Blue Prince, as outlined by our own Chris Person in fittingly meticulous detail, is a marvel. It’s also a game whose ending has proven elusive both structurally and thematically. But there is a light at the end of the epically lengthy tunnel – at least for creator Tonda Ros.
When I asked Ros at DICE in Las Vegas last week if Blue Prince’s brain-pulverizing labyrinth contained any remaining secrets, he reacted with a coy smile.
“[Players] have certainly mined it pretty well,” he told Aftermath. “Now, is that well enough? I’m gonna leave that for future generations to answer.”
But Blue Prince will get one last major update before Ros gracefully bows out.
“There is a little bit still coming that I’m working on – some final touches on the game before I button it up and move on to more projects,” he said. “So even if the people mining [for more secrets] currently turn up empty handed, there will at least be something on the horizon that they can look forward to.”
This is not to say that Ros feels like he asked players to solve a puzzle sans all the pieces at launch. His goal was to release something that felt complete in a sense that harked back to bygone days; updates, in his mind, are about polish and clarity.
"I really wanted to get it all in for launch, and I feel like that was my ultimate desire, because I really like the old-school games where they put it out there, and that's the game,” he said. “It's definitive from day one. It's on a disc, and it's timeless. Obviously we have a big temptation in the modern world: You can continually update and tinker with your things, and oftentimes maybe tinker too much, and you'll start dividing your audience. So I really tried my hardest, but it's my first game. Ultimately, it wasn't worth the crunch. ... [I decided to] focus on bugs and catch up on my own time afterwards. But it's gonna be one big final update, and then it's gonna be final forever."
Blue Prince’s last update, Ros said, will not stray from the game’s current path; the plan is just to refine what’s already there.
"Nothing I'm going to do will fundamentally change any of the narrative according to the structure,” said Ros. “It's mostly just polish details. There'll be a couple more cinematics because I didn't have time to do all the cinematics I planned. I really want to put everything I wanted into the game. ... So I'm gonna finish my vision on the cinematics, and that'll provide more details for people. But fundamentally, I made sure from day one that all the puzzles were in the game – all the narrative and overall structure."
There’s a reason Ros wasn’t able to include absolutely everything he’d mapped out in Blue Prince’s release version: He was already working himself to the bone.
"I was working, I think, 80 hours a week for eight years straight," he said.
Whatever comes after, he added, will necessarily dial things back at least a bit in terms of ambition.
"Blue Prince will likely be the most ambitious game I ever make, because I don't think I physically can do this again,” Ros said. “It was an incredibly long journey, so it might take as much time [to make my next game], but I certainly won't be working as hard. ... That's just not sustainable now. It's a young man's game."
Still, Ros, a filmmaker who decided to devote eight years of his life to his first major video game project, hasn’t burnt himself out on games yet.
“The recognition [Blue Prince has received] certainly helps the decision, but I think I did fall in love with game development,” said Ros, who had just received the DICE game design and independent game awards. “I come from a filmmaking background, but game development just suits me really well. It’s fun to take your time and to be able to fulfill your vision without the stress of running a set. I just kind of love it right now, so I’ll continue doing it as long as I find it enjoyable.”
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