Interview: Emeric Thoa from the team behind Haven describes the game's new update

Haven was always a project that was focusing on love and bonds between people. Today, with the release of the Couples Update, the team at The Game Bakers studio has made it more inclusive than ever. We asked the game designer, Emeric Thoa, about the reasons for making this update and what lies at the heart of it.GOG: It's been less than a year and a half since we last spoke for the release of Haven! Can you tell us a little bit about how you've been doing and what you've been up to since then?Emeric Thoa: Since Haven’s initial launch, we’ve worked on the “Sweet little things” update for a while. During that time, the Couples update was in the oven of our minds, slowly cooking. We evaluated the work for it, and found out that to do it well it was going to be a lot of work for our small team. We decided to make it happen nonetheless as it was important for us. The Couple Update brings alternate versions of Yu and Kay, and lets you choose which couple you want to play as: a woman and a man, two women or two men. It definitely fits the vision of the game about freedom and the ability to choose your own life. Why did you want to make those central to Haven and this update?Since the beginning Haven was a game about the freedom to love whomever you want. Initially, we designed many more couples with different relationships and a lot of diversity to fit that vision. But production constraints lead us to focus on Yu and Kay. After the release, we were frustrated that many people who wanted to enjoy Haven couldn’t feel represented in the game. That made us decide to work on the Couples Update, despite how significant it was in terms of production.What were the challenges you faced making this update? After all, you went all the way, introduced new character models, voice lines, etc.What was almost “easy” was the writing. Because Pierre Corbinais the writer made such “neutral” characters in terms of gender, we only had a hundred lines to actually modify and record again from the original game. But everything else was a lot of work: casting and recording new actors for the new Yu and the new Kay, drawing all new assets for the characters, supporting that in the game. The biggest challenge was probably the 3D models, which had to stay close to the original ones in terms of size and build so that the animations still look good. Escaping to a remote planet with a loved one, developing your next personal project, or playing games for 12h straight... What's your perfect weekend?Can I get the “12 hours of outdoor sports and 6 delicious meals with friends” option, please?A love story, dynamic fights, and a fascinating journey to the unknown – all of this can be found in Haven, the outstanding RPG from The Game Bakers studio. Play the game on GOG.COM and see what secrets and memorable moments it has in store for you!