New This War Of Mine: The Little Ones Dev Diary goes behind the scenes

Hello gamers! Pawel from 11 bit here. In this exclusive post we’ll show you how the motion capturing for children in This War of Mine: The Little Ones was made and how it all works in the game.

In This War of Mine: The Little Ones, you control a group of civilians (adults and children) stuck in a warzone. The goal is simple – survive until war ends, but your way to peace will be filled with hunger, diseases, wounds and sometimes violence.

But how do you take care of a child? A child is defenseless and needs a protector. Some children have a protector already, but war is brutal and the child could’ve lost their family protector before. What then?

Pick an adult living in your shelter as the protector and make sure they talk to the child every day so a relationship can develop. If the child trusts the protector they will feel safer. When something bad happens you’ll need the protector to comfort the child.

Every adult may treat the child’s wounds, feed or heal them when sick – but remember, there’s the favorable one who may comfort the child like no one else.

Children love to play, even in a war. Think about your child in the shelter, they can use chalk to draw on a wall, run around the shelter, sit on a staircase railing, or play hopscotch. But when the child gets bored, he or she is going to ask the protector if they can play together.

To build a relationship with a child you should spend time with them, such as playing clapping hands or rock paper scissors. As the adult you will have your daily duties – fix a wooden bed, cook something, collect rainwater – but what if the child asks you to play while there are other important things?

Sometimes you’ll have to choose between treating other civilians and playing with the child. Whatever you choose, someone will be left alone. For a parent the choice can surely be tough. The worse the situation your group is in, the harder the choices you will need to make.

For obvious reasons children will stay hidden in the shelter. Only adults for example can leave for scavenging in the night. Besides bare necessities you can find pieces of toys lost in the war as well. Remember you can use these for things like crafting a swinging rope or a jumping rope for the children to play with.

If your adult civilian is sick, wounded or somehow incapable of cooking, helping others or working – you should think about teaching the child to help. You can teach them how to collect rainwater, how to grow herbs and other actions that benefit the shelter. A child is a valuable member of your group.

This War of Mine: The Little Ones is a very emotional game. You’ll get that once you start trying to survive and you’ll see that you also need to perceive life in war from a perspective of a child.

Meanwhile, join us at https://www.facebook.com/thiswarofmine where we share all the news and updates from the development. Remember that the pre-order of This War of Mine: The Little Ones is going to start tomorrow on the 27th October for European Territories. Peace!