The Frozen Compass Interview – Inspirations, Game Structure, Co-Op Balance, and More

IKUMA: The Frozen Compass is an adorable looking third-person adventure game where players get to take on the role of teenager Sam, along with his dog as they try and figure out a way out of being stranded in the Arctic. Mooneye Studios’ Tobias Graff was kind enough to have a chat with us to give us more details about the upcoming game.

What inspired the setting for IKUMA?

The main inspiration is the famed Franklin expedition of 1845. I stumbled upon reports of it after their long missing ships were found in 2014 and 2016 and was immediately fascinated by their haunting and mysterious story and since then had this idea of a game in that setting in the back of my head.

Aside from gameplay, how will the bond between Sam and Ellie play into the game’s story?

Sam’s story is very much about him coming to terms with who he is and finding his own worth after a life on the streets of London. Ellie helps him realize that he is important, that others rely on him and that maybe he is not destined to live alone forever. She is the first character that Sam really believes loves him unconditionally and that forming bond is what keeps Sam going.

“The main inspiration is the famed Franklin expedition of 1845.”

When it comes to game structure, what can we expect from IKUMA? Will it be more level-based or should we expect more puzzle solving like classic Zelda games?

The main part of the game will be open world gameplay with environmental puzzles and challenges. These puzzles won’t be classic trigger puzzles or fighting bosses, though, and instead be more driven by the story and the mystery of what happened on this island and require Sam to overcome obstacles, gather enough resources for a perilous path, or read the environment correctly to find a hidden treasure.

In terms of other media (books, movies, etc.) what were the biggest inspirations for IKUMA: The Frozen Compass

Apart from documentaries and books about Arctic expeditions or Inuit mythology, I don’t really have many direct inspirations like special authors or movie series’, I would say, at least non that actively come to mind. The story developed over a long time and there are a lot of inspirations for certain aspects or character traits, for example the Young Royals Netflix series or the Tarot Sequence fantasy novels, which I just happened to watch or read while writing the story and some elements just naturally wound their way in there. It’s always just very small things, though, I wouldn’t really say the story is inspired by any specific piece of media.

While the idea of switching between Sam and Ellie during exploration is great, how will playing in co-op affect the challenges that players might face? Will it be easier to do co-op than it is to play single-player?

Playing in co-op can certainly speed things up a bit in certain situations where otherwise you would have had to switch back and forth between Sam and Ellie. Sometimes it might also be easier, but in general Ikuma is not designed to be a difficult game, really. We will have different difficulty levels for those of us who enjoy a challenge and some harsher survival mechanics, but the default game experience will be more about exploration and the narrative, making it work just as well in co-op and single-player.

Since the game’s setting will primarily be the Arctic, how will you avoid the general environments getting too stale over time?

That is a problem that we’ve been facing since the very beginning. Obviously the environment of the Arctic is not known for its diversity and vibrant colors. One element we use to add a little variety to the scenery is the memory sequences. Sam will find certain objects or places that remind him of his old life in London and of the journey to the Arctic. These reminders unlock playable memory sequences in which we dive deeper into Sam’s character and what brought him out here. Another element is the old curse that lingers on the island. Sam is following the footsteps of an older, lost expedition – much like the real-life Franklin expedition – and that trail will lead him into the shadows hidden beneath the ice.

“Sometimes it might also be easier, but in general Ikuma is not designed to be a difficult game, really.”

How much of an emphasis will there be on the survival aspects (food, water) of the gameplay?

It’s an ever-present mechanic and there will be situations where you have to prepare and bring food to survive a journey, but mostly – if you pay attention – you will likely find some kind of resource nearby. It’s more or a motivation to explore and a reminder that this environment is no walk in the park than a mechanic to really make it hard to survive – unless you choose to make it that, of course.

How long would it take for an average player to finish IKUMA?

That’s always hard to tell if the game isn’t really done yet, since the only people that have played everything – including the still very rough areas – are us, who know it inside out. I’m expecting an average playtime of around 6-7 hours, if you mostly focus on the main storyline. That will get clearer the closer we come to release and the more playtesters we’ve had.

Considering the heavy narrative focus, will there be much of an incentive for replays?

There will be different difficulty settings, as I mentioned, so maybe you feel that you need to finish the game in survivalist mode to really say you finished the game, or there are memory sequences and the like that you missed the first time. But in general the main motivation, as you said, is the narrative, so I don’t expect too many players to play it over and over again.

As a developer, what are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? How does boost in GPU help in developing your game compared to the base PS5?

It’s always nice to have a little more leeway and be able to push some numbers a little higher for cooler effects, of course! We mostly create an effect, design an area, or set up a visual with just the look and feel in mind first and then try to make it feasible for the target hardware. So being able to at least keep some of the fancier elements for a certain console is always great!

“I’m expecting an average playtime of around 6-7 hours, if you mostly focus on the main storyline.”

What are your thoughts on PSSR? What kind of opportunities will this open for the game?

We haven’t really played around with that yet, to be honest. At the end of the day we’ll have to see if it looks better with PSSR and a lower native resolution or with a higher native resolution and reduced effects and lighting quality. Ideally, we’ll just add both modes so players can decide what the prefer. In general, it would of course be great to be able to render the game at a lower resolution and still have it look more or less the same as the higher resolution, but at the end of the day it’s always a compromise between resolution and something else and probably will have to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

What resolution and frame rates will the game target on the Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PS5 Pro?

We’re still some time away from most of the optimization work, so it’s hard to tell, but ideally we’d offer performance and quality modes with 1440p/60fps or 4k/30fps (potentially with an additional mode for upscaled PSSR).

Do you have any plans to launch the game on the Switch 2?

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get our hands on a dev kit yet – a special console version needed for development – so we couldn’t test anything yet. But we are certainly eager to and hope to be able to bring Ikuma to Switch 2 as well!