The fifth Gamescom 2015 interview is all about using the Wii U GamePad to your advantage! We speak to Simogo's Simon Flesser, who are in the process of bringing their game Year Walk to the Wii U. Together with the masters at Dakko Dakko, they put together something that can only be done on Nintendo's console. Read more about it below!

Nintendo World Report (NWR): I'm here with Simon (Flesser) from Simogo, how are you doing?

Simon Flesser (S): Good, yourself?

NWR: Good, it's the first day of Gamescom, a lot of sweaty people... we're here to talk about Year Walk, which you're bringing to Wii U. Simogo is not a studio many Nintendo fans might recognize, what are some of the games you've brought to life?

S: We've made six, maybe seven games? I'm not sure. We made a game called Bumpy Road, we've made a game called Beat Sneak Bandit, we've made Year Walk, Device 6, Sailor’s Dream and that's it. Maybe a few more, but that's most of it.

NWR: You've never published on a Nintendo system before, though. It certainly has been a dream of yours, correct?

S: Yeah, I'm a big Nintendo fan and have been since I was a kid.

NWR: I'm not sure if it was you or your colleague who posted a picture of Bumpy Road in 3D, I play that game all the time on my iPhone. Was it still something where "I want to do something on Nintendo systems now" or was it always a dream?

S: I think we've always wanted to do something, but there's never been a good moment or a good opportunity, but then the stars aligned when started talking with Rhod from Dakko Dakko about bringing Year Walk to Wii U, and he was keen on doing it. That's the story.

NWR: Let's talk about Year Walk. For those who don't know the title, or who've never heard of it before, how would you describe it?

S: It's a story driven but very quiet and moody horror-like adventure experience that is based on Swedish folklore, specifically about a Swedish folklore phenomenon called Year Walk, or as it's called in Swedish "Årsgång" which is basically on specific nights at midnight, like New Year's Eve or Christmas Eve. You could walk out not having eaten where it's been dark for 24 hours, to try and see the future. You would get a glimpse of the future based on what creatures you'd see, and you'd end the Year Walk at the church where you'd perform a specific ritual to try and complete your vision of the future. In our Year Walk, it's an unnamed character who goes out in the middle of (the) night to see if his loved one will love him back in the next year.

NWR: My first impressions were "wow, that trailer" since it embodies what that game is about, dark and with a lot of intrigue. Year Walk is all based around puzzles and observation to succeed. Is it to rekindle old games or does it have a deeper meaning?

S: I'm not an adventure fan, I'm not too hot on old point and click adventures. We wanted to make an adventure game that we would enjoy ourselves in our way, which means lot of fun interactions and feeling like you're interacting with games always, which was my complaint with old adventure games. You click on things, and stuff happens. So for every version we've done of Year Walk, we've iterated the interactions and now on Wii U we're doing things with gyro, GamePad plus TV, touch and what have you.

NWR: What kind of puzzles will players encounter as they move through the mystical world?

S: A lot of puzzles are based around codes and cracking codes and deciphering ancient languages, but in the Wii U version it's the physical movement and controlling things and figuring out how you control things what the symbols mean in the context of the player holding the GamePad. We're playing around with the tactility and the context of the game and the platform.

NWR: While you use the sticks to walk around the environment, it's based around the motion controls. As you look around, the GamePad almost becomes a sensor. What was the mentality behind that approach? Was it more to make it fit for the Wii U, or was it something that just came naturally?

S: We wanted it to feel as fresh and new as possible, and we didn't want a simple put it on the GamePad and add touch controls - we wanted it to feel new. Rhod proposed because on the PC version you use the mouse to look around and control the pointer, obviously you don't have a pointer with the GamePad and we didn't want to do the simple touch. Rhod from Dakko Dakko came up with the idea of motion controls to control the cursor, then everything fell into place because you have natural motion interactions with all the different gadgets you find in the world.

NWR: The Wii U version is unique in more than those ways. The GamePad has sounds coming out of it, it rumbles - sadly, I couldn't hear it. It seems like you put a lot of focus into making it completely optimal for the Wii U - not a version, but the best version.

S: I think you answered your own question there. That is true. (laughs)

NWR: I was looking for the confirmation. (laughs) It's something you said before on the website, you wanted to make it the best version of the game. Do you think the Wii U is the best version?

S: All versions of the game have specific things I like about them, but I think the Wii U version is the best version for me. If you didn't know about the PC or iOS versions, you'd think "this is such a Wii U game". Me and Magnus from Simogo and Rhod from Dakko Dakko, we like to design for specific platforms or specific interfaces.

NWR: It's all about the GamePad. From the controls to the map screens, there's the notes, why is it so hard to do these functions on the Wii U? Because there's games that just don't do that.

S: I don't know. I want more games that do fun things with the GamePad. It's hard to design for two screens, but it was easy for us because we had the companion app so we knew what could go on a second screen. I don't know why it's hard, I want to see more stuff.

NWR: There'll be new things added to the game, new secrets and trinkets. I know you don't want to give it away, but can you tease what that entails?

S: All puzzles have been adjusted, but there's one big change... I can't talk about it because it spoils the fun, but if you've played Year Walk before there's one big secret that's been transferred in a fun way to Wii U, I think.

NWR: That sounds exciting. I've been wanting to play the game for a little while now, because I've played some of your games before, but I wanted to play on the Wii U because it's harder on iOS than it is on the GamePad. We talked about Dakko Dakko a lot, what made them the perfect partner to bring the game to the Wii U? Obviously, you lot create games for yourself, why bring someone in? Was it because they had experience developing for the Wii U?

S: That was part of it. We didn't want to work with a porting studio, Rhod's a good friend of ours and we trust him, we know he has good sensibilities of design and interaction. It was natural for us to work with him, we've known Rhod since 2011 or so and have talked to him about making something together.

NWR: The game comes out very soon, hopefully - why would a Nintendo fan be foolish to miss this game?

S: I think we talked about it a lot already, but it feels so inherently like the GamePad game for me. I think when players get a hold of it, I hope they will be mind-blown by what we're doing with the system. What we're doing with the game in this version of the game can't be done on any other system, that's why you should get it.

NWR: And the game looks good... looks fantastic on Wii U. I played a little bit, so I could say that. Is there anything you wanted to mention before we wrap it up?

S: It's a shame you couldn't hear the audio stuff, we're doing a lot of fun audio things with the GamePad and the TV. We're also doing a feature where when you plug in headphones into the GamePad, all the audio comes through the earphones, so you can play in the middle of the night, be totally quiet and still hear the game on the headphones.

NWR: There's a few games that do that, it's a really cool feature. Thank you very much for the interview!

S: My pleasure.