The art of baking requires passion, patience, and a creative flair...and a fair bit of flour, as well.

Take away the flour, and you could easily be describing the process for which game developers, certainly independent ones, approach each project. It has to be a labour of love, rather than doing what the boss told you to. By the same token, it allows a level of creative freedom that you just wouldn't get working for a AAA game studio in this day and age.

The Game Bakers have, however, previously been a part of the AAA industry and decided to break free to allow their own talents and ideas to come to fruition ( I'm trying to avoid bakery puns if possible...). Having both worked for Ubisoft, Audrey Leprince and Emeric Thoa set up The Game Bakers, literally above a bakery, in Montpellier, France, in 2011. An initial release of "Squids" on mobile devices was followed by Combo Crew in 2013 which was their own beat 'em up that, fantastically, included Street Fighter 2 and Viewtful Joe characters fully licensed from Capcom. With Audrey and Emeric clearly having a solid reputation in the industry, they then worked on a licensed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game to launch with the film in 2014.

In the same year Squids Odyssey was released on 3DS and Wii U, which marked the company's first title on a Nintendo console. And now, four years later, we see the release of Furi, previously available on PS4 and Xbox One in 2016, coming to the Nintendo Switch.
Described as "...all about the tension of one-on-one fights against deadly adversaries. It’s an intense, ultra-responsive game with a unique mix of fast-paced sword fighting and dual-stick shooting" and it's not wrong, the game is an intriguing mix of on-rails story exposition followed by a meeting with a new boss. After the first encounter which gives you the chance to learn the control scheme (don't be fooled, it's still an incredibly tough fight) each subsequent boss requires their own specific way of being bested.

Having played through the game and with the recent release on the Switch I was given the chance to put some questions to Emeric, Furi's creative director. I started with an obvious one, having been two years since the initial release of Furi, what made The Game Bakers decide to bring the game to Nintendo Switch?

"Well, first we had many players asking for the game on Switch. Either Switch owners who wanted to discover Furi, but also Furi players who wanted to be able to play Furi on the go."

The desire for many gamers to take some of their favourite titles with them wherever they go has been a major selling point and seen the Switch become a phenomenon around the world since it's release in March 2017. Bearing in mind how the Wii U fared in the home console market place, however, did The Game Bakers always envisage bringing Furi to Switch, or want to wait and see how the console took off before making that decision?

"Actually, it was a bit of both. I really wanted to try the console first, by myself. But once I did that, I was quickly convinced I'd want to bring Furi on Switch." Emeric goes on to say "... we are also big fans of the console, and we thought Furi is a unique game that would be great on this platform who has not many beat'em up."

Having previously developed for the aforementioned Wii U, for Emeric the Switch has made development for a Nintendo console a much simpler experience. "Everything has been streamlined for the Switch. The devkits, the tools (Unity is compatible), the publishing process... It's a completely different console."

And this seems to be echoed by the tidal wave of indie games that have made their way to the Switch since launch, and specifically multiplatform titles like Furi that have had no problem being ported to the Switch. Indeed for Emeric and the team their main concern was simply optimising: "We were only worried about the framerate, but we spent three months on optimisation only, making sure it'd run as smooth as on the other platforms." Indeed during my play time with the game I noticed no drops in frame rates or graphical issues to speak of, even during one boss fight where there were quite possibly a hundred or so orbs, blocks and the boss himself moving around the screen at any given time.

For me the game wears it's influences very much on its sleeve; I felt like I was playing a mash up of a Metal Gear Solid game (which the company explicitly says is an influence) with the film Donnie Darko and musically I got Perfect Dark and Metroid vibes. Was this a conscious decision on the part of Emeric and his team, or something that just happened through developing the game their own way?
"It was very much conscious. We had a guideline for never explaining something the characters know, but not the player. The characters have a base of knowledge about the world, the story, that the player doesn't. They never explain anything clearly, but the player can tie the pieces of the puzzle by paying attention to the details. Even though the world looks weird, everything is justified and consistent. And actually, I think the references you quote : Metal Gear, Donnie Darko, Metroid... they are built the same way."

With Nintendo's surge in popularity due to Switch light years away from the dark, dark times of the Wii U, I was interested to hear from Emeric his thoughts on Nintendo in general, and, having worked for Ubisoft in the past as well, why he thought third parties would either avoid or give limited support to Nintendo consoles.

"Well, Nintendo is kind of an exception on the market. Its game line up is very tied to the consoles they build. People buy the consoles for the Nintendo games. If you make "Nintendo-like games", you're probably not as good as them. If you make very different games, people who are interested in these games probably have another console to play them. It's pretty risky for someone to say they are going to release only on a Nintendo console. But I think the Switch might change that a little. It feels like a console that could attract a wide variety of games and gamers."

Speaking of which, I couldn't resist the chance to ask Emeric what his dream Nintendo IP would be to develop a game around:

"With absolutely zero hesitation: Punch Out!! Please Nintendo-sama, read this. Give us Punch Out!! Switch to make! We are ready :D"

If Nintendo hasn't got any other plans for the series themselves, time to get in touch with The Game Bakers, I think...

With Emeric also confirming that he is working on a new game, although it will be different from Furi and the Switch is definitely on their mind, an eShop success for Furi would be well deserved for a company so passionate about their games and the industry itself.

I'll leave the last words to Emeric, which I think also sum up one of the best things about Furi itself as well for those who have never experienced it

"One thing I find the best in a game is when I discover something by myself. I love when the game doesn't take me by the hand and explains me everything."

With thanks to Danielle and Ami at Outrageous PR, Mike at Icopartners and, of course, Emeric at The Game Bakers