We Happy Few's fans "have been there the whole time"

At Microsoft's E3 press conference We Happy Few made an appearance, and Compulsion Games' marketing director Cord Smith and art director Whitney Clayton were showing off the game at the showcase afterwards, so we had a chat with them about how the game has changed and where they are now.

"We're very happy. It's definitely a game that evolved over time, almost out of one genre and into another, which was a direct response really to the fans two years ago where there was a crossroad where the game really became a lot more about the story, adventure," Smith told us. "We started to hold all that back - we'd held it back in early access - so we're really excited in August for people to finally see all three playable characters and all the story that's been packed into there, all the great cutscenes, all that, so we hope to showcase some of that in today's trailer where you kind of see the quality level of the story that we'll be bringing and the type of game that's actually going to come out."

We also asked about the experience Compulsion Games had with early access, to which art director Whitney Clayton said:

"I think just building a relationship with the community was the most important and that was really amazing for us to learn what the community wanted to be a part of the development of the game and also the studio, and so kind of having that special relationship with the community was really unique."

"Yeah, we had a lot of weekly updates, we claim more than any developer really, because we were sending out updates every Friday," Smith added, "from all the members on the team participating in it from animation to design, programming etc., and it was really cool I think for the team that had them engaged; in a way we were able to show off a lot. Near the tail end it was kind of a blessing and a curse because there was more and more stuff we couldn't show and we couldn't even share with the friends but the support there was really genuine. There are times when the public and gamers and toxic culture isn't so nice; the fans have been there the whole time and that was a great experience."

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