Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wasn't quite made by "just 30" people, as is often repeated—both Sandfall and Kepler credit contractors and additional studios for aid—but it is still much, much smaller than any big-budget studio, even with the full cavalry called in. And apparently, its director is keen to keep it that way.
Speaking to Automaton Japan (via Automaton West), creative director Guillaume Broche and lead programmer Tom Guillermin reckon they've got just enough people to keep the heartache coming.
"I think that, for now, I’d prefer working as a small team," Guillermin says. "I’m not sure how big 'an ideal team' would be (laughs). But when it comes to making a full-priced turn-based RPG, I believe that the team we have now is just the right size."
Broche says that a smaller, sharper pool of talent made the difference. "We had five people working on environments, two on the story. And I think, around three to six people worked on the cinematics. The music was done by four people … After establishing our company, we conducted over 200 interviews in order to gather the first team members. The screenings were rather rigorous."
As is known Sandfall lore, though, after that first round of interviews, Broche started looking for up-and-coming talent on places like Reddit and Soundcloud, instead.
He adds: "At the time, our VFX artist and character designer had both just graduated from college, and this game was their first job ever. Since they had very little experience working, they also didn’t have many existing notions of what work was supposed to be like—which I think was a good thing, because they managed to adapt to our peculiar work style."
Given how good this game's soundtrack is, Broche clearly has a sharp eye for talent, making a game that's drawn huge industry attention—including a personal invite to both Square Enix and the demesne of Hideo Kojima himself.
I, for one, hope Broche and co. manage to keep their focused team despite falling into success, especially given other industry horror stories about growing too quickly, too fast. It's part of why Arrowhead took eight years to make Helldivers 2, with "small team ways of working" not translating to ballooning studio sizes. If all goes well, Sandfall will be spared the same fate.
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