Continuing from our previous discussion in Part 1, let's delve further into how we're crafting the new Travelers that we’ll be encountering.

Using the characteristics of our Smols from Part 1, we can pick any of the core facets to create a point of contrast. For example, let’s go with “Smols have a complete lack of awareness.” The counter to this would be something that is hyper aware, which can be manifested in several different forms, such as being overly cautious, or overly vain.

It’s easy to imagine how either of those scenarios could create humorous situations. An overly cautious character is going to be extremely flustered by an oblivious Smol that somehow makes it through life completely unscathed, while they themselves fret over (and often fall victim to) everything. Similarly, a vain character might poke fun at the oblivious Smol, or perhaps suddenly feel a little silly at their ridiculous outfit when Smols don’t seem impressed by, or “get” it.

Once we have these core points of contrast, we take those as a beginning, and not the end. After all, if the only thing we had were contrasts, we’d have a world populated with flat identical characters. Instead, these become guidelines and set spaces that we can iterate and explore within. Using the example of “Vanity” there are a multitude of different reasons someone could be that way - they could be superficial, insecure, proud, boisterous, and so on. Each of those are drastically different feelings that result in completely different characters, and as such, provide richer and more varied interactions.

This also underscores another key point that we’ve had in building this world - which is not losing the humanity in it. That might seem an odd thing to say when we’re talking about Smols, but to us this means “things that are true and relatable.” Think of it as the difference between laughing at someone out of mockery, versus laughing with them because their behavior endears them to you. We feel that affection because we feel the truth and connection behind it.

That’s the kind of world we’re building - one that puts the fun in funny - but is also able to express a broad range of stories and feelings. This journey is going to take us to some unexpected places!

So now you know how we’re building these new Travelers. We’re excited to say that you can look forward to more details being shared soon - in the future, we’ll dive into more specifics of how the art for these characters comes to life, how we shape their stories and their cultures, and how it colors the world(s) as a whole.

It’s going to be a very exciting new year, and we’re eagerly looking forward to sharing the vision and the game that we’ve been singularly focused on crafting. Please look forward to it! And in the meantime, feel free to join us on our social channels - what kind of Travelers do you think we’ll be encountering on our journeys?