David Braben, founder of Frontier Developments, is one of the key figures behind the WiiWare LostWinds games. We had a chance to chat to him recently about the upcoming title, the series and what to expect from Frontier in the future.

LostWinds was one of the earliest title for the WiiWare service, and has also been one of the most successful. Praised for its fun gameplay and engaging story Frontier Developments are currently working on its sequel. N-Europe were fortunate enough to be able to sit down for a chat with David Braben, founder of Frontier Developments, about the new title.

Ashley: Good afternoon. Could you please introduce yourself to our readers and explain what it is you do?

David: Hello, my name is David Braben and I am founder of Frontier Developments and we have just announced a sequel to our LostWinds game Winter of the Melodias.

Ashley: Thank you. Could you please explain a bit about the game for anyone who may not have played it?

David: The first LostWinds game is about a small boy named Toku. He discovers a piece of the Wind Spirit. In the games, world spirits are represented by stones. Toku finds this and the wind spirit helps Toku get through the world during the story in our first game. The second game follows on from that story. During the game you control the wind spirit with the Wii Remote; you can get Toku to hide places and such using the wind. The nunchuck itself controls Toku. It’s actually a very easy and very natural way to control, but it is a new game mechanic which has been very successful on the Wii and we are pleased with it.

Ashley: What new things can players expect from the sequel?

David: We've put a lot of effort into essentially making everything more efficient. Gameplay is the big new thing that we've put a lot of work into. The most obvious result of that is when you first see the game it is winter, so the ability to change the seasons using a new spirit called Sonté; who you discover in this game changes the gameplay quite dramatically and brings in new mechanics. For example, we have swimming. In winter, the water turns to ice and thus you can walk on it, but also you can create snowballs out of the snow and Toku gets cold but has to be kept warm. We have also done a lot to the environments so that they look a lot nicer. We've got new bad guys and a few different things. We've got new puzzle mechanics, all the puzzle mechanics from the original are present but we have also introduced new ones. These all work together with the old ones and they were in fact designed prior to the first game, both the story and these ideas for the game. So, a new wind skill called Cyclone, which is like a little tornado, allows you to do things like lift Toku up high but you can also use it to lift water into clouds and move clouds around to other places.

The new winter environments are a big feature in the sequel.

LostWinds was designed as a world, and all of the ideas work together. A lot of the ideas that have been used in Winter of the Melodias were actually designed prior to us starting work on the first game. In fact, some eagle-eyed people will spot that material that was in magazine reviews included some concept art that included ideas that we are using now. So, overall, the game has a lot more in it; a lot more story, cutscenes and characters. In this game, we reveal the story of Riverin who is like a dark Toku. Toku is a kid who has found a piece of the wind spirit, Enril. This other kid, Riverin, found a piece of the evil spirit Balasar which is sort of Enril's nemesis. That story was mentioned right at the start of the first game, which is the story running right through the first game. So this character is being distorted into evil and is polluting the world which relates to the story. Thus, these two stories intertwine as does the story of Magdi, Toku's mother, who has gone missing. The original idea is that you are trying to find where she has gone and rescue her. So all these stories go together and come together in the end but I won't spoil what it is all about, however there are some nice twists in the story. But also, on that side of things, you actually get to visit the town of the Melodias which was where the different Melodia statues from the first game came from, so it all links back together.

Ashley: Considering you have planned the story to such depth are there any plans to do more games after this one?

David: Yes, we are planning to do more within the world of LostWinds, absolutely.

Ashley: You were one of the first developers to throw your weight behind the WiiWare service and you have been really popular with it. Has the gamble paid off for you?

David: Yes I think so; we wouldn't be doing a sequel otherwise. The opportunity it gives is great. We had already looked at doing a game as the concept for LostWinds came from Nintendo’s controller, not necessarily WiiWare. However, WiiWare seemed like a perfectly-timed opportunity to do this kind of game where we can bring our vision, fully formed, without any other intervention or interference.

Fancy a dip?

Ashley: How long has the sequel been in development? It’s only recently been announced but the release date is October.

David: Since late April.

Ashley: So that's quite a quick turnaround then.

David: Ah yes. The beauty of this service is it’s a very focussed experience, though I wouldn't think any less of it as a result. The whole point is that a lot of people have put a lot of heart and soul into making this a great game. Additionally, a lot of ideas already existed and it’s a sure-fire way to getting something that is very focussed. Essentially, it’s been designed from the ground up to work together.

Ashley: Is there a chance of any DS LostWinds titles coming out?

David: That is clearly something that we would look at. When we finish this we are going to look where to take LostWinds next and obviously that is something that is within the mix.

Ashley: Are you working on any other titles at the moment?

David: Oh yes, we're working on several other titles. We're working on The Outsider; we're working on unannounced titles which obviously we can't talk about and still working on ideas.

Ashley: Okay, great. Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed!

David: Thank you.

Be sure to stay tuned for our impressions and don't forget our other interviews from the recent conference. Once again many thanks to David Braben for taking the time out of his busy schedule to have a chat with us.