Between launching Falcon Age and deciding to greenlight manufacturing on Thirsty Suitors, minority-led indie studio Outerloop Games kicked round a pair extra pitches that it in the end determined to shelve (for now).

That’s par for the course with regards to sport growth, and studios will typically pitch a smorgasbord of concepts internally in a bid to unearth an idea fizzing with a sure je ne sais quoi. 

What’s uncommon, nonetheless, is attending to clap eyes on among the near-miss concepts and ideas that have been touted behind closed doorways. Rules (even unwritten ones) are made to be damaged, although, and in a current Twitter thread Outerloop co-founder and artistic director Chandana Ekanayake determined to showcase among the pitches the crew spitballed earlier than finally giving Thirsty Suitors the go-ahead.

“Initially we talked to a bunch of potential companions with three totally different sport concepts. We weren’t certain internally which concept we wished to go together with so determined to check them out by speaking to of us. This is what they appeared like in 2020,” defined Ekanayake, showcasing pitches for tasks referred to as Falcon Age Adventures, (working title) Monkey Game, and Thirsty Suitors itself.

“They say at all times play to your strengths and our strengths are stylized visuals, making trailers, and iterating on concepts fairly shortly. For every idea, we put collectively trailers specializing in the distinctive elements of every sport.”

Falcon Age Adventures was the primary concept to make it onto the pitch deck, and Ekanayake defined the thought behind that venture was to create a top-down action-adventure RPG that included turn-based fight, exploration, and pet coaching.

The concept would’ve seen Outerloop push the Falcon Age franchise into new territory, and a temporary trailer reveals how gamers may construct a settlement, work together with characters, and struggle foes.

“The factor we by no means found out [with Falcon Age Adventures] was the scope and scale,” continues Ekanayake. “It’s too near different current style of video games and the participant expectations could be larger than the time/budge/scale of what we may do moderately properly.”

The subsequent venture, Monkey Game, is described as a first-person “Falcon Age like sport” that might associate gamers with a pet monkey that might play a key position in fight and different interactions. Monkey Game was seen as an bold idea that might veer into RPG territory in the identical vein as titles like Dishonored.

“The gamers talents have been hand alerts that might study/train the monkey over time,” stated Ekanayake, explaining how Outerloop showcased the idea by hacking collectively a trailer utilizing Falcon Age property and a few new elements. “With this concept it was attempting to unravel how we may do a smaller RPG like this with a crew of 15. What may we do to face out and nonetheless make it expertise for gamers?”

Curiously, it was the third pitch within the deck, Thirsty Suitors, that Ekanayake thought could be the toughest promote. Despite these reservations, it really garnered an enormous quantity of optimistic suggestions because of its theme and distinctive gameplay components. Six months later, Outerloop had a playable prototype and the remaining, as they are saying, is historical past.

Thirsty Suitors continues to be simmering away within the gleaming growth Le Cruset over at Outerloop, and as for the opposite pitches? Ekanayake hasn’t dominated out revisiting them in a special type in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later. Be certain to try Ekanayake’s thread on Twitter to see further idea artwork, sketches, and trailers for each Falcon Age Adventures and Monkey Game.