Year after our first interview we have finally got the finished product of my highly anticipated game „Blueberry“. After finishing the game I though it would be a good oportunity to talk to Mel once more and get maybe more information about the game itself and some of the things I was able to experience. And thankfully, she once again agreed talking to me.
Thank you for finding time for me Mel. Maybe I should firstly ask, how were you doing during the last year?
Of course! It has been a very tough year, but I am indeed very happy that Blueberry is finally out. The last few months before release are always extremely stressful, but also very rewarding, especially seeing something I worked on for several years finally come together.
I have seen that Blueberry won the Unity Social impact award. Congratulations to that. How did that feel?
Thanks. I was super happy, especially seeing the game get recognized as something that is impacting society in a positive way.
Now that the game is out, what kind of feedback did you get from the players and revieweres?
The feedback from both was very positive. We got a lot of great press reviews with wonderful scores and thoughtful analysis of the game. So far, it has 100% positive reviews on Steam and some players have written what seems like essays about what they liked about the game. Apparently people have a lot to say about it.
In our last interview we talked mainly about the themes of the game and did our best to avoid any huge spoilers. This time, I would like to dive a little deeper. Fistly though, could you tell me why the opening part has been changed? In the demo version the game started with Blueberry putting her son to bed as a young woman, while in the full version, she is already an elder woman. Why the change?
That is a very good question.
So basically, I got some consulting advice from a Canadian narrative design agency that I talked to. They did a very thoughtful review of the game with great, detailed feedback. It was their idea to change the framing of the game and I agreed that it felt more fitting this way.
Blueberry now starts out as an elderly woman and ends as an elderly woman. The focus is no longer on her fear of being inadequate as a mother to a young child, but to a young adult instead. It also gave me the opportunity to write a longer conversation with her son Emilio and focus on his point of view a bit as well. I believe that this makes Blueberry’s whole journey more complete and grounded.
What I am also curious about is that even though we can alter some parts of Blueberrys journey, some parts seem already predetermined. For example I tried to not add any items in the shopping cart, yet the game waited for me to do the action. Why?
This specific part needed to be static, because it is the first time the blues bar shows up. So it is a key scene where Blueberry makes the connection for the very first time that her mom’s suffering is her fault and that she needs to do something about it.
Other players have also pointed out that they had tried to change the outcome of this specific scene and I understand the urge. But it was important to have at least this scene in the game to make this specific dynamic clear that starts in this moment.
Another interesting thing was that at certain point I couldn´t pick certain answers in dialogue options. Is this due to previous choices?
Yes, that’s correct. I did give this a lot of thought as well, since it can be very frustrating to see dialogue choices, but not be able to actually select them. But I wanted players to see that their actions throughout the game had consequences and one of the more obvious ones is that Blueberry’s way of thinking changes.
So she is aware that she could give different answers in these situations and even thinks of them, but she just can’t say them because she has become too bitter.
Do we learn who the creature in the diving suit really is, or is it mainly up to our own interpretation?
So, Blueberry mentions at some point that the creature is “some messed up part of herself”. If you make certain choices throughout the game, this will actually be revealed and it becomes clear that this is a representation of Blueberry’s inner child, who is hiding in the suit to protect herself from emotional pain.
A lot of people describe depression as feeling like you’re in water or a swamp. A diving suit is an obvious protective mechanism against this water.
A big topic in the game in my opinion is the theme of loneliness. What would you advise to people in order to keep people in their lives?
My biggest advice would be, try not to give up on people you love. Another part of depression can be thinking that everyone hates you, because you hate yourself. So you distance yourself from your loved ones, thinking you’re a burden or they don’t like you anyway.
Try to give them the benefit of the doubt – they don’t hate you, they’re just currently very busy and might take longer to respond or invite you to events. Or, as in Blueberry’s case, they even set clear boundaries and don’t want to see you for a while. This is very hard, especially for a mom, to hear.
But it doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t love you. Try to call, message or meet people as often as you can. Chances are, they will appreciate it. And if not, at least you know.
But try to take them by their word about whether they want to meet you or not and don’t make quick interpretations.
Do you believe that the “magical sentence” Whats wrong with you? can cause some serious damage in our childhood? Many people hear it all the time and it seems so fitting how parents believe their kids are being bratty, when most of the time they are just kids.
Yes, I do believe „what’s wrong with you“ can cause damage for kids. I mean, it might literally make them question what is wrong with them, so it could definitely alienate them and make them think they are abnormal, which can be a dangerous path to go down.
I suppose parents might say that without intending this, but it would be better to be more thoughtful about saying something like that to a child. At least that is my opinion, keep in mind that I am not a psychologist.
Which part of Blueberry´s life would you call the hardest? To me it seemed like the rainy teenage years with a big event I do not wanna spoil, but would you agree?
Probably yes. Being a teenager can be super difficult even if circumstances in your family are better than Blueberry’s. But with parents like she has, it is even tougher and it causes her to be very resentful with them. But she also desperately needs her parents, as she is still very young and feels overwhelmed not only with her own problems, but also feeling like she has to handle her parent’s problems. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
I also really like the creative look of Blueberry´s mind tower during her childhood. Whose idea was climbing the toilet paper? 😀
Glad you like it 🙂 That was my idea and this part has actually been around from a very early stage of the game. It’s just one example of how kids use everyday objects creatively and can find joy in silly little things.
In my opinion the adulthood part of Blueberry´s life fell a little short. Since we spent a big part of our life in this period, wouldn´t there be more to explore?
This is also a very good question. In this part of Blueberry’s life, she reflects on the time when she was a child herself, since there are a lot of situations reminding her of this. She starts to empathize a bit more with how difficult it has been for her mother.
I would have liked to linger more on this part of her life, but it was also important to get a chance to flesh out the elderly phase more, since this is where the most change happens for Blueberry and also more going back and forth between memories.
Turns out, creating a game with 36 hand-made scenes, plus a bunch of memory revisits where some of them change, is hell of a lot of work 😉
I very much liked the finished picture once all the pieces were in the place. I think it sums up life perfectly. Was that your idea?
Yes, and this was also very time-consuming and difficult to create. Each puzzle piece has elements, mostly objects, of things that are in the specific scene where you get it.
Then there are the memory links, which are object-shaped puzzle pieces which have certain meanings that remind Blueberry of what happened in these memories. So they needed to have a connection to the content as well, plus the whole puzzle was supposed to be a complete picture of Blueberry’s identity.
In the end, I decided to go with a kind of Russian doll image, where each version of Blueberry is inside the next older one, the elderly lady being the outer core, if you like.
Also, the four larger puzzle pieces on the left hand side are the four parts of each tower.
Is there a plan for a DLC for the game or is it now completely finished?
No, not currently. Unfortunately it also doesn’t look like the game will be making enough revenue to justify any sequels or DLCs, though it would be really nice to extend this universe.
Now that the game is out, what are the plans of Mellow Games? Can we expect something new from you in the future?
Certainly. I have a lot of rough concept ideas, but need to sort them out and make some decisions. I don’t think I ever want to stop making emotionally evocative narrative games.
But I was also thinking about making something more fun next time (though the humor will probably be on the darker side).
I very much thank you once more for the answers and wish you all the best. And hopefully, we can have another talk like this in the future.
I would love that. Thank you very much.
