Celeste (Patreon)

Celeste: The Story of Matt Thorson (Matt Makes Games)

Celeste is a true example of what can happen when you take a hard trial, and turn it into a force for good. The highest selling indie game on the Switch, Celeste has won critical acclaim from fans across the world for its poignant storytelling and tight, satisfying (hard as nails) gameplay. Celeste hearkens back to an older era of gaming, while also using many of the advancements in games storytelling that have been made over the years since the SNES titles that inspired it. At the centre of the game’s development is Matt Thorson, the titular lead designer at the studio, Matt Makes Games. While Matt wasn’t the only person working on the game, it’s very much seen as his baby; a reflection of himself. Matt hasn’t been shy about the inspiration for Celeste. He’s talked publicly at length about his own struggles with mental illness, and how this influenced the story and gameplay of Celeste. Most touching of all, his speech at the recent Game Awards 2018 speaks volumes about the mission that created Celeste. Accepting the award for Best Indie Game 2018, Matt said that if any player had experienced some kind of growth or learned about themselves while playing Celeste, that their growth came from within, and that they should be proud of it. Matt only hopes that Celeste can help people who are struggling to come to terms with their challenges. He’s said some very sweet things about feedback that he’s received for the game, which we’ve alas not been able to include in this video as we didn’t want to spoil the game’s ending, but check out the links below if you want to know more. We can relate to Celeste. This hasn’t been an easy week, or month, or year for us. We’re still struggling with grief following some pretty serious bereavement, and just the fact that we made it through the week feels like an achievement. We’re also all sick, which doesn’t help things. Here’s hoping that if you’re struggling like we are, you can take some comfort from this video, and from the message that is at the heart of Celeste. See you soon. BretonStripes (http://twitter.com/bretonstriped) and Kotor (http://twitter.com/kotorcomics) Title music by Tee Lopes (http://twitter.com/teelopesmusic) - check out his new album, dropping this week! Incidental music: "Wisps of Whorls" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Sources for this video: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/315116/Road_to_the_IGF_Matt_Makes_Games_Celeste.php https://chargedshot.com/blog/2018/11/16/celeste-interview http://www.idatxbox.com/2018/01/24/celeste-interview-with-matt-makes-games/ https://kotaku.com/celeste-taught-fans-and-its-own-creator-to-take-better-1825305692 https://www.shacknews.com/article/104078/gdc-2018-celeste-igf-audience-award-interview-with-matt-thorson https://www.polygon.com/features/2014/7/2/5858032/towerfall-matt-thorson