11-11 Memories Retold is a game set during the World War 1 and will follow the stories of two soldiers from opposing sides brought together in the most unlikely of circumstances. The game is developed by Digix Art Studios and Aardman and published by Bandai Namco and promises to bring players a World War 1 game experience like nothing they've played before.
In the first Vlog from the developers we get an interview by the game's Director Yoan Fanise where he tells us that the game's idea emerges from an encounter with the Aardman team in Paris during the Games for Change Festival 2016. During the event they discussed what they could do that goes beyond entertainment, which is a completely different experience.
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11 is about peace, not about war. It's not an educational game in any way, it's still a videogame. It's a proper narrative game but there is this kind of layer in the story that makes you able to go beyond that."
Fanise also tells us that the game is about those little moments of humanity between soldiers of two opposing sides. He mentions that the logo itself depicts that sentiment very well, as well as the game's premise filled with symbolism and meaning.
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During my first visit in Bristol at the fabulous Aardman studio, full of artists, animators like, some of the most talented people in the world, the team from Aardman showed me this short movie they did for Imperial War Museums. It was a 3D environment but in a very strong stylised way that was fantastic."
He explains that this short movie established the art direction of the project and what they wanted to do with the game in terms of art style.
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Then, later on, one day I received in my mail box the first sketches for 11...and that was a revelation. There was no dialogue, there was no music, and the emotion was there. This fusion of making games, and the knowledge of animated movies is very powerful."
Fanise then goes on to talk about their ideas for the game as they decided what the look, the story, and the characters for the game should be and then they discovered they had the same heritge of World War 1 as both nations[France and England] were involved in tht world-changing event.
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The more we were talking about the Great War, the more it was obvious that we had to make something to revive this heritage. This event is not far from us, it's just 100 years ago. It's three generations. So it is very important for us that we revive this memory to our children. "
He mentions that this subject touches him deeply because his great-grandfather fought in the war, where he not only lost his leg, but also his own brother.
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In Britain, every year, people wear a Poppy at 11-11 in memory of World War 1. This project is our Poppy."
Journey back to World War I, the War to End All Wars and follow the story of two soldiers brought together in the most unlikely of circumstances...
11-11 Memories Retold has not been given a release date yet.