Voyagers of Nera Interview – Treehouse Games CEO Michael Chu Talks Passion, Playtesting, and More

A magical ocean world filled to the brim with lost spirits and deadly monsters awaits in the world of Treehouse Games’ cooperative survival-crafting title Voyagers of Nera.

Gamers Heroes recently got a chance to ask Treehouse Games co-founder and CEO Michael Chu some questions of Voyagers of Nera and its grand adventure – learn more with our interview.

Voyagers of Nera Interview – Treehouse Games CEO Michael Chu Talks Passion, Playtesting, and More

Gamers Heroes

I love how Voyagers of Nera features a number of different environments, from sunken ruins to towering reefs to even the depths! What went into designing each area?

Michael Chu

Voyagers is a game about exploring a beautiful, dangerous ocean world filled with magic. We wanted each environment to feel like a natural fit with the ocean gameplay as well as offering a fantastical biome that you would want to adventure through. That led us to tropical islands formed around the body of a stone colossus, bright coral cliffs, and our third biome will be filled with huge mangrove trees to explore and build in!

Building a new environment is a huge, iterative effort. Our team starts with concept art that inspires a unique look and feel, and core mechanics that will add something new to the game. For example, the Reef featured a ton of elevation, and allowed us to introduce gliders, air geysers, and Wind magic into the game.

Then it’s laying out the environment in big chunks, prototyping encounters and enemies, and planning out what a player’s progression looks like over many hours in that space. After that, it’s playtesting, playtesting, playtesting, always with the help and feedback from our Discord community!

Gamers Heroes

I saw that a multiplayer demo for Voyagers of Nera is launching! What was it like throughout the testing period for this title’s multiplayer functionality? I’m sure there are a lot of interesting stories with support for up to 10 players!

Michael Chu

Any developer could tell you that making something work well in multiplayer has got to be at least three times harder than the singleplayer prototype. That’s extra true with a small team like ours, and testing can be super challenging as the complexity goes up.

We knew early on that we wanted player feedback (and player help) as quickly as we could get it! For over a year now, we’ve been playtesting with our Discord community every two weeks. We’ve been super fortunate to have so many excited playtesters who give us incredible feedback to help make the game better. They report bugs, help us with translations, tell us if we’re hitting what we’re going for, and come up with awesome ideas to add to the game.

Gamers Heroes

I saw that Voyagers of Nera lets players awaken powerful spirits! What have been some of your favorite ones to design so far – do you have a favorite?

Michael Chu

I think every member of our team might have a different answer. The Spirit of the Ocean is super majestic, and bonding with it gives you the power to go into Ocean form. Your eyes and tattoos glow, you swim faster, can breathe underwater longer, and you can skim across the water on your feet!

Personally though, I love the spirits that hang around your base. More and more arrive as you build your base into a larger spirit sanctuary, and it’s awesome to see them lounging in the hot springs. They give me really nostalgic Miyazaki vibes. 🙂

Gamers Heroes

I saw on Voyagers of Nera’ Steam page that you’re looking to have the community “help shape the destiny of Voyagers of Nera.” I love that – how are you looking to do so?

Michael Chu

We’ve always believed that player feedback is a must-have ingredient for making a truly great game. So when we first announced Voyagers of Nera, we started looking for playtesters who loved the survival-crafting genre and were excited to give feedback on an evolving pre-alpha version of the game.

At first, our playtests were looking at really ROUGH versions of the game – some environments were just grey test levels, most mechanics weren’t in, and sometimes it was just getting feedback on one gameplay moment. But it was enough to get real feedback that helped guide our decisions and make the game better.

It’s been over a year now of playtesting every two weeks, and our playtests have grown from 2-5 people to thousands of players. We’re very lucky to have such a passionate community that’s helped shape the direction for the game!

Gamers Heroes

With the Early Access launch of Voyagers of Nera slated for Q3, what are some of the final things you’re looking to implement before launch?

Michael Chu

There are a lot of highly requested features from our community that we are working on like controller support, photo mode, and more server options so players can control their own difficulty and experience. We’re also going to have dedicated server options so players can set up their own or rent from some providers!

And there’s still so much CONTENT to add! We’re working on our third biome right now with new resources and recipes to find, new spirits to rescue, and a whole new dangerous space to explore. It’s our island-take on a massive mangrove tree forest and we can’t wait for players to see it!

One can wishlist Voyagers of Nera via its official Steam page – a Steam Next Fest demo is also available!

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