Ori and the Blind Forest

Moon Studios designed the burrow ability first and built the desert to fit it. The team asked what move would complement Ori's existing moveset, and digging through sand came from a Sonic Colors power-up that lets you dig through big volumes. The desert setting followed from the ability, not the other way round.

Chris McEntee sketched situations impossible without the burrow, such as spikes that block a wall jump or a dive into sand whose dash out clears spikes a normal jump would hit. Blockouts of those sketches went to programmers and animators as the target for the first playable. "It wasn't because we had a desert environment that we said we want to be able to burrow in sand."

Sketch many scenarios from one simple element before building any. One of McEntee's first tasks was finding uses for a basic collapsing platform prototype, which he answered with many paper sketches and blockouts: a platform used twice, one that forces a drop and double jump, and a room where you break every platform to escort a projectile.

The projectile room came from asking how to flip the collapsing platform on its head: instead of avoiding the collapse, you must make all platforms vanish without touching the ground. The platforms existed long before the desert did.

Harder optional moves get a reward the easy route lacks. Aiming a dash out of sand and back into another sand zone gives a sense of control and an expert move, so a reward sits at the top because it is not easy to reach.

Hanging sand balls that launch Ori in a straight line from any direction are one of McEntee's favourite uses for their versatility and sense of control.

Playtests tightened the burrow until it felt as precise as Ori. The first burrow was slower and turned loosely on purpose, to feel like friction in sand. Playtesting with the team led to tightening it because Ori's controls are tight everywhere, and the fine-tuning took months and years.

Making collapsing platforms out of diggable sand solved backtracking. A laser room with collapsing platforms was a one-way trip, which a Metroidvania cannot allow. A programmer gave the sand a collapse-and-reappear property while keeping it diggable, so the player could dig back through.

It was unplanned, since the burrow did not exist when the platforms were made; McEntee calls it a light bulb moment. Rayman can collapse a section behind you, but a Metroidvania needs you to "always be able to backtrack, re-explore, re-traverse."

Escalate one mechanic in layers and mix the steps with other elements. Aiming and burrowing through a sand ball is far harder than holding down on a sand floor, so each added layer is placed with care. McEntee warns against running all three or four escalations of one element in a row.

Give several routes back to the main path after a new ability. After the burrow is introduced, two routes lead back to the golden path, so players explore freely without getting lost.

McEntee's rule: "all roads kind of lead to the same destination so that no matter what, you're going to eventually land on where you have to be."

Signal secrets with subtle visuals so most players can find them. A small lip on a wall guides the eye to a hidden spot, and breakable walls look different without a giant crack. The aim is that most players find many secrets and feel smart.

McEntee contrasts this with Donkey Kong Country's off-screen barrels, where you jump off the bottom of the screen and hope.

A hard-to-get-right set piece was kept as a ramp to the finale. The giant laser room was one of the oldest ideas and was in the very first demo sent to Microsoft. It went through heavy iteration, and McEntee pushed to keep it as a ramp up to one of the final burrow challenges because it felt memorable.

Escapes should cost a couple of deaths, never ten. About 60 to 80 percent of the sand worm escape should flow naturally from what is on screen, with roughly 20 percent curveballs, and every threat must be react-able.

On the team an escape beaten first try is called too easy, while five or ten deaths feels like trial and error. "It has to feel like I had the time to predict this thing, I had the time to read the situation, I just sort of failed to do so and I can do better next time."

Abilities that only act as a key for a door were cut. A drill for thick rock blockers was cut for not being versatile, and its planned dungeon, the Windtorn Ruins, became a linear story sequence. That break turned out to help pacing before one of the hardest challenges in the game.

Many burrow ideas were also dropped, such as a block you tunnel under to drop and a big worm leaving an acid trail; a sand platform too thin to dig became the trampoline platform. The test was what players grasp easily versus what is novel without improving the game much.

Four areas open at once, each beatable whenever the player arrives. In act two, a player who picks the Luma Pools first should be able to finish them. The team avoided even a soft push, such as strong enemies that say come back later.

The sequel was meant to be more open than the first game from the start, which raised the question of balance.

Sequence breaking was accepted when the alternative is still a real challenge. A player with the light burst can skip the intended burrowing solution to the sand worms, but doing so still takes a thrown light burst, a bash catch in the air and a dash through a sand ball.

"That's the price you pay for a little bit of freedom and options."

A forced dead end was softened with nearby fast travel and rewards. The desert is not locked, but as the last area needed for the story it ends at a temple players cannot yet enter. Fast travel spirit wells sit as close to the entrance as possible, and players still leave with the burrow, experience, shards and buffs.

Playtests raised the worry of an anticlimax, and the team accepted it as a trade-off.

Show play without the ability, then with it, then test it. The first half of the Ginso Tree runs four challenges (portal platforming, a projectile puzzle, a combat arena, a key run) using only double jump, wall jump and spirit flame. After Bash, the same challenge types repeat with new solutions, and two capstone rooms combine every use before the escape.

Projectiles become launch points and slug barf bombs work in your favour, so threats turn into tools. Mark Brown calls it the best part of the game, likening it to a Zelda dungeon crossed with a Super Meat Boy level.

One signature move links platforming, combat and puzzles. Bash lets Ori throw an enemy into spikes, return a projectile to its sender, or launch off a lantern across a gap, keeping levels varied without adding buttons.

Brown ranks it alongside reverts in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and High Time in Devil May Cry, and says it beats Ori's standard combat of hitting X a lot.

Bash demands positioning and a choice of two directions. Unlike a double jump, Bash needs Ori to manoeuvre into reach of a lantern, projectile or enemy. The projectile flies one way and Ori the opposite, so the player weighs both or risks launching into spikes.

It also extends airtime, which plays to Ori's strongest feeling: its floaty physics make precision hard, but chaining moves in the air feels great.

A brief time slow makes Bash expressive without breaking flow. Time slows so the player can aim in any of 360 degrees, then releases into a rush of speed that feels like a catapult.

"The contrast between the static build-up, and the resulting rush of speed, just makes it oh-so satisfying."

The escape stays hard yet cinematic through how failure is handled. Restarts are instant with no loading or cutscenes, Gareth Coker's music never resets, and there are no checkpoints, so a success is about a minute of unbroken platforming under threat of death.

Brown argues an easy set piece is "all spectacle, no substance," while one that stops after each failure breaks the illusion; this one is tough enough that most players fail more than once.

Later moves piled up until remembering buttons became the challenge. By the end of Ori and the Blind Forest the player has charge jump, triple jump, stomp, charge burst, feather float and more, and the Definitive Edition adds a dash and a ball of light. The elegance of the Ginso Tree moveset is lost.

Brown also faults the rest of the game for backtracking confusion and difficulty spikes, though Forlorn Ruins and Mount Horu use Bash well.

Players spend currency to create their own checkpoints. Instead of lives, Ori and the Blind Forest lets players decide where to save and whether they can afford it, giving checkpoints a meta challenge.

"It's up to you to decide where to save your progress - and up to you whether you can afford it."