''Wattam'' is a 2019

puzzle-platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

developed by

Funomena Robin Hunicke (; born March 15, 1973) is an American video game designer and producer. She is a professor of game design at UC Santa Cruz and the co-founder of Funomena. Hunicke began her career at Electronic Arts where she worked on multiple g ...

and published by

Annapurna Interactive Annapurna Games, LLC (trade name: Annapurna Interactive) is an American video game publisher. The company is a division of Annapurna Pictures, and was founded in 2016. Notable games released by the company include ''Donut County'', ''Kentucky Rout ...

. It was designed by

Keita Takahashi is a Japanese game designer and artist, his most notable titles being ''Katamari Damacy'' and its sequel, ''We Love Katamari''. The original ''Katamari'' game was a surprise hit and was praised for its quirkiness, originality, and charm. Takahas ...

, better known for creating the ''

Katamari Damacy () is a third-person puzzle-action video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. It was released in Japan in March 2004 and in North America in September 2004. Designer Keita Takahashi struggled to pitch the game to Namco' ...

'' series, and was released for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

and

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

on December 17.

Gameplay

The game is played either solo or

co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

, and consists of befriending other inhabitants of the world, including trees, flowers, rocks, toilets, poop, mouths, and more by holding hands, uncovering secrets, playing

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...

s, and solving puzzles. Characters each have unique melodies, which can be combined.

Development

Originally revealed in December 2014 as a

exclusive, ''Wattam'' was to be published by

Sony Interactive Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game industry, video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is ma ...

and developed jointly by

and

Santa Monica Studio Santa Monica Studio is an American video game developer based in Los Angeles. A First-party developer, first-party studio for Sony Interactive Entertainment, it is best known for developing the ''God of War (franchise), God of War'' series. Th ...

. However, it was revealed in October 2016 that Sony were no longer involved with the game. In August 2017,

was announced as the new publisher, and that it would additionally be released for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. Regarding ''Wattam'', designer

said that he was "always" trying to make a game that makes people notice how "our ordinary life is great". ''Wattam'' had a troubled development at Funomena. Takahashi quarreled with studio co-founder

Robin Hunicke Robin Hunicke (; born March 15, 1973) is an American video game designer and producer. She is a professor of game design at UC Santa Cruz and the co-founder of Funomena. Hunicke began her career at Electronic Arts where she worked on multiple ...

over the game's design and production, eventually building a physical barricade between their sides of the office. Hunicke withdrew from active involvement in the game's development to focus on running the company. After Sony ended its co-development with Funomena, the studio announced layoffs. The game would ultimately spend over five years in development.

Reception

''Wattam'' received "mixed or average reviews" from critics upon release according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. The game was nominated for "Family", "

Game Design Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

", and "Music" at the

16th British Academy Games Awards The 16th British Academy Video Game Awards was hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts on 2 April 2020 to honour the best video games of 2019. Though originally planned to be presented at a ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth Hall ...

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Video games Action video games Indie video games Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation 4 games 2019 video games Video games developed in the United States Windows games Annapurna Interactive games Video games designed by Keita Takahashi

Gameplay

Development

Reception

References

Further reading

External links