Packing up your bags and travelling across oceans to a new town, to embark on a new adventure with friends old and new; it’s sorely tempting to draw parallels between the story of solo developer Robert Tatnell and the game series his project most frequently draws comparisons to. Listening to the Stockholm-based British designer tell his tale, it’s almost as if he’s elected to live a real-life Animal Crossing these past few years.
“Around 12 years ago I worked at Lionhead in Guildford. Around that time, there was almost like a mini Swedish invasion. Then they all found the other Swedes who were living in Guilford, it was summertime and everyone’s partying. I made some of the best friends that I have in my life.
Hokko Life
- Publisher: Team 17
- Developer: Wonderscope
- Availability: Out now on PC in Steam Early Access
“The projects that we were on got finished up, and over time everyone moved back to Stockholm. I came and visited pretty much any chance that I had. And then over time, I realised that I’d actually much rather be here – that sounds harsh, and I have some very, very happy memories from Guildford! I went not exactly for love but for friendship – which I guess is a form of love.”
Stockholm’s not short of video game companies itself – think of it as Guildford but better dressed – so Tatnell was able to pick up jobs here and there, all while he embarked on his own passion project.
“I’ve worked at a bunch of studios and on a bunch of different games, and pretty much all of them involved killing things. Over time I realised I don’t necessarily want to be working on games where you kill things. My play style – if that’s the right term – changed over that time as well. It sort of went from really enjoying those kinds of games to moving onto more relaxing stuff. I want things a bit more cosy, that don’t stress me as much.”