As Smith admits, the resemblance is no coincidence. Like many moody adventure games, Vane shares much in common with the much-acclaimed works of Japanese director Fumito Ueda - especially the groundbreaking Ico. Past that back-of-the-box boilerplate, however, according to Smith, constructing nearly every other aspect of the game has been a four-year push-and-pull between different creative minds all struggling to make their output the best it can be. It’s a premise familiar to fans of enigmatic indie standouts: as a lone child with strange abilities, players explore an unforgiving environment to try to unravel the mysteries of a lonesome world. It’s really, really hard to make a game that way.”Īccording to Smith, thanks to the team’s strong art background, Vane’s austere aesthetic came quickly and easily. “As it turns out, there’s a good reason for that. “That’s not really how people make games,” says Matt Smith, one-fifth of Friend & Foe, the outfit behind the game. For the upcoming adventure game Vane, however, it all started with a feeling. When game developers sit down and start to build the ideas that haunt their dreams, they usually begin with a genre, a mechanic, a character, or perhaps a hook to hang an ambitious script on.