The Secrets Behind Tunic’s Sense of Wonder and Mystery Unveiled

How Tunic Was Made and Why The Creator Designed Content for No One

This Tunic documentary details the development of the indie action-adventure game Tunic and goes behind the scenes of its creation, showing early concept art and early in-game footage. Discover more about developer Andrew Shouldice and the team he assembled. After working at Silverback Games as a programmer for six years, Andrew felt a strong urge to start a new adventure on his own. Having done well at several game jams in the past, he felt ready to create his first commercial indie game. On day one of his unemployment, Andrew didn’t have a concrete game idea or concept yet, but he knew he wanted to create a game that captured the feeling of the vast unknown—the sensation of being dropped into a world full of secrets. The documentary also explores all the design decisions that Andrew made and shows how he landed on the fox designs and why he initially tried to turn Tunic into a point-and-click adventure game.

It also takes a close look at all the hurdles the team had to go through. Choosing to go with an isometric perspective presented unique challenges, like having to deal with geometry that needs to be placed just right or animations that need to be even more polished. Additionally, it was difficult to strike a balance between a 3D style that was abstract and visually interesting while still feeling convincingly real. Adding too much detail made the game lose some of its visual identity, but if it looked too simple it seemed unfinished. It took years to find the right look. Furthermore, Andrew struggled to translate his clear vision for Tunic into a cohesive video game. Everything from interacting with objects to designing UI elements and refining moment-to-moment gameplay required extensive iteration. Lastly, the video takes a look at Andrew’s future and if Tunic DLC or a sequel could be a possibility.