1001 Previews: Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries

Here’s a very promising game we’ve recently discovered over on Steam Greenlight which has now received the thumbs-up by fans. It’s not often that we see well known fairy tales re-imagined so we couldn’t wait to hear more about Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries by Belgian developer GriN.

Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries is a non-sugarcoated fairy tale platformer which promises to be full of drama and dark twists. The game follows the journey of Little Red Riding Hood and her well-known voyage to her grandmother’s house with a new dramatic, twisted take on the original story. The gameplay features both retro-inspired platforming action and hack ‘n slash combat along with mind-boggling 3D puzzles.

You’ll instantly notice that the visuals are of a very high standard which are supported by the Unreal Development Kit, and that the steampunk fantasy setting is a perfect match for this brutal new tale. We got in touch with Wim from the Woolfe team to address some of our burning questions, a big thank you to the GriN team for taking the time to speak with us.

Can you tell us how the team at GRIN was formed and what made you decide to start making Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries?

“It all started about one year ago…

“At that time we were a team of 3, just starting production of a series of games for preschoolers (www.forestpals.com) of which the first two season inspired games have already been released and two more will be released later this year. To help make these games we were looking for a 3D artist. Quite a lot of people applied for the job but we narrowed down the list and invited only a hand full of people for a personal meeting… one of which was Davy.

“Davy was not suited for the job. Why? Simple, he already had a job and would have to give a 3 month notice, so he could not start right away. Also, he had no experience with 3D Studio MAX, the software we were using to build the models. For the ForestPals games this turned out to be a good thing. We found someone else… Steven. He has the amazing gift to turn our 2D art into 3D models and truly keep the spirit of the concepts alive. He is a passionate technical 3D artist who just needs a few words and a sketch to create magic… I’ll talk more about Steven later, because that’s not what this story is about.

Behold thy detailed steampunk graphics!

“This story continues with Davy and although he decided not to work work with him for our preschool games he had one thing in his portfolio that fascinated us deeply. A 30 second video with a Red Riding Hood character in the lead, platforming through a dark forest, ambushed by evil trees…

“The dream had begun, we just needed a way to make it come true… The only way we could think of was to apply for funding. The year before a new government funding had seen the light. The Flemish Audiovisual Fund. If we could make a dossier that portrayed our dream, it would be a way to create this amazing fairy tale.

“Together with Davy, the scenario writer Yasmin and art director Bart we had less than one month before the funding call. Apart from the original 30 second video we had to create everything from scratch. The pressure was on, but we were loving it! Using the original Red Riding Hood stories as inspiration, we created a new story in 3 chapters, filled with dark twists. Story, mood boards, concept art and game mechanics all came together beautifully. We submitted our work… it was out of our hands… 3 months later we received the joyful news.

“Our game was selected as one of the most promising submissions to date. Davy quit his other job… and we’ve been developing ever since.”

The game was selected as one of the most promising submissions for the Flemish Audiovisual Fund.

With such a well-known fairy tale as Red Riding Hood, was it difficult was it to come up with this alternative version? Was there anything in particular that inspired the new direction for the original story?

“We have a total of 3 chapters written out. The first chapter follows the original Red Riding Hood story, in the sense that you go to grandmothers house and encounter Woolfe. We changed the focus of the original story from the Animal “Wolf” who portrays “the evil man” to the Man “Woolfe” who portrays “the evil corporations”.”

Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries features a dramatic and twisted storyline which we won’t ask you to spoil, but can you tell us of any other games that may have inspired some of the ideas behind this new adventure?

“For the story, we were inspired by the original versions of well known fairy tales rather than by other games. Before The brothers Grimm and Walt Disney sugarcoated stories such as Red Riding Hood they were much darker and far less childproof. Pinocchio, for example, was originally written by an author who loathed children. In his version, the wooden creature was a real pain in the ass rather than a cute wannabe-boy.”

With a dramatic and twisted new take on the Little Red Riding Hood story, we can’t wait to get our hands on a copy.

So far from the videos, we’ve seen a combination of both platforming and hack-and-slash gameplay. How can we expect to see these two contrasting genres transition between each other?

“Well, I don’t think they contrast as hard as you might think. I don’t know if you remember the original Prince of Persia games? They actually provided a lot of inspiration for the initial gameplay mechanics of Woolfe. It was probably one of the first platform games to integrate sword fighting. Well, we don’t have a sword, but we do have a kick-ass axe to swing instead!”

One of the key features listed for the game are mind-boggling 3D puzzles. Can you to describe how these may work without, of course, giving away any solutions?

“Ok, probably the least original example is the puzzle with the 3 switches. Every switch has to be in the correct position to open the door. Sounds simple, and sometimes, if you’re lucky it is… but you can also waste more time than you think if you’re not paying attention.”

The mixture of combat and platforming gameplay was inspired by the Prince of Persia series.

The steampunk setting suits the fairytale style of Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries perfectly. Did you start out with this style in mind and where did you find the inspiration for the design choice?

“Tim Burton & Anton Pieck have been our main sources of inspiration from the beginning. All designs and mood boards have them in mind.”

Using the Unreal Development Kit has obviously enabled you to create the beautiful and incredibly detailed visuals! What challenges have you faced in creating this level of graphical quality?

“Time is our enemy. We’re just a small studio with only 2 people doing all the art in the game.”

Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries features some of the most impressive visuals we’ve seen in quite some time.

From the >Steam Greenlight trailer, we hear an equally impressive soundtrack that does well to compliment the story and setting. How will you be using music to assist with immersing the player into the game world?

“Music will play an important role in the story and the game experience. Recurring variations on the theme as introduced in the Steam trailer will guide our heroin – and thus the player – towards the answers she’s looking for. Music will help the pieces of the puzzle come together.”

Are any of the team gamers themselves? Do you have any preferred genres or favourite titles?

Yes, we’re all gamers! Favorite games range from Assassins Creed to Guild Wars to Minecraft 😉

Yet another amazingly detailed environment.

Is there any advice you’d give to someone who’s thinking of making an indie game?

“Try to be different than the rest! There are very few indie games using the visual style we are using for Woolfe. It is definitely part of our success!”

Can you tell us which component of Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries is currently being worked on? How is the team feeling about its upcoming release?

“We are currently adding all the art to the technical level designs. Before the end of March we still have to create a few more enemies and animations, put the story in place, add interface elements and integrate the sounds and music. How do we feel about that? Wish we had more time… But we’re going to try to keep our promise to have something ready for public!”

Red Riding Hood has selected an axe as her weapon of choice – to which we approve.

Woolfe – The Red Hood Diaries is still currently in development with a release date of spring 2014. Check out their successful Steam Greenlight page and be sure to hit the like button on Facebook. Keep an eye on the dev blog for more news and their weekly screenshot Saturday to see more of this beautiful game.