Unravel (0)

Overview

Unravel is a physics-based puzzle platformer developed by Coldwood Interactive. It's scheduled for release on February 9th, 2016 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It stars Yarny, a small, cat-like creature made of yarn. As Yarny moves, he leaves behind a trail of the yarn from which he is made, which is used to solve puzzles and overcome obstacles.

Unravel stars Yarny the living yarn character born from the Imagination of Martin Sahlin. Martin Sahlin serves as the Creative Director for Coldwood a development house located in Umea Sweden. Martin has stated that his goal is not to create games as simple distractions. He wants to be involved in games developed to not only captivate players, but also provide actual meaningful experiences. Martin attempted to capture that essence when working on Unravel.

In the game players are in control of Yarny who is made entirely of yarn. The yarn unravels as the player moves throughout the game, and is also used as a building material when attempting to resolve puzzles. As the game evolved during development, it became clear that the yarn represented more than just a material. To Martin the yarn represented love and the bond between people. Each element came together and it became apparent that Yarny was on a quest to mend a broken bond. A bond between a lonely old lady and the friends and life she had lost.

Martin has stated that he was inspired to create Yarny while on a camping trip with his family in the countryside. At the time just a concept in his head, his family asked him to describe more about the “Yarn Game”. Finding it difficult to put his creative idea into words, he decided the best option was to act out the game and of course that required props. He took some old wire that he had found and wrapped it with yarn. Then proceeded to take this small hand crafted character and pose it through the forest. Posing the prototype Yarny in different locations throughout the forest and snapping pictures as they went. Those nature based environments became a major source of inspiration for the final version of the game.