The Wreck News

[p]Thanks to the amazing work of Olena Hostilova, The Wreck is now fully translated into Ukrainian![/p][p]You can already enjoy this translation on Mac and PC via Steam. And that’s not all: it will soon also be available on iOS and Android.[/p][p]A huge thank you to Olena for this incredible work! And if this translation lets you experience the game for the first time, we can’t wait to hear what you think.[/p]

A MAZE probably is the best video games festival in the world when it comes to celebrating weird, interesting, unique indie games. So when they asked us if we wanted The Wreck to be part of a big sale that they organized to celebrate the event, we accepted immediately, of course!
That's why, for the next couple days, The Wreck is 50% off! And if you'd like to discover a ton of cool new games, you can check A MAZE's official selection for this year on their website!

As part of a series celebrating The Wreck's first anniversary, here's our last interview. This time, it's with Florent, who co-wrote the game with his sister Coralie and also took care of the game design. Florent actually was in a car accident in 2017 (luckily without any bad consequences apart for a totalled car), which gave him the initial inspiration for The Wreck!

Who are you and what was your role on The Wreck? My name is Florent, and I co-wrote The Wreck. Plus I tried to pretend I'm a game designer.



What was your favorite moment/thing to do during the production of the game, and what was the one you liked the least? My favorite moment was when I cut my hair! When we started working on The Wreck, in 2017, I made he weird wish not to cut it until the game was released. Little did I know, that would take us over 5 years! It was fun to begin with but at some point the mere sight of an hair brush would give me the creeps. I really admire people with long hair now!
My least favorite moment was when after working on the game's prototype for over a year and spending quite a lot of money, we realized it just wasn't working. Prototyping narrative games is hard - so much relies on the mood and atmosphere that you can't use crappy placeholder graphics to get a picture of the game you envision - you have to push further. But when you push in the wrong direction, well... It's hard to land back on your feet! Luckily, we had great partners who believed in our ability to turn the boat around, and after a few (hard) months of extra work we came up with a second prototype - which was way more convincing this time! But I feel guilty and I regret having caused that stress for everyone.

What was a thing you learned about your craft making the game that you'd like to share? Hire a producer! Seriously, when you're a tiny team working with very limited means, it can be tempting to imagine that the game designer or the creative director will also be the team's producer. But the truth is, it's already hard enough to take care of either creative tasks or organizational ones alone - doing both will burn you out. Producers are saints, they work in the shadows for the well being of everyone. Just hire one.

As part of a series celebrating The Wreck's first anniversary, here's an interview with Coralie, who co-wrote the game with her brother, Florent. Coralie is an artist and a videographer, and The Wreck was her first experience working on a video game.

Who are you and what was your role on The Wreck? I am Coralie and I co-wrote The Wreck.



What was your favorite moment/thing to do during the production of the game, and what was the one you liked the least? Fave moment: taking all of Florent's briefs, getting inspired, gathering sensations, feelings, memories... Then letting all this material brew for a while, and finally putting the scenes together.
The one I liked the last: the last piece of script I worked on. I knew I would be almost done, and I wanted to spend more time with Junon, Diane and the others so bad! And as soon as I wrote the last word of the last scene I had to work on, I felt like: "that's it? That is really it?"

What was a thing you learned about your craft making the game that you'd like to share with other writers out there? You can work with family without it ending in a bloodbath!

As part of a series celebrating The Wreck's first anniversary, here's an interview with Mylène, who worked tirelessly to spread the word about the game and help release it on lot of platforms and digital marketplaces.

Who are you and what was your role on The Wreck? My name is Mylène, and I was helping with the Marketing & Communication aspect of the game.



What was your favorite moment/thing to do during the production of the game, and what was the one you liked the least? I really loved to see players discovering the game on Twitch. It always feels really special to see concrete things coming from your work. I also really enjoyed brainstorming, to see all the idea you could get to promote the game. Finally (it's hard to not write down all the stuff I liked about The Wreck!), I really enjoyed chatting with the team, whether it was during meetings or doing event (parties!!!) face to face. I feel very lucky to be part of this adventure. The worst past was to not win The Pegases (French video game awards - The Wreck was nominated in three different categories but lost each time) :D. Joke aside, for real, it was difficult for me to read reviews which sounded unfair, even if all opinions are valid of course!

What was a thing you learned about your craft making the game that you'd like to share with other Marketing peeps out there? Never stop trying to promote a game, even months or years after the release. It's always worth it!