed to re-create a believable world which makes you ‘feel’ Italy while having a healthy amount of fantasy to it. At the same time we tried to give our unique twist to the gameplay with our mask-system and deep RPG features, giving a lot of new possibilities to the players to try different builds and approaches. Overall I would say I’m proud of how we managed to make the game more accessible while retaining the challenge for the most hardcore players.”
Failing is ok
The team feels rightfully proud of their achievements so far. Jyamma games, founded in Milan in 2019, initially focused on mobile games like Hi-Ball Rush and Cowzuuka. In the following years the studio expanded to over 50 collaborators across various countries. “The name of the company was picked by the studio founder and CEO Giacomo Greco,” reveals Basile. “It actually is a merging between his nickname Jacky and his son’s name Gianmarco. While it doesn’t have a specific meaning per se, I would say it is definitely special for him.”
Edoardo Basile reflects on the lessons the studio has learned along the way. “I think the biggest lesson is that failing is ok. It is actually the only way to reach better quality with your game. It is worth noting though, having a healthy environment with a proper culture of failing is very important to support the team in the most difficult moments. This will get you to an iterative process where you don’t necessarily get discouraged while trying new features that probably lead to failing a few times before having the final state of your work.”
Enotria: The Last Song will release on 19 September 2024 on Steam, Epic, PlayStation and Xbox.