Unveiling Cocoon's Revolutionary Cut Walker-Vehicle: Geometric Interactive Offers Exclusive Insights

Geometric Interactive's first title, Cocoon, offers players a captivating and intuitive gaming experience. In the game, players assume the role of a biomechanical explorer resembling an insect, embarking on a journey through various worlds. These worlds can transform into objects that are crucial for solving puzzles in other realms. This unique mechanic of nested-worlds creates mind-bending moments as players navigate through different dimensions to progress.

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jeppe Carlsen, the founder of Geometric Interactive and the lead designer of Cocoon, about the game's development. Cocoon is designed to be a concise and thrilling experience, with no unnecessary elements or slow pacing. Carlsen shared that the game's momentum was achieved through careful editing, which involved removing an elaborate vehicular sequence from the game's organic world.

The Discarded Doldrums

Jeppe Carlsen, the game's art director, reminisced with Erwin Kho about the cut content, laughing as they shared the story of the extensive effort they had put into the set piece. This sequence centered around a unique and unconventional vehicle:

"We had this incredible idea for an organic vehicle with incredibly long legs, allowing players to climb and navigate between various islands. Each island would present its own set of puzzles to solve. As players completed the puzzles, they would obtain a winged key that would fit into the creature. Ultimately, the creature would split apart and soar out of a cave."

Fortunately, not all the work went to waste. Kho identified that the final part of the sequence still remained in the game's organic cave section, but the long-legged walking platform vehicle was removed. Unlike most of Cocoon, which followed a strict sequence of puzzles for progression, players were given the freedom to explore the different isles in any order. This non-linear aspect of the story presented artistic challenges - each island had to be unique enough to captivate players, yet familiar enough for easy navigation to the next destination.

However, the main reason Carlsen ultimately decided to remove this sequence was because it disrupted the game's flow. During a playtest with a representative from Annapurna Interactive, Cocoon's publisher, Carlsen accurately predicted where the player would encounter difficulties in their progression. Once Carlsen confirmed that the tester struggled with the walker section and islands, he knew it was necessary to eliminate the sequence.

Pace Perfect

Pacing in gaming goes beyond the mechanics and player reaction time. Uneven pacing in games is often caused by tonal shifts that go against the game's core design philosophy. In Cocoon, the core design element involves switching rapidly between different universes and using mazes to solve other mazes. Carlsen explains, "A key aspect of Cocoon's appeal is the constant transition between worlds. The shifting contexts and landscapes are crucial for maintaining the game's pacing."

Taking into account those context switches, it becomes clear how transitioning from a structured series of puzzles to a more expansive exploration of a singular world would diminish gamers' engagement. Immersive open-world games often adhere to a design inclination of offering players a vast amount of content, but in Cocoon, where every game mechanic is uniquely repurposed in various settings, lingering in one world can be underwhelming.

Carlsen disclosed that he seldom engages with exceedingly challenging puzzle games and holds limited interest in "state engines" that necessitate players to sift through an overwhelming number of conditional combinations in search of a single correct configuration. He acknowledged that this preference was partly subjective, but he also noted that games faced difficulties in adequately rewarding players for the effort expended on these state engines.

Less Is More

Trimming fat from titles also has other evident advantages. Carlsen notes that removing the sequence has made the game slightly easier to produce, and this intentional simplicity can also be observed in the minimalist control scheme of the puzzle game. By restricting the complexity of the controls to just a single navigation stick and an interaction button, the complex idea of navigating through different dimensions becomes more intuitive.

Ultimately, eliminating the walker vehicle while still preserving the conceptual and thematic pay-off of the sequence enabled the game to improve upon its original version. Though it may seem contrary to logic, shortening a title can greatly enhance the overall experience.

Cocoon is available now for PC, Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.