Sigono and Shueisha Video games lately launched OPUS: Prism Peak worldwide for Nintendo Change 2, Nintendo Change, and PC. I had an opportunity to have a chat with Sigono producer Brian Lee in regards to the latest launch, challenges concerned with the multi-platform launch, the potential of a Change 2 bodily launch for OPUS: Prism Peak, future plans, how the group approaches new initiatives, the narrative, espresso, and far more.
Nintendo Insider: For these unaware, inform us a bit of bit about your self and what you do at Sigono.
Brian Lee: I’m Brian Lee, the producer at Sigono. My function is actually to bridge the hole between artistic imaginative and prescient and a tangible, shippable product. This entails overseeing all the pieces from manufacturing planning and script coordination to artwork, music, engineering, and publishing. My aim is to make sure that even after the various sensible compromises of improvement, the sport’s core emotional coronary heart stays intact. Since Sigono is a small group, all of us put on many hats; I see myself because the one holding our path clear whereas supporting the non-public, honest particulars that make our work distinctive.
Nintendo Insider: It has now been over 10 years because you launched Opus: The Day We Discovered Earth. That is additionally how I found Sigono. How has the group grown since then?
Brian Lee: After we made OPUS: The Day We Discovered Earth, we have been a really younger group attempting to precise an emotion that felt a lot bigger than our manufacturing scale. Over the previous decade, we haven’t simply grown in headcount and technical functionality, however in confidence as nicely. Each OPUS title has taught us one thing new: how one can inform an emotional story with restricted sources, how one can construct extra cohesive worlds, how one can marry gameplay with narrative, and how one can collaborate with worldwide companions. OPUS: Prism Peak is probably the clearest reflection of this progress—it demanded extra from each division, but we labored arduous to retain the identical intimacy and sincerity present in our very first recreation.
Nintendo Insider: It seems like every venture you launch is bigger in scope than the prior one, and Prism Peak is a large step up in manufacturing values. What learnings from Echo of Starsong did you carry into Prism Peak?
Brian Lee: OPUS: Echo of Starsong taught us {that a} highly effective resonance happens when the world-building, character relationships, music, and mechanics all level towards the identical emotional theme. In OPUS: Prism Peak, we wished “pictures” to play that very same function. It’s not only a mechanic; it’s a manner of seeing, remembering, lacking, and reconnecting. Starsong additionally taught us the significance of pacing. A grand emotional story wants quiet areas to breathe, however it additionally wants a transparent sense of momentum. We spent lots of time in Prism Peak discovering the correct steadiness between exploration, reflection, and narrative development.
Nintendo Insider: After I interviewed Sigono again in 2022, Prism Peak had the non permanent title “Venture Mountain”. How was it growing the sport throughout covid?
Brian Lee: The state of affairs in Taiwan was considerably distinctive, and we have been comparatively shielded from probably the most extreme impacts of the pandemic. Moreover, throughout that interval, OPUS: Prism Peak was nonetheless in its very early conceptual phases, so we hadn’t but entered full-scale improvement.
Nintendo Insider: When did Shueisha Video games get entangled and the way has it been working with them?
Brian Lee: Shueisha Video games joined us through the early improvement of OPUS: Prism Peak. Because the venture started taking form, we obtained curiosity from a number of worldwide publishers. We in the end selected to companion with Shueisha Video games due to their profound respect for artistic freedom and the substantial improvement sources they supplied. It’s been a really supportive partnership.
Nintendo Insider: Whereas I anticipated a PC model at launch, it’s good to see a Change 2 model. How was it engaged on each Change consoles?
Brian Lee: It has been each an thrilling and a extremely difficult endeavor. OPUS: Prism Peak is our most visually formidable venture to this point, so bringing it to consoles required vital trade-offs in optimization, reminiscence administration, loading occasions, and controls. Supporting two generations of Change {hardware} meant we couldn’t deal with them as the identical platform. Porting to the unique Change was notably arduous; for a small group like ours, becoming this degree of visible constancy into {hardware} from seven or eight years in the past was a large process. We’ve realized rather a lot by this course of and are dedicated to constantly bettering the expertise post-launch.
Nintendo Insider: Proper now, the Change 2 model has lots of technical points. What are your plans to deal with the audio bugs, efficiency points, and cargo occasions?
Brian Lee: We’re absolutely conscious of those points and have made them our high precedence. The efficiency fixes have already been accomplished; we’re at present simply ready by Nintendo’s certification course of, which takes a little bit of time. As for the opposite bugs, the group is actively gathering reviews and reproducing points internally to arrange updates for audio stability and cargo occasions. Some fixes may be carried out shortly, whereas others require extra rigorous testing since they contain a number of programs. We sincerely apologize to the gamers affected, and we’re devoted to creating the Change 2 model the smoothest option to expertise OPUS: Prism Peak.
Nintendo Insider: I’ve been having fun with Prism Peak on PC, however I used to be questioning if there are plans so as to add extra save slots? It seems like it will be good to have that choice for individuals who miss some images within the playthrough.
Brian Lee: Sure! We’ve already pushed an replace for the PC model to deal with this, and will probably be coming to the Change variations sooner or later. That is suggestions we utterly perceive. We would like gamers to watch the world carefully, however we don’t need the worry of lacking a single picture to show right into a supply of frustration. Enhancing save administration and the comfort of replaying sections is certainly an space the place we will do higher—particularly in making it simpler for gamers to revisit content material and full their collections. We would like the pictures system to evoke curiosity, not nervousness.
Nintendo Insider: Talking of images, how did you give you the idea for Prism Peak in comparison with Echo of Starsong?
Brian Lee: OPUS: Echo of Starsong was about “listening”—listening to songs, following alerts, and traversing the cosmos by sound. OPUS: Prism Peak begins from a special sense: “seeing.” We wished to discover what it really means to see one thing, particularly when that one thing belongs to your previous. Pictures is an ideal match for this theme as a result of a photograph can concurrently be proof, a reminiscence, a chunk of artwork, or perhaps a type of escape. For Eugen, the digicam is his occupation and his manner of difficult the world, however it’s additionally a barrier between him and the individuals he loves. The center of the sport lies in how one can really see your self and others amidst that contradiction.
Nintendo Insider: Emotional tales are a staple in Sigono video games. While you begin a brand new venture, do you first work on the general narrative earlier than attending to the gameplay loop?
Brian Lee: Often, the very first thing to emerge isn’t the plot, however an emotional “query.” We begin by asking: What feeling do we wish gamers to hold with them after the sport ends? From there, the narrative and gameplay develop in tandem. Should you solely write the story first, the gameplay can really feel like mere ornament; when you solely design the loop first, the emotion may not have a spot to land. Our aim is at all times to make sure that the participant’s actions and the story’s themes are talking the identical language.
Nintendo Insider: How was it juggling three totally different voiceover choices for Prism Peak?
Brian Lee: It was a large enterprise for our group. Voice appearing utterly modifications the rhythm of a scene, and every language brings its personal distinctive emotional texture. We needed to be extraordinarily meticulous with casting, path, timing, and localization to make sure the characters felt honest in each model. It was troublesome, however it made the world really feel far more full. Listening to Eugen and the opposite characters exist naturally in numerous languages has been a really transferring expertise for us.
Nintendo Insider: Are there any plans for a Change 2 bodily launch?
Brian Lee: We might like to see a bodily launch if the correct alternative arises. OPUS gamers usually place a excessive worth on collectibility and wish to hold our works as a part of their everlasting collections, so we absolutely perceive the attraction. Whereas we don’t have something official to announce right now, it’s positively a path we hope to judge with our companions.
Nintendo Insider: You beforehand informed me that you’d like to carry Prism Peak (Venture Mountain) to iOS ultimately. Are there nonetheless plans to do this?
Brian Lee: We nonetheless love the concept. Sigono has deep roots with cell gamers, a lot of whom first found the OPUS sequence on iOS. Nonetheless, OPUS: Prism Peak is way bigger and extra technically demanding than our earlier titles. If we carry it to cell, we need to make sure the expertise feels native and optimized somewhat than only a easy port. We don’t have a timeline to announce but, however iOS stays a platform we care about deeply.
Nintendo Insider: I’d like to additionally see Echo of Starsong get a Change 2 patch. Are there any plans to do this?
Brian Lee: It’s great to listen to that gamers have that expectation. OPUS: Echo of Starsong stays extremely necessary to us, and we wish as many individuals as potential to expertise it in the easiest way potential. Proper now, our absolute precedence is post-launch help for Prism Peak, however we’ll proceed to judge what we will do for our earlier titles on new {hardware}.
Nintendo Insider: Going again to Prism Peak, I’m floored by the way you managed to intertwine Eugene’s phases of life with a glimpse into how wonderful pictures is as a complete. What challenges did you run into when engaged on making certain the journey gameplay moments don’t take away from the narrative circulate?
Brian Lee: The most important problem was making “commentary” really feel significant somewhat than like a chore. Balancing the variety of major and facet goals was a relentless course of. Pictures may be very meditative and quiet, but when dealt with poorly in a recreation, it will probably simply flip right into a “guidelines” fashion of accumulating. We tried to anchor each picture to recollections, characters, or particular places, in order that taking an image seems like “noticing” one thing somewhat than simply “accumulating an object.” We additionally always tweaked the pacing to present gamers sufficient freedom to discover with out dropping the thread of the emotional narrative.
Nintendo Insider: Did you at all times intend on having Prism Peak really feel like a beautiful set of sandbox places to study pictures and mirror on one’s personal life?
Brian Lee: Sure, that was the intention from the very starting—to create a world filled with surprises and secrets and techniques that felt like a spot you can wander with your personal eyes. We didn’t need pictures to be only a puzzle-solving device; we wished gamers to decelerate, experiment with composition, and maybe notice that how they select to view a spot truly displays one thing about themselves. That sandbox feeling comes from that intention: it’s not about whole open-world freedom, however about giving gamers sufficient area to uncover the which means between the scenes and characters, making their consideration really feel rewarding.
Nintendo Insider: Now that you just simply launched a recreation on 3 platforms, what are your plans as a studio?
Brian Lee: At first, we’re absolutely dedicated to supporting OPUS: Prism Peak post-launch. For us, the discharge is just the start of a brand new journey the place we lastly get to see how gamers join with the expertise, and we’ll be arduous at work optimizing based mostly on their suggestions.
Past that, Sigono’s mission stays unchanged: we need to proceed creating honest, emotional, and maybe sudden tales. Whereas our group has grown, we’re decided to maintain that “small group” spirit—the type that permits us to remain private and experimental. We’re excited to discover much more atypical recreation ideas sooner or later, together with initiatives exterior the OPUS sequence.
In tandem with our personal improvement, we’re additionally increasing our horizons by supporting different gifted creators. We’ve lately determined to spend money on and publish “Venture Salon” by Secure Flight Video games (the group behind Some Goodbyes We Made). This partnership was born from our shared obsession with narrative; Secure Flight Video games simply received the Grand Narrative Award at IndieCade 2025, a serious achievement for a Taiwanese group.
Having spent years navigating the challenges of getting narrative video games observed, we need to share our sources and apply the identical excessive requirements we now have for our personal video games to assist this extremely gifted, but low-profile, group attain a worldwide viewers. Whether or not by our personal titles or these we help, we need to hold bringing transferring narrative experiences to the world.
Nintendo Insider: Are you able to touch upon if you began engaged on the Change 2 model of Prism Peak?
Brian Lee: We started evaluating the Change 2 model as quickly as the chance turned possible for the venture and our companions. Since OPUS: Prism Peak was designed with greater visible objectives than our earlier work, we have been enthusiastic about what the brand new {hardware} may provide. Nonetheless, it required a devoted improvement effort; it wasn’t one thing that could possibly be achieved by a easy, automated improve.
Nintendo Insider: What made you launch it as a standalone launch and never a Nintendo Change 2 Version cross-gen title?
Brian Lee: This determination concerned many issues throughout manufacturing, platform administration, and publishing. We wished every model to be introduced clearly to gamers and supported in keeping with its particular technical necessities. For a small group, readability is significant—it helps us handle expectations, updates, and communication extra successfully. After shut dialogue with our companions, we selected the publishing construction we felt finest suited OPUS: Prism Peak.
Nintendo Insider: Are there any plans so as to add touchscreen and mouse controls to the Change 2 launch?
Brian Lee: We completely perceive why gamers would anticipate this, particularly since OPUS: Prism Peak is so targeted on pictures and commentary—contact or mouse controls would really feel very pure. At present, our focus is on making certain general stability and efficiency enhancements. As soon as the core expertise is extra stable, further management choices are positively one thing we will consider for the longer term.
Nintendo Insider: How do you want your espresso? Go into as a lot element as potential.
Brian Lee: I’ve reached that age the place espresso disrupts my sleep, so I’ve needed to let it go. But when I may nonetheless indulge, I’d select a medium roast—one thing with that signature acidity and a touch of bitterness. It’s not simply in regards to the taste profile, although. It’s in regards to the nostalgia—these college nights spent lingering in a campus café till closing. I didn’t know the very first thing about espresso again then, however the ambiance stays vivid: the employees, the proprietor, and the infinite conversations with pals. For me, that espresso isn’t only a drink; it’s the style of a reminiscence I can’t fairly contact anymore.
