Posted November 08, 2022
Incredible and unique setting, fast pace, challenging enemies, bullet-hell and amazing audiovisuals - all of them describe Furi, an action shoot 'em up video game that takes place on a colorful, retro, science fiction planet and consists entirely of boss fights. This future cult-classic is now available on GOG with a 70% discount on the base game, 20% on its blood-pumping OST and 30% on this year’s Onnamusha DLC which presents new fighter, new skills and new challenges. Offer lasts until November 11th, 11 PM UTC.
But that’s not all. We had the pleasure to talk to The Game Bakers, the independent game studio responsible for that amazing title and ask them about the game’s success, creators’ favourite elements, reasons for its distinctive art style and more! If you for some reason haven’t yet played Furi on GOG now it’s the best time to do so. Learn more about the game from the best source possible and jump right into the fun!
After its release Furi received very positive reception both from critics and gamers. It’s safe to say that especially for the latter we can expect it to become a future cult-classic. How has such a response from the community and industry affected the studio?
Actually it’s more over the years that the community’s love for the game had an impact on the studio. At release, the success was somewhat discrete, more than we would have liked. But over the years the game kept selling and having very dedicated fans. This had a strong influence on our decisions for The Game Bakers. It made us proud and we felt responsible to keep making strong design decisions. We wanted Furi to be truly memorable to players who liked that kind of game, even if it meant that it was not “for everyone”. And it worked, eventually. We’ll keep making that kind of games, with a unique gameplay, a strong meaning, and this little addition of soul in the execution that makes the experience a memorable one.
Very unique and interesting design and audiovisual setting is probably what makes Furi standout the most. Could you tell us what were the main factors in choosing the game’s retrofuturistic, arcade, synthwave and electro style?
There was many reasons, some of them being: we didn’t want a realistic setting, we wanted bright colors, strong contrasts, in opposition to the realistic games we had worked on in the past (Clancy games). We also wanted to be in a fantasy setting (cyber-fantasy) so that it was easy to make design choices that were fun, with no constraint coming from “realism”. Also we wanted to avoid having realistic guns. Shooting lasers and energy balls is ok for us, but we don’t like to have realistic fire weapons in our games. And finally, the “sound of Furi” came naturally because it was the music we listened to while working on the first playable prototypes. It’s a very motivating kind of music, and you need this kind of beat when working long hours, the same way you need that when facing a difficult boss.
Of course, one of the most important and strongest elements of the game is its combat. When designing it, what would you say were your main goals?
If I had to summarize the strong game design goals for this bossfight, I would say that one was to create movement. I felt it was cool to make a duel that felt like a dance choreography (or a tennis match, that actually was a strong reference). Another one was to create a strong risk-reward feeling. One way we did that was for instance by healing the character after a successful parry (while a dash was easier but didn’t heal). And finally, one of the keyword we used everyday was for the combat to feel “fair”. We wanted the player to feel that if they got hit, it was because they did a mistake, they took a too big risk, not because the game was unfair.
In hindsight, what do you like the most about Furi? Do you have any favourite elements or moments within the game?
[i]I love the fact that you can always make a come back. If you are at your last chunk of life, you can always concentrate and play safe, heal back, beat the phase, gain back a square of life, and beat the boss for good. When you felt you were going to fail but manage to pull that kind of come back, it’s utterly satisfying.
I also love that there is no upgrade, no level up, no additional weapons, no customisation, no skill tree, no spells, no items… It’s just about you, your skills, and the boss.[/i]
Lastly, if you could pick 3 emotions that you’d like players to feel while playing Furi, what would they be?
The two strongest ones that every Furi players experience are obviously frustration that eventually becomes intense satisfaction. And it’s not an emotion, but I think players also experience “flow” while playing Furi. It’s that kind of game where you can almost space out for a while and when you regain consciousness of where you are exactly in the bossfight, you realize you just crushed 2 phases without thinking about it.
We’d like to thank The Game Bakers for talking with us about Furi and wish you all amazing adventures within its world. Show us what you got!
But that’s not all. We had the pleasure to talk to The Game Bakers, the independent game studio responsible for that amazing title and ask them about the game’s success, creators’ favourite elements, reasons for its distinctive art style and more! If you for some reason haven’t yet played Furi on GOG now it’s the best time to do so. Learn more about the game from the best source possible and jump right into the fun!
After its release Furi received very positive reception both from critics and gamers. It’s safe to say that especially for the latter we can expect it to become a future cult-classic. How has such a response from the community and industry affected the studio?
Actually it’s more over the years that the community’s love for the game had an impact on the studio. At release, the success was somewhat discrete, more than we would have liked. But over the years the game kept selling and having very dedicated fans. This had a strong influence on our decisions for The Game Bakers. It made us proud and we felt responsible to keep making strong design decisions. We wanted Furi to be truly memorable to players who liked that kind of game, even if it meant that it was not “for everyone”. And it worked, eventually. We’ll keep making that kind of games, with a unique gameplay, a strong meaning, and this little addition of soul in the execution that makes the experience a memorable one.
Very unique and interesting design and audiovisual setting is probably what makes Furi standout the most. Could you tell us what were the main factors in choosing the game’s retrofuturistic, arcade, synthwave and electro style?
There was many reasons, some of them being: we didn’t want a realistic setting, we wanted bright colors, strong contrasts, in opposition to the realistic games we had worked on in the past (Clancy games). We also wanted to be in a fantasy setting (cyber-fantasy) so that it was easy to make design choices that were fun, with no constraint coming from “realism”. Also we wanted to avoid having realistic guns. Shooting lasers and energy balls is ok for us, but we don’t like to have realistic fire weapons in our games. And finally, the “sound of Furi” came naturally because it was the music we listened to while working on the first playable prototypes. It’s a very motivating kind of music, and you need this kind of beat when working long hours, the same way you need that when facing a difficult boss.
Of course, one of the most important and strongest elements of the game is its combat. When designing it, what would you say were your main goals?
If I had to summarize the strong game design goals for this bossfight, I would say that one was to create movement. I felt it was cool to make a duel that felt like a dance choreography (or a tennis match, that actually was a strong reference). Another one was to create a strong risk-reward feeling. One way we did that was for instance by healing the character after a successful parry (while a dash was easier but didn’t heal). And finally, one of the keyword we used everyday was for the combat to feel “fair”. We wanted the player to feel that if they got hit, it was because they did a mistake, they took a too big risk, not because the game was unfair.
In hindsight, what do you like the most about Furi? Do you have any favourite elements or moments within the game?
[i]I love the fact that you can always make a come back. If you are at your last chunk of life, you can always concentrate and play safe, heal back, beat the phase, gain back a square of life, and beat the boss for good. When you felt you were going to fail but manage to pull that kind of come back, it’s utterly satisfying.
I also love that there is no upgrade, no level up, no additional weapons, no customisation, no skill tree, no spells, no items… It’s just about you, your skills, and the boss.[/i]
Lastly, if you could pick 3 emotions that you’d like players to feel while playing Furi, what would they be?
The two strongest ones that every Furi players experience are obviously frustration that eventually becomes intense satisfaction. And it’s not an emotion, but I think players also experience “flow” while playing Furi. It’s that kind of game where you can almost space out for a while and when you regain consciousness of where you are exactly in the bossfight, you realize you just crushed 2 phases without thinking about it.
We’d like to thank The Game Bakers for talking with us about Furi and wish you all amazing adventures within its world. Show us what you got!
