Let's begin with a quick look back. Talk to us a bit about the reception of Grow Home, one year later.
Jack Couvela (art director)I've worked at Reflections on huge games such as Driver and The Crew, and we've also been working on the likes of Tom Clancy's The Division and Watch_Dogs 2, but the release of Grow Home was the most exciting and personal moment for me. We were a tiny core team of just eight and Grow Home was our baby. We'd all been able to have such a huge impact on every aspect of the game that it was very personal; we just wanted people to love it as much as we did.
It was intentionally nothing like Reflections had made before – we wanted to really surprise people with what else we could do. The very first announcement and teaser trailer were released in 2015, during a quiet February just two weeks before our launch day on Steam. Everyone picked up the story but the teaser gave little away apart from the art direction and a hint at the tone of the game. It got a lot of interest and started people guessing, but thankfully players didn't have a long wait to get their hands on Grow Home.
As the first digital only game we'd released, it was amazing to see people playing live on Twitch before we even cut the cake and cracked open the beers on launch day! The reaction was amazing, with 97% positive user reviews on Steam and great reviews from the biggest games websites.
Another first for us was how popular Grow Home was for Let's Play videos. Our little game was getting seen by millions of people, which was incredible for our visibility. We quickly started plans for a port to PS4 and took part in the first ever PlayStation Plus Vote to Play. The great word of mouth and huge visibility from the PC version helped us win that vote, meaning by September 2015, the game was available completely free to millions of PlayStation Plus members. We couldn't have hoped for more exposure; it was an incredible experience.
It was intentionally nothing like Reflections had made before – we wanted to really surprise people with what else we could do. The very first announcement and teaser trailer were released in 2015, during a quiet February just two weeks before our launch day on Steam. Everyone picked up the story but the teaser gave little away apart from the art direction and a hint at the tone of the game. It got a lot of interest and started people guessing, but thankfully players didn't have a long wait to get their hands on Grow Home.
As the first digital only game we'd released, it was amazing to see people playing live on Twitch before we even cut the cake and cracked open the beers on launch day! The reaction was amazing, with 97% positive user reviews on Steam and great reviews from the biggest games websites.
Another first for us was how popular Grow Home was for Let's Play videos. Our little game was getting seen by millions of people, which was incredible for our visibility. We quickly started plans for a port to PS4 and took part in the first ever PlayStation Plus Vote to Play. The great word of mouth and huge visibility from the PC version helped us win that vote, meaning by September 2015, the game was available completely free to millions of PlayStation Plus members. We couldn't have hoped for more exposure; it was an incredible experience.