Wishfully Studios’ and Thunderful’s Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf’ is a gorgeous evolution of the original platformer. The Ghibli like art is complemented by stirring music from Takashi Furukawa, emotional storytelling and interesting gameplay improvements.
We learned about the thinking behind the game in our interview with creative director Adam Stjärnljus and art director Jimmy Chan. Now the developers have released a series of behind-the-scenes videos providing more insights from the making of the game (also see our Planet of Lana II review).
Planet of Lana II – Art, Animation and Sound – YouTube
In the video above, team members across the art and sound departments talk about creating the game’s visual and aural landscapes. Adam explains the decision to move the focus of this game and the benefits of an expanded art team.
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Jimmy and game artist Anna Löfberg talk about creating the illusion of being in nature and the distinctive contrast between the dark creatures and the backgrounds. while senior animator Elinor Bergman comments on the importance of the body language of Lana and her cat-like companion Mui in a game with no spoken language.
Finally, Marco Furlanetto of sound designers Settete in Torino talks about that the team aimed to give a unique aural identity to each of the game’s biomes, including for the new underwater scenes.
You can learn more about the process of creating the music and mechanic of the game in other videos from the series below.
Planet of Lana II: Interview With Composer Takeshi Furukawa – YouTube
Planet of Lana II – Game Design & Puzzles – YouTube
Planet of Lana II is available for PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4 and 5 and Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.