Osmotic Studios from Hamburg is an award-winning indie studio that has made a name for itself in the indie scene with its games Orwell and its successor Orwell - Ignorance is Strength. Their focus is on telling compelling and captivating stories. With Closer the Distance, they are exploring new paths and now release the slice-of-life simulation game in August 2024. 

We talked to CEO Daniel Marx about the development of the game and their experiences over the last few years:
 

1. Closer the Distance is your third game to be released. You are breaking new ground and telling a moving story as a slice-of-life simulation and narrative drama. Your award-winning games Orwell and Orwell: Ignorance is Strength focused on misinformation and fake news. Closer the Distance is about coping with grief and the connected stories of life. What were your motivations for this type of game and story; can you tell us how it came about?

Well, first off, we were a little fed up with making dystopian games while the world around us felt worse and worse by the day. So, we decided to make something happier and more positive. Look how that turned out.

Seriously though, Osmotic Studios went through quite a change after the release of Orwell: Ignorance is Strength: Our co-founder Mel Taylor left the company, and we started employing a few new people soon after. We also didn’t want to be stuck on making prequels or sequels of Orwell forever. With major changes in the team, it felt appropriate to move away from Orwell and find something of our own again.

What remained though was that our studio strives to let players experience something new by employing unique mechanics. The idea for Closer the Distance came from what it would be like to watch over your loved ones from the afterlife. Would you try to change anything in their lives to keep them safe? Should you even? We were big fans of the original Life is Strange game, which asks very similar questions, and a heartfelt “slice of life” drama in the same vein felt like a good direction for our next game. Naturally, to reach a state of afterlife, your character had to die first. That’s when how different people deal with grief became a central topic of the game.

That said, we also love telling stories from multiple perspectives (and in which you spy on people, apparently), which is something that was in Closer the Distance’s concept from the start. But at the same time, the game wasn’t a life sim back then. It started off as kind of a time loop puzzle game where you had to tie people to objects or other characters to “fix” situations around the village and see how things changed. But since this wasn’t the best way to convey watching over people, we moved in a different direction where we simulated all characters in real time, and you had to guide them on what to do next. That’s when the concept of Closer the Distance as it is now started coming together. What also helped massively was that our concept received prototype funding from Creative Europe MEDIA. With that, our path was pretty much charted.

2. You are working with the publisher Skybound Games and have previously received funding for the game from the German Government's computer game funding program. What is your advice to indie studios who want to develop their project; what are the most important tips studios should follow when looking for investors/publishers?

First, ask yourself whether you actually need a publisher or investor, and if so, what you need them for. “Funding” is often the answer to that, but there may be other reasons like marketing, distribution, ports, and localization. Keep in mind though that there’s no such thing as free money. When you’re signing with an investor or publisher, they will own rights to your game, your revenue, your company, or even your IP. That’s by no means me saying you shouldn’t sign with a publisher since they might be a huge benefit for your project. After all, getting a fraction of something is better than owning a hundred percent of nothing. But it's good to know you’re making that tradeoff.

I’ll continue to write about approaching publishers in particular because that’s most relevant for game developers and it’s what we’re most experienced in, but a lot of the following should also be applicable for “classic” investors.

Start talking to publishers early and speak to many potentially fitting ones at the same time. Not only are publishers always swamped with pitches. Getting from the first contact to discussions about budgets and terms and finally to a signed contract might drag on for a long time. In our experience, most publishers will only become seriously interested from the moment you have a playable build to show, but that doesn’t mean you can only pitch to them once you have it. In fact, for Closer the Distance we started pitching with just the concept and still got a lot of positive responses and follow-ups one of which the signed deal with our publisher emerged. Mind you, this was a slightly different time when there was more money to go around in game investments. Getting a deal with a publisher has gotten much harder since.

In my opinion, the best way to pitch is not by “cold” email (though that should not keep you from sending them), but to meet in person, if possible. Events like Hamburg Games Conference or Gamescom are prime candidates for that. Sometimes there are dedicated pitching events where you have the chance to pitch to multiple publishers at once in person. Keep an eye on these opportunities, they’re probably the most effective chances for pitches you can get.

Once you have gained interest by hopefully multiple publishers, ask for their high-level terms for cooperation based on what you require and what you already invested yourself. Compare these terms with any other offers you have and publicly available contracts (e.g. the resources from Raw Fury). It’s easy to think you’re the one that needs the publisher and that if you don’t say yes immediately, the deal will be gone. Here’s the truth: A publisher needs to sign games regularly. It’s their business model. You own something they want. There’s leverage in that that makes almost all terms negotiable. So, negotiate! Have a lawyer look at the terms, and potentially even negotiate for you.

Most importantly, don’t sign deals or with people you don’t feel comfortable with. You’re putting too much effort and heart into making your game to be constantly dragged down or sign away the entire thing. I know, I know. That’s easier said than done if you need to sign a deal quickly to stay afloat. Sometimes you’ve got to pick your poison. But at least know why you’re doing it.

3. Your games have always been story-driven and rich in narrative. How do you see the competition in an ever-growing indie games market in this tight market situation? What do you wish for "Closer the Distance"?

There’s a lot of talk about how narrative games are dying in a world where people watch streams and Let’s Plays. How they get the full story by doing that and then never buy the games themselves. While I think that narrative games can still thrive, there’s a bit of truth to that for sure. Also, the ever-growing number of released games every day is intimidating, and it has gotten hard to stand out from the crowd.

That’s why we don’t “simply” tell a story with a game. Instead, we think in experiences and how we can best convey them. The narrative is a result of that and a means to the overall experience. We’re innovative and approach storytelling from a mechanical perspective. This increases replayability and hopefully gets attention from players interested in more mechanically driven genres (such as life sims in the instance of Closer the Distance). We try to create something people haven’t played before and therefore pick themes like surveillance or grief that people might be drawn to or find it worthwhile talking about. That said, this doesn’t make the market situation any less scary or tough for us, but it’s our approach to the challenges we’re presented with.

For Closer the Distance I wish for two things: First, that people find it touching, entertaining, sad, comforting – basically that it means something to them and maybe even helps if they’re going through tough times. Second, that the game does well enough so we can keep doing what we’re doing. We have a strong team going that’s working well together! I’d love to keep it that way and be able to make one more game.

Closer the Distance is published by Skybound Games and is released for PC, PS5 and XBOX Series X/S.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1991300/Closer_the_Distance/

Watch the Release Trailer: