Never Alone developer interview – Secrets of the folklore-based platformer for Xbox One

By Paul Acevedo, last updated November 21, 2018

“Never Alone is a cooperative platformer for Xbox One that stars a young girl named Nuna and
5 her mystical Fox companion. The pair must traverse the frozen climes of Alaska as they seek a way to
stop the endless blizzard that plagues Nuna's village. Never Alone is a unique and beautiful window into
the folklore and culture of the Native Alaskan Iñupiat people, and also an entertaining game in its own
right. […]
We worked closely with Ishmael Angaluuk Hope to immerse ourselves in the rich stories of the Iñupiaq people and look for
10 inspiration in the game we wanted to make. We eventually settled on the story of Kunuuksaayuka, which tells the tale of a man
whose village is plagued by an eternal blizzard, and his journey to find its source. […]
The game does feature real-life elements as well, of course — we worked closely with the community to make sure that
everything you see in the game reflects what you would see in real villages and other environments
There are many things that the Iñupiat people consider to be core values, but the three that we chose to focus on in Never
15 Alone are resilience, interdependence, and intergenerational exchange.
Resilience is obvious: life in the Arctic is incredibly difficult in the best of times, and when you add the fiercest blizzard in
history to the mix, only the most resilient of people will be able to survive. The blizzard is the main antagonist in Never Alone,
so Nuna and Fox have to take shelter from it whenever they can.
Interdependence isn't just about Nuna and Fox relying on each other to make progress in their journey, although that's
20 definitely the most common example of it in the game. But interdependence also means relying on other members of the
community around you to live your life. It means having respect for the world around you, from your fellow person to nature
and the spirits that are everywhere.
Intergenerational exchange, however, is not as immediately obvious as the others. The story of Nuna and Fox is voiced in
spoken Iñupiaq (another first in games!) by an elder. But intergenerational exchange is just as important to us outside the
25 game as it is inside. Part of that is playing through the game side-by-side with a friend or family member, which provides an
experience that's unquestionably different from playing with someone in another room far away. We wanted that personal
touch to come through in the game itself as well as the experience of playing it, so we chose to focus on local co-op. […]
You unlock Cultural Insight videos (as we call them) by finding owls in the environments you visit. Not all of them can be
found on a normal playthrough, though — some of them are hidden in difficult-to-reach places.”
30 https://www.windowscentral.com/never-alone-interview-xbox-one

Never Alone developer interview – Secrets of the folklore-based platformer for Xbox One
By Paul Acevedo, last updated November 21, 2018

35 “Never Alone is a cooperative platformer for Xbox One that stars a young girl named Nuna
and her mystical Fox companion. The pair must traverse the frozen climes of Alaska as they seek a
way to stop the endless blizzard that plagues Nuna's village. Never Alone is a unique and beautiful
window into the folklore and culture of the Native Alaskan Iñupiat people, and also an entertaining
game in its own right. […]
40 We worked closely with Ishmael Angaluuk Hope to immerse ourselves in the rich stories of the Iñupiaq people and look for
inspiration in the game we wanted to make. We eventually settled on the story of Kunuuksaayuka, which tells the tale of a man
whose village is plagued by an eternal blizzard, and his journey to find its source. […]
The game does feature real-life elements as well, of course — we worked closely with the community to make sure that
everything you see in the game reflects what you would see in real villages and other environments
45 There are many things that the Iñupiat people consider to be core values, but the three that we chose to focus on in Never
Alone are resilience, interdependence, and intergenerational exchange.
Resilience is obvious: life in the Arctic is incredibly difficult in the best of times, and when you add the fiercest blizzard in
history to the mix, only the most resilient of people will be able to survive. The blizzard is the main antagonist in Never Alone,
so Nuna and Fox have to take shelter from it whenever they can.
50 Interdependence isn't just about Nuna and Fox relying on each other to make progress in their journey, although that's
definitely the most common example of it in the game. But interdependence also means relying on other members of the
community around you to live your life. It means having respect for the world around you, from your fellow person to nature
and the spirits that are everywhere.
Intergenerational exchange, however, is not as immediately obvious as the others. The story of Nuna and Fox is voiced in
55 spoken Iñupiaq (another first in games!) by an elder. But intergenerational exchange is just as important to us outside the
game as it is inside. Part of that is playing through the game side-by-side with a friend or family member, which provides an
experience that's unquestionably different from playing with someone in another room far away. We wanted that personal
touch to come through in the game itself as well as the experience of playing it, so we chose to focus on local co-op. […]
You unlock Cultural Insight videos (as we call them) by finding owls in the environments you visit. Not all of them can be
60 found on a normal playthrough, though — some of them are hidden in difficult-to-reach places.”
https://www.windowscentral.com/never-alone-interview-xbox-one