Footage of Scarlet Deer Inn went viral on Twitter in late April, attracting all kinds of attention to the upcoming indie adventure game. The tweet was captioned only “Hi, I'm making a game where all characters have embroidered animation.” and included a clip of the game’s creator Eva Navratilova sewing different character frames with a sewing machine. Scarlet Deer Inn’s character frames are painstakingly drawn, embroidered in real life by machine, then scanned and cropped, with shadows and lines added with software later. The Czech-based indie studio Attu Games is a husband and wife duo who write, paint, program, score, stitch, and publish all on their own.
The red-headed Elise is the protagonist of Scarlet Deer Inn, a mother who faces an unexpected tragedy and is faced with exploring an unusual world full of “dark and evil events”. The game is inspired by Studio Ghibli films, medieval Europe, and Slavic folklore, and has gorgeous hand-painted backgrounds accompanied by medieval-inspired folk music played on traditional instruments.
The embroidery doesn’t actually have a narrative purpose, and without looking closely it doesn’t even really look different from the digitally rendered parts of the game. But it’s not a waste of time. In a tweet, Navratilova says that they chose to do it because they “like handmade stuff and different kinds of animation” and “no one’s ever done it before, so it’s exciting”. In another tweet, she says that it would be easier to do it with shaders or paint it in Photoshop, but “where would be fun [sic] in that?”
I have to agree. I think it's fascinating and even inspiring that indie developers are continuing to toil over handcrafted elements that very few will appreciate. Attention to detail and time-consuming work show a patience and intention that we rarely see in bigger games, especially now that AI is being used by studios big and small to cut down on the amount of work to be done. Just this week, System Shock faced backlash on Twitter for its use of AI art and in response, the developer doubled down and said it would keep using it in the future. Ubisoft has created an AI tool that will create NPC dialogue, which I believe will make its already empty-feeling games even more hollow. High On Life used AI art as well, but it didn’t make the game any better.
Being less efficient and more intentional runs in opposition to this trend, and shows real care for craft and art. As Navratilova says, “There's far more efficient ways to make living [sic] than being [sic] indie dev.” Most indie developers aren’t making games with the expectation of making huge amounts of money off them, they’re doing it because they want to make games. Big studios are focused on profit, which is why they’re happy to adopt new technologies if it means they can cut corners, a trend that I find highly discomfiting.
Games are an art form, even if the average gamer doesn’t want to hear it, and craft has a place in our medium as much as they do other, more ‘prestigious’ kinds of media. I wish every studio would put as much effort and care into their games as this duo does, but capitalism will always invite them to make things as quickly and cheaply as possible. It’s a shame, but what’s beautiful about this whole thing is that in spite of this, people are still determined to make art that isn’t efficient and that takes a great deal of time, effort and care. May we all be as serious about our art.