Responses by Vicente Lucendo, designer and developer, Abeto.

Background: Messenger really had two main purposes. The first and more artistic one was to convey a feeling somewhere between strangeness and calm, the kind we experience when visiting certain Asian countries that inspired the game. The practical purpose was to develop our own technology to create experiences and multiplayer games where thousands of visitors can join simultaneously in shared environments such as cities and nature, among others.

Design core: We believe the layout of the game, which takes place on a small planet, is quite distinctive. The idea came from wanting players to avoid running into invisible barriers while exploring; if they walk in a straight line in any direction, they can circle the entire little world.

Another important aspect was the outlines and color choices. We committed to this aesthetic from the beginning. Even though other options might have felt more cheerful, I think this choice gives the game an “indie” touch that we strongly identify with.

Favorite details: We’re especially pleased with the level of detail we were able to include in the 3-D environment as well as with the hand-drawn look of the graphics. We spent several days optimizing these and other details, refining the feeling we wanted the environment and characters to convey.

Challenges: The most difficult aspect was undoubtedly carrying out such an ambitious project as a small team of two. After several months of looking at the project almost every day, it became easy to lose perspective and hard to see things with fresh eyes.

Time constraints: Since it was an internal project, we didn’t have any time constraints other than the ones we set for ourselves. This let us spend time exploring and having fun in many areas. The small details that emerge when we enjoy our work often make all the difference.

Alternate paths: We’d probably think about the story first instead of leaving it for the end like we ultimately did. We had such a good time building the world that we saved the quests for last. If we had followed a more structured process, we might have been able to tell a slightly more elaborate story.

New lessons: We learned that making video games is an incredibly difficult task. The people who dedicate themselves to it, often on projects that last several years, are heroes to us. From now on, we’ll appreciate every game we play so much more.

Navigation structure: We wanted the world to be easily navigable for all kinds of audiences, even those who aren’t used to playing video games. Because of that, we had to limit certain options and automate others, such as camera centering. Seeing our parents play without any trouble was one of the highlights of the project.

Special navigational features: Through the menus, you can use emojis to communicate with other players, and with a simple menu that appears when you focus on the character, you can customize your appearance: hairstyle, jacket, pants and sneakers, among others. These two optional elements make the experience more social and help players immerse themselves more easily in the world.

Technology: For modeling, we used Blender and Houdini. For the front end, we used the three.js library. Aside from these elements, almost everything else was custom made: the shaders, controls, camera, networking code and back end.

Special technical features: After several tests, we decided to limit the maximum number of players in the same world to ten: having more players made us lose the sense of calm we wanted to convey. The limit could have been much higher, with hundreds or even thousands of players on the small planet at the same time. Today, months after launching the project, there are still hundreds of players connected at all times.