Flying Cafe today posted a short article about programmer Eugene Litinov's workplace. Check it out!

Official blog post: http://flying-cafe.blogspot.com/2013/07/eugene-litvinov-working-place.html

Earlier today, Flying Cafe posted a video about one of the game's characters, a tram operator. The character features facial capture similar to Ida, and his actor has written a blog post about his experience on his own website. Links are below.

Blog post: http://flying-cafe.blogspot.com/2013/07/hi-all-heres-short-video-regarding.html

Vimeo video: http://vimeo.com/70652998

"Me as Tabaha" at Designer on the Road: http://www.designerontheroad.com/me-as-tabaha/

Yesterday, Flying Cafe announced that later in the day they would release a new trailer for Cradle. As promised, the trailer came. The new gameplay video shows off the construction of the protagonist's robotic partner, both the steppes and the amusement park, some puzzle solving, and the mechanics of an encounter with an NPC. Of particular note, there is also a glimpse of a dialogue tree during the scenes in the yurt.

Blog post: http://flying-cafe.blogspot.com/2013/07/gameplay-video-2-released.html
YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aFjdYxoCfs

Yesterday we saw Cradle being Greenlit.

For those not in the know, that means that Valve has cleared Flying Cafe to release the final version of the game when it is ready. That may be for a good while, as we have not received a status update on the games progress in a good while.

There is also the unlikely possibility that Cradle will be released as a beta over Steam. Whatever the case, it's all too soon to say.

The following is an interview between myself and Flying Cafe's PR officer, Maxim Mongolsky. As this was an email exchange, some editing has been done for readability and flow.

ASD: "Thank you so much for corresponding with me. I'm excited to have the opportunity to talk about this game. I'd like start off with a some questions about you and the Flying Cafe before we move onto Cradle, if that is alright.

How many team members does the Flying Cafe for Semianimals comprise itself of?"

MM: "Currently the development team includes six people. Five of us derive from GSC Game World studio. Eugene Litvinov and Eugene Lipsky (programming), Viktor Merkulov (modeling and texturing), Roman Malinkin (rigging, animation, physics adjustment, technical direction), Pavel Mikhailov (game design, dialogs, scripting), and Ilya Tolmachev (scenario, art-directing, management). Part of the graphical content and sound are being outsourced."

ASD: "Your website mentions that some staff members had previously worked on S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Heroes of Might and Magic, and a few other titles. How did you all get together?"

MM: "The games that we were all previously involved in were either fully made or partially outsourced in Ukraine, where our studio is located. Having all the previous experience in development and plenty of creative ideas, we decided to start our own studio."

ASD: "You mentioned before that some of the art and sound are being outsourced. What would that include?"

MM: "The game sountrack and audio effects. As for the art, props and smaller in-game objects that we order externally to save the production time."

ASD: "I want to give a better feeling for the level of narrative involvement in the game. What sort of voice acting does Cradle feature - dialogue, narration?"

MM: "We'll have quite extensive story and dialogue in the game and most of that will be voiced - both narration and in-game dialogue."

ASD: "Speaking of the soundtrack, will we be hearing anything special? The game is set in Mongolian steppes, will there be any ethnic instrumentation?"

MM: "We're still experimenting here. The key idea is to make the atmosphere solid and appropriate to the place."

ASD: "What about the track we hear in the teaser and gameplay trailer, which I presume to be the theme song? Who produced that track?"

MM: "Indeed, it's a theme song named 'Leave the Cradle'. Cool, isn't it? It was created by our friends from B2B ("Be to Be") group."

ASD: "Sure is! Will they be doing any more music for the game?"

MM: "Yes. Expect another seven or so tracks from B2B in the game."

ASD: "Let's talk about the game world. How big is it, and how contiguous? Is this one large environment or smaller ones connected through loading screens?"

MM: "The events unfold on a small patch of space – in the yurt and the entertainment park.

The yurt is a placid quiet place where every object is unique, and relates somehow to the backstory. The gameplay around the yurt is a slow-paced and contemplative solving of logical tasks, based on item/environment interaction, communication with the mechanical girl Ida and modification of her body.

The game pavillions of the entertainment park is a drastically different realm. As opposed to dusty yurt esthetics, here everything is in shimmering neon. The pavillions are a bright and dynamic place where you can take rest from the logical tasks."

ASD: "But in terms of level design, the outside areas are a singular level, yes?"

MM: "Yes, all the game events happen on one big location with freedom of movement and action."

ASD: "Moving back to Ida - in other promotional material, work on her has been described as "repair", while you describe it as "modification." Not to get too philosophical, but is the player changing Ida's nature or restoring function? The two are drastically different."

MM: "We are to figure out why we are in those Mongolian locale and what was our past. The same pretty much goes for Ida. So you'll be involved in the restoring process."