A lot has been said about Rime’s radio silence before re-revealing the game a few weeks ago. Prior to that we hadn't seen or heard anything about Tequila Works work for a really long time. In fact the last time that we saw something official was a Gamescom trailer over two years ago.

Since then we were left to wonder what Rime was: what was the final game going to be like, and whether the game would even be release at some point. Those doubts got bigger in March 2016 when Tequila Works stated that they had acquired the rights to Rime from Sony Computer Entertainment. A few short months later, in August 2016, Tequila announced that the game would be published by Grey Box and Six Foot. The pieces were apparently moving, but the doubts were still there.

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“Maybe we did announce the game too early," said Tequila Works creative director Raul Rubio, explaining the lack of information and radio silence in the years to come.

When asked whether there was ever a moment the development team thought Rime might not be finished, Rubio was candid, “Yes, there were a lot of moments where we thought that the game wasn’t going to be released. In fact I was completely sure of that once," Rubio said. "Fortunately that didn’t happened.”

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But what was Rime during the earliest days of development and how did it evolve during the development process? “A lot has changed since the beginning” Rubio said. “There was always an island, and there was always a tower."

"If you compare the first Rime project in early 2013, we had a tiny island and things like the use of sound and there was a kid stranded on an island, but the rest has changed a lot," Rubio said. "For example we are now using Unreal Engine 4, and that engine has evolved, so we can include many more features and visual effects that weren't possible then.”

Rime's gameplay has also evolved over the course of its development. “Now we have a bigger structure and many islands, not just one," Rubio said. "And now we have all the content complete, which is great.”

But the biggest change to Rime, as Rubio puts it, wasn't the art, or code, or design of the game. The biggest change was in the scope of what Rime would become.

"When we started Rime it was a small indie game – and that's still the case, a small indie game – but the reception of the first trailer at Gamescom was overwhelming. So when we returned to the studio we said ‘You know what? They love it… but now it needs to be perfect because otherwise they are going to kill us’."

"That’s what we have been doing since 2013. The game was playable then, and had been playable for six months, but being playable doesn’t mean that it’s the game.”

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In fact Rubio explains that "the final 10% of a project takes 90% of the time.” He reveals Rime’s content has been finished since “[2015] and we have spent one year just polishing.”

"It may sound like a lot of time, but considering how difficult it is making games today with so many platforms and so many great competitors out there, it means that people don't see the difference between an indie game and a AAA game," Rubio said. "It’s just a good or a bad game, and we wanted to make a good game. A very good game.”

“We have spent four years developing Rime. And in terms of how the production has been, we did a design by subtraction," Rubio said. "That means in 2014 we had way too many things. Removing those superfluous things and achieving a minimalist result that feels elegant and compelling is something that you reach, not something you start from.”

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In fact Rubio explains that "the final 10% of a project takes 90% of the time.” He reveals Rime’s content has been finished since “[2015] and we have spent one year just polishing.”

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Mar Nosso said:

I'd love to have insight into why Sony let go of this game. Recent trailers look good and it seems the game has shaped up nicely. If it was ever in a hole, they must have clawed back up with ferocious intent.

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"If you compare the first Rime project in early 2013, we had a tiny island and things like the use of sound and there was a kid stranded on an island, but the rest has changed a lot," Rubio said. "For example we are now using Unreal Engine 4, and that engine has evolved, so we can include many more features and visual effects that weren't possible then."

Rime's gameplay has also evolved over the course of its development. ”Now we have a bigger structure and many islands, not just one," Rubio said. "And now we have all the content complete, which is great."

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Sparse said:

Going through that process with my own game at the moment, and this can't be stressed enough.

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Mar Nosso said:

I'd love to have insight into why Sony let go of this game. Recent trailers look good and it seems the game has shaped up nicely. If it was ever in a hole, they must have clawed back up with ferocious intent.

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Mar Nosso said:

I'd love to have insight into why Sony let go of this game. Recent trailers look good and it seems the game has shaped up nicely. If it was ever in a hole, they must have clawed back up with ferocious intent.

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All this info comes from a source very close to the studio.

First of all, I was told that the reveal trailer was all cinematic. It was faked to mimic gameplay, assets, etc. from a real game but 0% of the game was implemented.

So the real challenge for the studio was to put that vision into the final game. And apparently this has been impossible to achieve.

This words are a direct quote from my source about this news and the studio itself (it contains his personal opinion):

"Sony required about one month ago the DEV KITs to be returned and canceled the fundings into Tequila Works, due of the game had no-sense. Basically there wasn't a game.

This is a consecuence of the bad studio direction, basically Raul Rubio thinks that he is the next Tim Schafer. The truth is that Raul was fired from MercurySteam. The people from MercurySteam speak really bad about him (the main critics are: he has no idea about games, technology and he has crazy ideas without sense). If you add that his wife is the chairman of Tequila Works and looking for info about her you can find this:

http://www.notariado.org/liferay/web...N=AC&FLAG=MAIL

You could see that she is public notary in Spain. She hasn't any background making games. The results are, that Rime has no publisher and it is not cancelled due of they got public spanish founds to develop games:

http://www.minetur.gob.es/PortalAyud...lConcesion.pdf

If you take a look into their website and you compare the hellworkers list with the original team from Deadlight , only a couple guys remains from the original team. If all the team has left the studio, you must think that something wrong there is into the top of the company."

I'm a bit sad to be honest since i was there in the first days of the studio (not working).

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OKK said:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=198478087&postcount=354:

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