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We have the very exciting opportunity today to talk with Isak Wahl, the CEO of Snow Leaf Studios, developers of the newly released roguelite title, Brew! I spent time playing the demo of Brew over the Summer and absolutely adored the characters, gameplay loop, and unique story that their team is putting together. It’s clear that the direction and mission of the team is full of unique experiences and drive, as evidenced by the well-developed demo and intriguing taste of the world we now get to blast, brew, and dodge our way through. With that said, we couldn’t wait to get some additional insight into the development of this furry character-filled world.
Joshua Wyld, GF: Brew is shaping up to be an exciting addition to the roguelite scene, and one that especially interests our audience with its dashing animal anthro group of students and mentors at Alchemy Academy. Can you give our readers a quick rundown of what makes Brew special?
Isak Wahl, Snow Leaf Studios: Brew is a cozy action roguelite where you can craft potions to make abilities, power-ups and weapons. In Brew you can fight your professors, learn alchemy and create everlasting friendships with your fellow Anthro classmates. You play as a mouse that dreams of becoming an alchemist. To become an alchemist you must pass your exam by climbing the alchemy tower.
We wanted to create a roguelite that differs a bit from what people might be used to while still incorporating a lot of action elements which we find enjoyable in roguelites. The goal was to create a roguelite with a more colorful, vibrant and cozy style in terms of setting, theme and artstyle, and fill the world with a lot of anthro characters!
The goal was to create a roguelite with a more colorful, vibrant and cozy style in terms of setting, theme and artstyle, and fill the world with a lot of anthro characters
Additionally, we thought that potions were something we see a lot in many games. We wanted to explore how to make a game around potions and figure out how we can make them more interesting. Early examples of a pitch sounded a lot like: “what if you drink a potion and you get wings” and “imagine if you use a potion to transform your weapon.”
These early ideas shaped Brew into what it is now.
JW, GF: As we mentioned before, the cast of characters in Brew features lovingly crafted animal-based personalities throughout. What creative process went into choosing & designing some of the species used in the game, including the main protagonist?
Snow Leaf Studios: The anthro characters are a big part of Brew. Truth be told we simply just really liked the idea of our characters all being some type of animal.
From the get-go we wanted a small animal to be the main character, so a mouse was the first concept we had. Then, slowly every other character started shaping up. For example, the rival, Cinna being the cat to your meek mouse main character.
We wanted high school archetypes for the characters and we tried finding animals that would fit those types.
We also had some internal jokes, for example with the kiwi bird Marcel and the mouse Remy, the mouse Remy is also our old main character model. In Norway, there are basically 2 big grocery store chains, one of them Kiwi and the other one Rema1000, so we made Marcel's Kiwi shop and Remi’s 1000 hats.
We wanted high school archetypes for the characters and we tried finding animals that would fit those types. Sigmund the Owl is the more nerdy character, Hunter the lynx is the jock character and professor Devana is a regal and strict secretary bird. And,... we also just wanted a secretary bird because our 2D artists really liked that bird!
JW, GF: This is your team’s first big release after participating in game jams and some smaller projects. What challenges (and benefits) has your team encountered and overcame over the past few years as Brew has been developed, compared to making quicker timeline, smaller concept games?
Snow Leaf Studios: Making a bigger scope game like Brew for the first time has been very fun, and also challenging. We have had many iterations on everything you see in the game. I think one of the biggest challenges has been production as there is a lot to learn when you start out.
Another thing is bringing the vision to life and actually finding out what is fun when you play and not just on paper, lots of trial and error!
Finally, getting funding is always challenging for indies, and there is always discussion about resources and timelines, a push and pull between the creative and the realities of making games.
JW, GF: What are some of the inspirations behind Brew and its alchemy-based, roguelite structure with more than a dash of side story and relationship-building integrated in for good measure?
Snow Leaf Studios: Hades, Ratchet and Clank and Stardey Valley are some of our inspirations for the game. We have also taken inspiration early on from Magicka 2 when we were looking at how we could make potions the core part of the game. Later more inspirations were drawn from Gunfire Reborn and Roboquest.
JW, GF: Snow Leaf Studios is just getting started, I imagine. Does your team have any projects on the horizon, or future plans for Brew after its release?
Snow Leaf Studios: We definitely want to continue creating games with animal characters as well as parts of the action combat framework we have built up. For the second game we have bigger ambitions, so definitely stay tuned for what is next.
JW, GF: What has been your favorite part of showing off Brew to a variety of audiences at shows and seeing them play your creation, and what is some advice you’d give to other indie development teams that plan to do the same?
Snow Leaf Studios: Seeing players enjoy our game, getting excited about what we have built is truly a great experience and gives us a lot of motivation. We are very very lucky to have a cool community that is passionate about what we are making. I would say for indies going to expos or conferences, the best part about it is this feeling you get from people playing your game.
We have had Brew at many different expos and it has really helped shape Brew through feedback and suggestions, and also just the passion shared has made this game possible. So we want to thank all of our fans and people in the community for cheering us on and helping us make this a reality!
Once again, thanks to the team over at Snow Leaf Studios for talking with us! Brew is now available over on Steam for 20% off! We’ll be giving it a thorough runthrough and will have a review for it soon!
