Thomas Ostafin Discusses His Paper Crafted Adventure, Papetura

[dropcap size=big]P[/dropcap]ixel art, while quite lovely at times, is everywhere these days, especially in the world of video game crowdfunding.  While it’s not completely unheard of, it’s uncommon for us to find games that use some off the wall techniques for their graphics, like paper; but that’s exactly what the folks at Team Petums are doing.  They’re making their point and click adventure game, Papetura, using paper.  Real physical paper.  The kind of paper that your grandparents used t use to write you $12 checks for your birthday.  We recently spoke with the games creator, Thomas Ostafin, to get more details on this fascinating game.

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Cliqist : Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Thomas Ostafin : Hello, my name is Thomas Ostafin, I live in southern Poland. I’m currently trying to fulfill my dream to create Papetura. In the past, creating games has become my obsession, as bad programmer and mediocre artist, I started making games Flash. Learning from the mistakes, the first relatively correct game was Mosquito & Cow, point-and-click game in which you have to control mosquito to bite a cow. While studying architecture I was learning game-design by myself, and it ended up by writing up a Master’s project entitled ‘Architecture As Game’. Papetura was already in my head, and now I hope to create it.

Cliqist : Tell us a little about Team Petums, whats does Petums mean?

Thomas Ostafin : Petums team is basically two friends, Paul Adamczyk and myself. We do not have any office, and none of us were born to make games, Paul is a fresh forester and helps me in creating sound effects. I however, am a fresh architect who persuaded himself that will be making games. Petums is meaningless conglomeration of vowels, from when I was little and had a nickname Petum, the name remained after the first Flash game when I had to come up with the studio’s name.

Cliqist : Can you explain in your own words what kind of game Papetura is?

Thomas Ostafin : Papetura is a point-and-click adventure game full of puzzles, in which you can discover a fantasy world created entirely from paper. You guide a couple of friends trying to get out of trouble.

 

Cliqist : What video-game, film, literature or artwork do you believe influenced Papetura?

Thomas Ostafin : I think that the idea of material use came from The Neverhood clay-world. Machinarium gave a courage and guidance on the mechanics of the game. Windosill gave me a lesson on intuitive design, Feng Zhu tutorials taught me the idea of conceptual art, and Studio Ghibli productions inspired an animation. The literature that sticks to my mind is “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad. Also from architecture, it is worth mentioning the works of architects Tadao Ando and Santiago Calatrava.

Cliqist : Papetura is a “fantasy world made entirely of paper” Please explain more about this fantasy world that is made of paper?

Thomas Ostafin : The game is an attempt to create a new world, which is ruled by its own laws, as the main matter is paper, everything must have the right shape and behavior that it may exist. Therefore, I use almost exclusively paper for the production, it is a challenge because only light can color it, this translates to a composition and appearance of the scene. When it comes to a fantasy world, I assume that everything in it can be alive, untold and mysterious. In the game, a natural enemy of the paper will be revealed – the fire, I can’t wait for that challenge to make it.

Cliqist : What kind of difficulty level can gamers expect in Papetura, would there be settings for both casual and hardcore Gamers?

Thomas Ostafin : I think the game will be for almost everyone, I am still learning to design intuitive gameplay and I hope that the game will not disappoint casual and hardcore gamers.

Cliqist : What kind of game-engine will you be using for Papetura and why?

Thomas Ostafin : I’m using the Unity engine, it has its pros and cons. Previously I used Flash, and I miss good animation editing, but unity makes up with performance and capabilities. Also, from an economic point of view, it is free until the game reaches a high income, which gives me a lot of time for learning and making mistakes.

Cliqist : What kind of game length has you planned for Papetura?

Thomas Ostafin : I’ve planned about 2 hours of gameplay. I have a feeling that this may change in the future depending on how much time I can devote to production.

 

Cliqist : Why should people support Papetura on IndieGogo?

Thomas Ostafin : It’s all a struggle for independence. The publisher creates a pressure that destroys creativity. Help from IndieGogo supporters would give me the freedom to create the game full-time and have direct contact with players. The budget of the game is relatively small, but the time of production is an obstacle. IndieGogo campaign is not going too well, but it brought an attention to the game, which makes me glad.

Cliqist : What platforms are you planning to bring Papetura?

Thomas Ostafin : Papetura will be released on PC / Mac, and Linux as well if there won’t be any problems. Also on iPad and Android if I won’t run out of funding. I’m not planning to release the game on consoles yet.

Cliqist : Anything else you want to add?

Thomas Ostafin : Thank you for the opportunity to share the history of Papetura! If IndieGogo campaign fails, I don’t see a bright future for the production, but I’m preparing backup plans, please keep your fingers crossed!

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Thanks to Thomas for taking the time to answer my questions!  Head on over to IndieGogo if you’d like to check our more of Papetura.