School can be a safe place to test out ideas for video games, often without the pressures of meeting demand on major AAA pipelines. Some teams come out of game design programs, such as the original Coffee Stain Studios working onSanctum. Other games are the result of an individual’s ambition, likeStephen Ddungo working onSword of Symphonyas a final University project. Ewoud van der Werf began working onSCHiMas an exam project in February 2020, and it has since grown into a much bigger endeavor.
Described as “a game about jumping through shadows in a beautiful abstract world,“SCHiMaspires to be like artsy indie games van der Werf enjoys; includingJourneyandGris. However, one detail onlookers should immediately notice is its use of four colors per-level, a conceit meant to work around its creator’s colorblindness. Game Rant spoke to van der Werf aboutSCHiM’s history and how its visual design has evolved.
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SCHiM: From School Project to Full-Fledged Experience
SCHiMis not the first game van der Werf has developed. In high school he got a head startworking on mobile games— though he feels they aren’t particularly interesting to discuss. “They were an important way for me to get started,” he said. “Now I’m creating the sort of games I like to make.” He studied game design at Leeuwarden’s Friesland College in the Netherlands, choosing to follow the development track rather than the art track despite having an interest in both.
While taking classes he met Nils Slijkerman, co-founder of indie studio Extra Nice who taught courses in game design at Friesland. Slijkerman introduced van der Werf to the studio where he would later start an internship; helping Extra Nice with its 2Dhack-and-slash titleSkirmishand later getting free rein to work onSCHiMas part of an exam he reached at a fast-tracked rate. While Slijkerman would begin to spend more time onSCHiMafter seeing its potential, van der Werf said it’s primarily a solo venture.
“I just like to do a lot of different things in terms of art, modeling, programming, coming up with ideas, concepting. I do that a lot by myself, I think that makes me more indie.”
The idea of a platformer where players jump between shadows, one with a minimalist art style inspired by “ligne claire” (clear line) art such asGeorge Remi’sThe Adventures of Tintinor that of Dutch illustrator Joost Swarte, was what van der Werf originally had in mind. The first version ofSCHiMcaught enough attention online that the scope was expanded to a full-fledged game as opposed to a series of small levels meant to push him toward graduation. Though van der Werf says it hasn’t “gotten out of hand,” there’s more of a focus on backstory, collectibles, and exploration.
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SCHiM’s Style Changes and Accessibility
SCHiMbegan with mechanics and art style in mind, only after that was established did they really begin to develop a world. The game’s namesake, Schim, are shadowy spirits inhibiting every person and animal that are inspired byJapanese tsukumogami. These spirits take on their own kind of folklore, in which they should “never be separate from their objects” — presenting the player’s goal of reconnecting the main character to his Schim. However, the core of the title is capturing a more universal experience.
“I think what makesSCHiMresonate with a lot of people is it’s like childhood play. Stepping on certain cracks in the pavement, or certain tiles, where lines start crossing. That’s where it really stems from.”
While that inception is still present viaSCHiM’s minimalist style, van der Werf said the technique used to represent it has evolved. Originally it used a “cheap effect” of silhouette outlines with hull-type shaders he compared toJet Set Radio. Off of that learning experience he’s moved on to using post-processing effects on outlines whose details vary with experimentation. ForSCHiM’s rendering style, van der Werf said “some recent indie games that use the same kind of art style would beSableorManifold Garden.”
The game was originally going to feature just four colors for its duration, helping van der Werfwork around difficulty distinguishing colorslike blues by taking any potential clashes out of the equation. After receiving feedback that this made the game “very bright or annoying” to look at, that scope also expanded to being a different four-color palette in each level. “It was very important to me that if I input a color it’s exactly that color, regardless of lighting, with no blending.”
Every palette should be nice for everyone to look at, van der Werf said, and though there aren’t other accessibility options thought up yet, he hopesSCHiM’s casual “pick it up and play” nature helps the game appeal to all.SCHiM’s official website includes a feature to test endless variations of four-color palettes, and while the game itself currently uses set palettes he has considered adding in the player selection tool as anEaster egg"if it’s not too much work.” Anyone curious to seeSCHiM’s style in action can expect a demo at the WASD expo in London, England from April 7 to 9, 2022.
SCHiMis currently in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, and Xbox One.
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