THORO

THORO Interactive is a new computer game development and content creation studio headed by myself, Thoro. Befitting an indie developer, most of the games I make will be relatively small, focusing on fun experiences without huge file sizes or performance requirements (or monetary costs). Above all, player enjoyment, freedom, and expression are paramount. Read on as I explain and sometimes ramble about some of this studio's core experiences and how I pursue them.

There's much to love about both singleplayer and multiplayer games. Taking your time alone or racing through with friends can give totally different experiences from the same game. And I want to allow for both as often as possible. Every THORO game will, whenever feasible within the style of the game, allow for both singleplayer and multiplayer (a seamless combination of couch and online multiplayer, at that). Sometimes this will be through separate solo campaign/ PvP arena modes, and sometimes it'll mean a drop-in/drop-out integrated game world. And, you'll be able to team up with friends in person and online at the same time, ensuring no one gets left out.

Some games benefit from a locked, linear experience, driving the player through a guided path to tell its story as strongly as possible. But I prefer to let the freedom offered by the medium shine, and allow players to sculpt their own experiences. Expect character and vehicle customization, player choices that actually affect the story, branching endings, and as much freedom as I can manage to allow players to play the way they want to. If that means juking and joking through what's supposed to be a moody horror game, then more power to them!

Now, not everyone can afford or justify the sort of beefy computer needed to run every modern AAA game at highest specs. And so, another pillar of this studio's mission statement is accessibility, creating games that are as high-performance as possible within the scope of their design. Games are developed and tested on mid-tier hardware, and utilize as many performance-saving tactics as possible, such as mesh instancing and a "faked reality over physically- based" approach to rendering, to make games as performant as they can be. Similarly, install size will be kept as low as reasonably possible as well, as many of us know the struggle of having to choose what games to keep installed. The more reliably smoothly a game can run across a wide range of hardware, the better.

AAA games most often utilize increasingly-realistic graphics to display their worlds in stunning quality. But, the vast plethora of pre-PBR games, and a large portion of the modern field, showcase why realistic isn't always necessary, or best. THORO games will have their graphical styles dictated purely by whatever will best fit the vibe, atmosphere, and attitude of the game in question. Whether that's pixel art, retro low-poly graphics, faux oscilloscope lines, or a vintage- equipment-themed display, each game will have its own personality, and aesthetic to match (and your graphics card will thank you, too).

Gaming is becoming increasingly expensive, at least within the realm of AAA games. Long development times, expensive software licenses and office rentals for increasingly-huge teams, larger marketing campaigns, and plain old corporate greed are driving the cost of big-name titles higher and higher. And of course, that's just for the base editions, and leaving out microtransactions. Couple that with ever-more costly consoles and modern games requiring stronger and faster (and rarer) computer hardware, and what we remember as a fun way to spend time as kids and teens has become something more akin to an investment. This is where indie games have always been (and hopefully will always remain) a wonderful reprieve, targeting much lower price points but still delivering experiences that are worth their price if not much more. And this studio shall be no exception. I believe in pricing that is fair to the player in every way possible, and am firmly against deluxe editions, lootboxes, microtransactions, and paid DLC. You can look forward to THORO games being free of any of that noise.

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