MinnMax Interview - ​​Tchia's Director Is More Inspired By GTA Than Wind Waker

MinnMax's Ben Hanson interviews Phil Crifo, the game director of the upcoming open-world adventure Tchia. In this interview we talk about the studio Awaceb, the full development history of Tchia, and why it's inspired more by the Grand Theft Auto series than The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. The game releases on Epic Game Store and PlayStation on March 21st, 2023.

Watch and share the video version of the podcast here - https://youtu.be/TLQUYoI7jo0

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below...

00:00:00 - Intro 

00:01:39 - Phi Crifo's Game Informer fandom 

00:03:34 - Visiting New Caledonia with the development team 

00:08:21 - Getting to know the studio Awaceb 

00:11:40 - The game industry's embrace of Tchia 

00:16:02 - How to encourage exploration 

00:22:44 - The history of the transformations/soul-jumps 

00:28:44 - Where the funding came from 

00:33:44 - How Tchia was inspired by Grand Theft Auto 

00:36:50 - How did a team of 9 people make this 

00:39:42 - Biggest challenges of creating Tchia 

00:42:50 - Production lessons 

00:45:10 - The studio's game after Tchia 

00:46:22 - Why Awaceb loves Double Fine 

00:47:32 - Best feedback for Tchia so far 

00:49:13 - Connecting with locals in New Caledonia 

00:54:28 - The history of the name Tchia 

00:55:56 - Releasing Tchia before Zelda

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