Today’s developer interview takes on a slightly different format, with Bremit Studios being the first studio I have had the chance to record an interview with! Big thanks to Ruth and Yint Oo for being such great interviewees and for providing much insight into their experience as indie game developers here in Singapore. Before you read on, check out and wishlist their upcoming game, Numinous!
*This interview transcription was edited for conciseness and clarity
Hime: Thank you so much for taking the time to answer this interview! Could we get an introduction to you and what you do at Bremit Studios? (To meet some of the other members, you can check out their early Instagram reels which introduces a number of them!)
Ruth: Hi I’m Ruth and I’m the supporting artist. I designed most of the characters that are in the game. You will probably know of detective zero and the pontaniak if you’ve seen our reels, I also drew some of the marketing posts! When I’m not doing character designs or 3D models for the characters, I also help out with the 3D models of other assets in the game.
Hime: I must say the chibi pontianak that’s often on the SNS is quite cute!
Ruth: Thank you.
Yint Oo: Hi I’m Yint Oo and I am one of the game designers at Bremit Studios. I am also the lead narrative writer, so I write the story and film some of the reels in my free time. All our reels on Instagram were edited by me.
Hime: So you’re also the social media marketing manager?
Yint Oo: (Laughs) Yep.
Hime: What is Bremit Studios’ founding story?
Ruth: From what I remember, everything started out with Jie Lun, or JL, as I’ll be referring to him as. Wait, Yint Oo, do you remember more? I remember JL and Syafiq, the technical artist, started this whole thing up around the time of our final year project (FYP).
Yint Oo: We already had experience working together. We were all in the same team except for our main programmer. So when the internship letter came in, we were given the opportunity to either attend an internship or try entrepreneurship and start our own business. That’s when me and Ruth were invited by JL to join the team, and that’s how Bremit Studios was formed. But before that, we were already like-minded and close friends, and did our FYP together, so there was already team synergy.
Hime: Currently you are working on a horror game called Numinous, can you tell me more about that?
Ruth: Numinous is a Southeast Asian inspired horror game. It’s mostly based on the legend of the Pontianak, who is a woman in a white dress that you might have heard about. There was once I turned to a friend and said “Hey, ghosts aren’t really that scary, right?” and she replied, “Ruth, don’t test that.” The same friend told me that if I smell frangipanis at night, I should start running. Yeah, that was my introduction.
Hime: Any firsthand experiences with the paranormal?
Yint Oo: Most of us have gone to Changi Hospital just for the experience. We went there to take pictures. But for my own experience, when I was doing night guard duty as a soldier, that’s when I may or may not have had my first experience with the Pontianak, because I smelled the frangipanis and heard some whispering. It wasn’t just me, of course. Some of my platoon mates experienced it too. But in my mind, it was research material for the game, so I was elated. I wasn’t scared, even though the rest kind of were. It felt like, “Oh wow, so this is Pontianak.”
Hime: A while back, Bremit Studios also made a trip to Shen Zhen. What was the purpose of that trip and what was something you learned from it?
Yint Oo: Ruth didn’t come along for that trip. The Shen Zhen trip was mainly for business exchange. The maker space there taught us about some of their technology and we learned to code with it. We also shared more about our business with them. It was a place where we could bond with likeminded people.
Hime: What is Numinous currently designed on?
Ruth: It is designed on Unity. We had tried porting to Unreal once but we couldn’t get it to work, because Unreal is a really different engine. So to port over the entire game would take too much time.
Hime: Ah I see, and the release date for Numinous is also to be announced, right? Do you have a scope or goal that you hope to release it by?
Ruth: Currently we want to get most of the work done after the rest of the guys finish NS. So this would be sometime around 2027 or 2028, after that, it’ll be full speed ahead. We will likely be able to finish and launch around 2028.
Hime: Oh so some of the members are still serving their army obligations?
Yint Oo: Yep, most of us are. So that really delays the development time.
Hime: I guess that’s one of the unique challenges being an indie developer in Singapore, especially if you’re male.
Both: Yeah.
Hime: We’ve seen a number of clips featuring playtests by various people. Are the playtesters people from the team or people outside of Bremit Studios?
Yint Oo: Most of them are from outside Bremit Studios. Some of them are our friends and some are complete strangers. We decided to turn some of the playtests into marketing material with the funny moments and reactions that they have.
Hime: It’s really good and very entertaining.
Ruth: Most of the outside ones are either those from Scape or some of the other events we’ve been to like Symbiosis Game Fair. We got a lot of people to try out our games then and get firsthand reactions.
Hime: I remember encountering your studio during the Scape RE:PLAY festival, is the event related to some sort of program Scape is running?
Ruth: For that, we were simply invited to booth at the RE:PLAY festival. But I would say it was really fun. We got to see a lot of other indie developers and there was an internship group of our juniors who also had a booth there.
Hime: That’s so nice. It allows you to reconnect with people who are somewhat familiar. What advice would you give to people who have been invited to do playtesting?
Ruth: I would normally advise playtesters to look out carefully for the puzzles and clues. During the Scape test, most people were not able to figure out the first puzzle of the game, so it hinted to us that we needed to make our puzzle a little more obvious, which was good feedback.
Hime: So you’re looking for an authentic playing experience that will inform the team on what to do next?
Ruth: Generally, yeah. I would also ask potential playtesters whether they have played horror games before or whether this is one of their first few games, because the playing experience would differ based on that. Someone who’s played more horror games would have a better feel of how a horror game should be versus someone who is new and just figuring out the ropes. So they may not be able to figure out what to do initially.
Hime: Do you play many horror games yourself?
Ruth: Okay so funny story, I’m not much of a horror game player, and in the beginning when we all started Bremit Studios, our game was initially not a horror game.
Yint Oo: Yeah.
Hime: Oh?
Ruth: When Syafiq pitched to me to join the team, he initially presented a food game, a visual novel. And I was like, sure. We attended entrepreneurship boot camp and presented our food game. Then around two weeks before we were supposed to start, JL got an idea for his lecturer about doing a horror game instead, because it would be more popular. So he sat us down and said “Hey, let’s do a horror game.” and we agreed.
Yint Oo: Most of the guys in our team took a lot of time playing horror games like Dead by Daylight, Outlast and Amenesia. I cannot forget Amnesia because we were all sharing one incubator space in our public polytechnic, and when we came by the office to work, we would take some time before and after work to sit down and play a horror game. Amnesia was the game I was tasked to play and I screamed like a little baby. Ruth can attest to that.
Ruth: Yeah.
Yint Oo: Even developers get scared. When we were doing our own jumpscares, I was beside JL when he was showing it on the engine and I jumped out of the seat getting scared by our own jumpscare that we made.
Hime: So from this research of playing different horror games is there anything you think helped to inform the development of Numinous?
Ruth: A lot of horror is about sound design.
Yint Oo: Yes, and the music.
Ruth: When it suddenly gets really quiet or when there are creepy sound effects it really helps put people on edge. So we want to incorporate good sound design into our game as well.
Hime: In polishing a game like Numinous, what part(s) is/are the most time-consuming or challenging?
Yint Oo: Maybe it was when we were designing the puzzles because we were trying to find the right balance between making it simple enough to understand but complex enough for players to need to rack their brains a little. We had to go through multiple iterations of the puzzle so it took quite some time and reworking. Two weeks can be just to get some of the puzzles in, and even now we’re reflecting on whether the puzzles are good enough or whether we should redesign them.
Ruth: True, the puzzles take a lot of tinkering to make them the best they can be.
Hime: Something I noticed with horror games is that once you’re stuck, you’re stuck. There’s not much of a way to get new hints or to navigate. Do you think that this is something horror games should incorporate more of or do you think that the backtracking is also part of the horror experience?
Yint Oo: That’s an interesting question. When I get stuck I get very frustrated, but I think that is part of the experience of a horror game. Puzzles that are too easy don’t feel scary at all. I think backtracking is annoying but it is part of the experience. It really depends on what the designers want their horror game experience to be. For the majority of the horror games I’ve played, the backtracking enhances the feeling of being scared and clueless, and if you put in clues that might be taken away.
Hime: So there’s a delicate balance between making the player feel helpless, but also in control.
Yint Oo: Yes.
Ruth: One of the other guys, Syafiq, spent a lot of time on the shaders, atmosphere, and foliage. The game is set in a rural, jungle-like compound environment, and grass and foliage takes a lot of time to render. I remember he spent a lot of time figuring out how to make the grass not crash the game.
Hime: Optimisation is a tall order.
Yint Oo: The first look of the environment was very Roblox-like and blocky, so he spent many days trying to make it look like a real Kampung.
Hime: What keeps you inspired to continue game development?
Ruth: I would say what inspires me is that I’m already here. I’ve learnt that the world of making games is really fun when you go all in and it is really rewarding when you get to finish a project. However, it is also really hard. The joy of game development can also come from working with a team of people that you like working with. It’s fun working and hustling together.
Yint Oo: After spending so much time and effort to make an experience for someone then seeing these people enjoy the experience you make, is irreplaceable.
Hime: What do you anticipate for the release of Numinous as the first game published by Bremit Studios?
Ruth: We’re going to have to tackle a lot of bugs and a lot of testing, that’s what I anticipate for release. We’ll probably update some puzzles minorly after getting feedback too, so I think that will be what happens.
Hime: Will there be an early access or beta test?
Ruth: We have a demo out so that we can get early feedback on how the first 15-30 minutes of the game feels, then we can apply it to the game.
Hime: Sounds like there will be a lot of firefighting after the release that you are anticipating!
Ruth: Most definitely.
Hime: Where can we subscribe to the progress and news about Numinous? And should content creators be looking out for any campaigns upon release?
Ruth: You can get updates on our Instagram or hop into our Discord! (I think we have a Discord?)
Yint Oo: Yes we do! I am also reminded to update the Tiktok.
Hime: Thank you guys so much for the time! If you have yet to wishlist Numinous, check it out on Steam and please support Bremit Studios on their socials!
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Thank you so much for checking out this interview! If you have any feedback on the format or structure, please leave a comment. And if you are a game developer who is interested in being interviewed, drop me an email at himetokki@gmail.com!