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[Grudy]

We launched our new website where you can pre-order them: http://www.orithegame.com

Just scroll down a bit

This is the best news I've heard all week, and that's after E3 lol. You guys deserve all the credit for making such an amazing game.

Btw for people asking about some of the behind the scenes stuff, I remember finding a youtube channel with tons of short videos that showed early animations and prototypes for the game. They were really rough but interesting to see how the game looked in its earliest stages.

 

[SOR5]

Some of them are on the Definitive Edition soundtrack (listed as Ori and the Blind Forest (Additional Soundtrack, free on Bandcamp). (Apologies if this is self-promotion, mods feel free to remove!)

e.g. #22 Title Screen (unused) - was actually our main menu music for about 1.5 years for internal builds. But really it's just a nice ambient tune that doesn't really have any lasting impact.

The main theme in its first fleshed out incarnation is # 21 (Launch Trailer - unused). It's a conceptual track that could have been used for a 60 second trailer. We then ended up using a version for this for our actual launch trailer, but a bit more epic in scope.

There's a bunch of material from track #21 onwards that were used for prototypes, or just never made it into the game.

At some point I'll do a Youtube video showing the original sketch and how it transitioned into what people know today.

My man, thank you

 

[thomasmahler]

How could you guys play with emotions like this? Do you guys go outta the way to say how many tears can we get to fall? ��

Ha, we get this question quite a lot I don't think we go out of our way to make people cry, it's just the result of our actions. The whole idea is just to make characters that have actual character arcs and make the story meaningful if you're giving it a chance. We always pick very human themes that everybody can connect with. It's often painful to see peoples reactions. I remember showing people the Ori BF trailer in a Behind Closed Doors session at E3 2014 and there were quite a lot of journalists who had tears in their eyes. I think Blind Forest's story beats hit home for everyone who had lost a parent in their lives... We also received a lot of heartbreaking emails after Ori released. One of which was from a parent who used Ori to explain to their children what death is. Ori and the Blind Forest was a coming-of-age story, it dealt with a lot of things and the main focus was probably motherhood. For Will of the Wisps, we picked another theme and I think - and hope - that it'll affect people in a similar way.

Making people cry isn't really our main goal, but telling a meaningful story with memorable characters definitely is. I like to think that we invite people on a journey - you get attached to our characters and if we're successful, you're emotionally engaged as well. We also have Gareth writing his music as part of our storytelling process. Music to us is as important a story-telling device as acting/animation or writing is, which I think is still quite unique in this industry, where most people are focused on main-themes, whereas we write unique music for every story beat, so that we get full control and can 'manipulate' our audience for lack of a better term

 

[Twilight Gap]

Ha, we get this question quite a lot I don't think we go out of our way to make people cry, it's just the result of our actions. The whole idea is just to make characters that have actual character arcs and make the story meaningful if you're giving it a chance. We always pick very human themes that everybody can connect with. It's often painful to see peoples reactions. I remember showing people the Ori BF trailer in a Behind Closed Doors session at E3 2014 and there were quite a lot of journalists who had tears in their eyes. I think Blind Forest's story beats hit home for everyone who had lost a parent in their lives... Ori and the Blind Forest was a coming-of-age story, it dealt with a lot of things and the main focus was probably motherhood. For Will of the Wisps, we picked another theme and I think - and hope - that it'll affect people in a similar way.

Making people cry isn't really our main goal, but telling a meaningful story with memorable characters definitely is. I like to think that we invite people on a journey - you get attached to our characters and if we're successful, you're emotionally engaged as well. We also have Gareth writing his music as part of our storytelling process. Music to us is as important a story-telling device as acting/animation or writing is, which I think is still quite unique in this industry, where most people are focused on main-themes, whereas we write unique music for every cutscene, so that we get full control and can 'manipulate' our audience for lack of a better term

You have your main theme, and then I believe there's a theme for Ori/Sein, Naru, Gumon and Kuro that repeat throughout the score. Writing an overarching theme and character themes gives you flexibility within the score to branch out when necessary - like with your cutscenes - and then reign it back in. And of course, the levels are characters themselves.

Take The Waters Cleansed for example. The first minute or so of this track isn't really a strong motif - it's just a simple chord progression - but it's done in a style that reflects the environment. Then when the Ori theme gets dropped in that key at just over a minute, it gives the track its weight and grounds it within the world, tying it to the score. This method of composing gets the listener invested in the themes and makes them that much more impactful no matter what scenario you drop them in, which I think is a reason why Ori carries that emotional gravitas throughout the game.

 

[Millsington]

Ori was absolutely fantastic, glad the team gets to make another one.

 

[thomasmahler]

You have your main theme, and then I believe there's a theme for Ori/Sein, Naru, Gumon and Kuro that repeat throughout the score. Writing an overarching theme and character themes gives you flexibility within the score to branch out when necessary - like with your cutscenes for example - and then reign it back in. And of course, the levels are characters themselves.

Take The Waters Cleansed for example. The first minute or so of this track isn't really a strong motif - it's just a simple chord progression, but it's done in a style that reflects the environment. Then when the Ori theme gets dropped in that key at just over a minute, it gives the track its weight and grounds it within the world, tying it to the score. This method of composing gets the listener invested in the themes and makes them that much more impactful no matter what scenario you drop them in, which I think is a reason why Ori carries that emotional gravitas throughout the game.

Yup. I love memorable melodies and Gareth is a genius when it comes to that I always reference Les Miserables and other musicals like that - A handful of strong motifs that are then used in a variety of ways for storytelling and to elevate the melodies beyond what they could be for one singular track. Case in Point: We didn't think people would react as emotionally to the Will of the Wisps teaser compared to our original Blind Forest trailer, but I think the Ori theme coming in the very moment Ori touches Ku to console her brought people over the edge...

 

[-Stranger-]

This will go nicely with my xbox one X

 

[ChubbleDucks]

I bought the original and the definitive edition.
Moon studio deserve all the success for creating such an amazing game and art.

Same. Bought original and DE. Can't wait for Ori2 on x1x.

 

[dancrane212]

Poking around Xbox Wire I noticed Will of the Wisps has a 3D XB1 case render in the media asset package which is unlike the typical art tile that digital releases like Cuphead have. I suppose it's too early to get this confirmed or not but I wonder if Ori will launch at retail this time around. Bigger game, bigger release/price? No complaints here.

Speaking of Ori: I heard from my insurer that my Ori poster apparently survived the minor fire I had right after E3. Lucked out taking that with me and not rolling it back up in the closet right away or it would have been drenched like the couple other ones I had in there with it. That's a small victory I'll happily take.

 

[dancrane212]

Another thing I noticed in the press materials is the game is described as coming to "Xbox One Family of Devices and Windows 10 Launch Exclusive". I guess that Ori should eventually come to Steam then.

 

[JaseC]

Another thing I noticed in the press materials is the game is described as coming to "Xbox One Family of Devices and Windows 10 Launch Exclusive". I guess that Ori should eventually come to Steam then.

Interesting. Hopefully it's not a mistake or outdated.