The puzzle game Viewfinder – created by Scotland-based Sad Owl Studios and published by Thunderful Publishing – won two honours at the 2024 Bafta Games Awards 2024 held on 12 April.
The indie game won the best New Intellectual Property and best British Game awards. Viewfinder features spatial constructions like mechanisms, objects, and scenes and provides a means for players to interact with the world.
Sad Owl Studios business director Gwen Foster noted the widespread use of smartphone cameras, making photography a ubiquitous activity. The team capitalised on this trend by incorporating photography as a crucial element. Among various imaging tools, they found instant cameras to be the most intuitive. Additionally, the game features a printer allowing players to print blueprints and design drawings.
To prevent players from getting stuck, many puzzle games provide hint mechanisms. Viewfinder offers no textual hints but instead provides a chair. When players encounter challenges, sitting on the chair allows them to rewind time, enabling them to review past events repeatedly. Through trial and error, players progress until they solve the puzzle.
Foster explained that the goal of the game is to help players progress through the game, offering more choices compared to other puzzle games where mistakes often lead to restarting. Players ultimately need to solve the current puzzle, but before that, they can experiment. Viewfinder constructs a puzzle-solving playground where players can explore freely. The game allows players to choose their approach, appealing to speedrunners who enjoy pushing boundaries.
Before Bafta, Viewfinder secured the title of Grand Prix at Indie Game Award 2024. “Receiving the award from Indie Game Advocacy director Shuhei Yoshida at Sony Interactive Entertainment, was particularly meaningful,” the studio said in a release. The game was also nominated for Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie at the Golden Joystick Awards in November 2023, and Best Independent Game and Best Visual Design at The Game Awards in December 2023.
“When Sad Owl Studios was founded, the global COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing, and team members were scattered around the world, including in the UK, USA, and the Philippines. Most of the team relied on remote work. Despite their dedication to developing puzzle games, the members had diverse interests. Some enjoyed Japanese RPGs, others preferred shooting games, and some were passionate about anime. Despite these differing interests, they all shared a common goal: to do something cool and create a great game,” said Foster.
The initial version of the game is already out on Steam, and the studio completed the PlayStation version by the end of last year. The makers hope to expand to different platforms such as Xbox and Nintendo Switch.