How important is atmosphere (the surroundings of the game player) to the experience?
A. Atmosphere is probably one of the most important elements in our work. Probably because our main goal is to put the player in a certain situation where he can experience what it feels like to be in that situation and get the opportunity to think about things that he might not have thought about otherwise. As such, “atmosphere” is not just “icing on the cake”, a pretty little extra. It is very close to the essence of the design. We want to create an environment that you can step into, that you can become a part of. To a large extent, we even use interaction to enhance this experience. Q. Does religion play a role in your game design? A. Not really. We’re interested in certain religious texts, but more because of their impact on cultures than because of their spiritual meaning. We’re not religious ourselves. We don’t even believe in science! But religion is an important part of the society that we live in and we are critical of this society’s refusal to admit this. So we like to confr
