

#298 Tchia with Phil Crifo
Genre Deep DiveSeries
Today on the show, Dirk and David are joined by Phil Crifo, game director at Awaceb, most prominently known for his work on Fossil Echo and Tchia. He discusses growing up in New Caledonia, and how it serves as an influence on the creation of Tchia. Topics include the history of New Caledonia and colonization, creating a world based on difficult histories, making an engaging open world, and what soul jumping actually is.
Episode Outline
0:00 Beginning of Show
1:05 End of Intro
1:09 Crifo’s Path into Game Design
4:05 History of New Caledonia
6:14 Caledonian Influences
9:17 Local Response
11:42 Including Unique Experiences
14:55 Creating an Open World
25:09 Open World Influences
28:07 Designing Aesthetic Mechanics
31:36 Creating a Design Process
34:21 What’s Soul Jumping?
38:03 Sound Design
40:30 What didn’t make the cut?
42:21 Lessons Learned about design
46:08 Funding as a small studio
48:30 Advice for Listeners
50:39 Outro
51:40 End of Show
In this Episode
Phil Crifo - @PhilCrifo, www.awaceb.com
David V. Heron - @davidvheron
Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer