We've been wanting to do something cool with Joe Richardson - the beautiful and bizarre mind behind The Procession to Calvary and the upcoming Death of the Reprobate - since Pantaloon set up shop, so we’re thrilled to be partnering with Joe on Four Last Things for October.

As part of the partnership, we threw some questions his way about Four Last Things, the wider Immortal John Triptych, and Joe’s approach to solo-development.

Enjoy x

What was your path into game development? Talk us through your very first projects and how they put you on the path to today and the upcoming Death of the Reprobate. ?

After school I spent the best part of a decade as a general artsy fartsy layabout. I made Flash animations and little interactive websites, produced weird electronic music, wrote terrible short stories. By the time I eventually started art school I had already taught myself most of the skills required to make a game. Then it was just a matter of stumbling across the software that allowed me to get over the technical hurdle of not being able to code. My first projects were just little experiments with different engines, then I jumped straight into making my first 'proper' game, The Preposterous Awesomeness of Everything.

Give me the short history of the Immortal John Triptych. When you went into Four Last Things, did you intend for it to be the first in a three part vision?

When I started making Four Last Things I didn't know it would be part of a series. But by the time I had finished I knew I had some unfinished business with the art style. There were things I wanted to do with Four Last Things that I wasn't able to because I ran out of time and money. As soon as I started making the second game, I knew it had to be three. Diptych or polyptych just didn't have the right ring to it! My initial idea was that bit would be a short game, a long game, then another short game, to mirror the layout of a classic Renaissance triptych. But I got carried away with the last one so it's going to be short game, long game, slightly longer still game.

Obviously your games have a wholly unique and striking visual identity. What's your process for finding the relevant imagery that's going to fit the narrative or scene, and then turning those pieces into functional game assets?

I don't find imagery to fit the narrative! I force my narrative to fit the imagery. I make the entire world, start filling it with characters and potential interactions, set up the main character so I can walk around he empty world - then I start trying to figure out what is going to go on there. This lets me focus on the art.

The art is the starting point for everything in these games. Having the freedom to put a world together almost entirely for it's aesthetic quality allows me to make the most attractive thing possible, but also show the maximum amount of respect to the art I'm using as possible.

How do you approach some of the constraints of solo-development? Do you actively seek ways to inject fresh perspectives on your games - via outside help, playtests or otherwise - or are you quite content in the creative bubble?

I think my creative bubble is one of my main selling points! I get pretty much no outside help, other than a bit of bug fixing towards the end. For better or worse all the creative decisions are mine and I think that gives my games an honesty and a personality that some can lack. I'm not aiming for mainstream appeal. I'm not going to please everyone. But hopefully by making the game exactly as I want it to be the people who do share my sense of humour will enjoy it all the more… I would say though, that while I believe this approach is good for my creative output, it is absolutely fucking disastrous for my mental health.

Across the development of the FLT specifically, were there any features left on the cutting room floor? Were there features or ideas that didn't make it into the game, but then found a home in either Procession to Calvary or Death of the Reprobate?

Yes! I can't say too much about it though, because the main thing I really wanted to do with FLT, but wasn't able to, has finally come to exist as the conclusion of the final game. It has worked out well because I was able to give the sequence a lot more care than I would have when working on FLT, and I think it has come out really well! Generally speaking though I am not good at cutting things out for my games. If something isn't working I will usually tinker and tinker and tinker until it does. I think I get away with that on these games because they are a big messy tableau of ideas anyway, but it might be a trait I have to work on in the future...

Give us the sell on DOTR! What differentiates it from its predecessors, and what are you most proud of from a design and development perspective?

Oh god, must I? Each game has got a little bigger, a little denser with interactions, and a little more polished in it's presentation, but it is, essentially, just more of the same silly old nonsense.

What's next for you and your games? We're not snooping for news here, more keen to understand your ambitions once the Triptych is complete.

I don't know! I know it won't involve chopping up Renaissance paintings. I have a bunch of half formed ideas floating around, but there is no one thing I'm ready to jump into. I'm keen to get back into making my own music, I'm excited to start experimenting with new art styles, but first things first I need a fucking break!

If you manage to secure a key for Four Last Things, enjoy. Reach out to Joe and let him know what you think.

pantaloon.

Four Last Things: The Interview