'Shovel Knight' is a title that defines an entire era of indie gaming. By blending classic presentation and gameplay with modern design, it paved the way for countless similar titles. It also served as the catalyst that brought the small-scale Yacht Club Games to global prominence.

Consequently, the new IP from Yacht Club Games—which has spent years expanding the Shovel Knight universe through DLC and spin-offs—was met with high expectations. These expectations went beyond the game's technical constraints and features inspired by the Game Boy Color, focusing instead on the depth of its level design.

Following a successful crowdfunding campaign and several release delays, 'Mina the Hollower' has proven its quality to fans, standing tall even without the Shovel Knight name. It currently holds the highest Metacritic score among games released through June of this year. Its numerous mechanics have been widely praised for being both classic and firmly rooted in a unique identity.

From a personal project to a recognized IP, Mina the Hollower has come a long way. In this interview, director Sean Velasco shares his candid thoughts on the game's growth, development intent, and his vision for the new era of Yacht Club Games.

From Personal Project to Studio Flagship: A World Crafted for the Game Boy Color

'Mina the Hollower' began as an employee's personal project. Director Velasco recalled that from the moment he first saw the prototype, he was strongly drawn to the game's potential. "I felt like it could become something truly amazing. It was almost a little intimidating," he remembered.

At the same time, with a small team already managing the 'Shovel Knight' series, committing full resources to a new IP felt daunting. Nevertheless, Mina the Hollower had a distinct identity, and the team felt it was worth the challenge. Thus, the game expanded into a studio-wide project.

Classics like The Legend of Zelda and Castlevania are frequently mentioned in relation to the game. The developers have indeed acknowledged drawing inspiration from these works, as well as various other games, films, and novels. Within that framework, the game's unique identity is forged through its heavy attacks, jumping, and its signature 'burrowing' mechanic. As the title 'Hollower' suggests, the ability to dig beneath enemies or objects to reposition oneself is the core mechanic where the game's identity truly clicks.

Another defining feature of the game is its recreation of the Game Boy Color aesthetic. The development team didn't just mimic the look of the hardware; they adhered strictly to its actual technical constraints. Director Velasco embraced these limitations, noting that "constraints push our creativity."

They had to be deliberate with the limited screen space, which resulted in each frame being treated like a small puzzle. He added that the simplicity required to honor the Game Boy Color's limitations actually made the final result feel more refined.

The charm of the Game Boy Color is contrasted by the darkness conveyed through the game's gothic atmosphere. The team worked to balance moments of dread with those that feel more inviting. Unlike modern high-resolution games, the distinct sprite art of the Game Boy Color doesn't convey every situation with 100% clarity. This leaves room for individual players to interpret the same sprite differently. Depending on the context, the same object can appear terrifying, cute, or even humorous—a dynamic Velasco describes as having "moments of darkness, but also moments of levity."

The involvement of renowned indie composer Jake Kaufman and legendary Japanese game composer Yuzo Koshiro also generated significant buzz. While the team expected to work with Kaufman given their long-standing relationship, collaborating with Koshiro was a surprise. Director Velasco expressed his gratitude, noting that Koshiro "delivered two absolute masterpieces."

At the Heart of It All: 'Digging' and a Web-like World Design

The burrowing mechanic is utilized throughout the game for combat, movement, puzzle-solving, and exploration. This versatility is tied to Yacht Club's core design philosophy: using key elements in as many ways as possible. Because burrowing was the central idea that distinguished Mina from other games, it was continuously expanded. What started as one of many mechanics eventually permeated almost every aspect of the game.

However, because burrowing is a powerful evasion tool, balancing it was tricky. To address this, they added a jump action before the burrowing animation. This alone makes burrowing feel more deliberate. Furthermore, since burrowing itself is quite fast, they made enemies faster, added various hazards, and placed obstacles to prevent players from simply burrowing past everything. Rather than removing a problem, they chose to complement it by placing challenges from multiple angles.

Despite these obstacles and hazards, burrowing retains its high utility. Since the game lacks skills like multi-jump or dash buttons, the perceived difficulty of the gameplay changes based on the player's adeptness with burrowing. However, they avoided excessive tutorials or nerfing the mechanic to force mastery. Velasco stated, "We want players to learn through action," focusing on creating situations where the core elements can be understood naturally.

The game provides brief explanations at first, then creates situations where the player must understand the excavation mechanic. Finally, it sets the player loose in a puzzle-like world, allowing them to adapt at their own pace. This 'process of discovery' is the core fun of Mina the Hollower.

Another area requiring adeptness is the use of secondary weapons. While they serve as weapons to attack enemies, some are also used for movement, such as dashing in mid-air or traveling long distances quickly. In effect, they play a dual role in supporting gameplay. There was some concern that these secondary weapons might allow for 'sequence breaking,' where players reach areas earlier than intended.

However, this style of play was actually within the developers' expectations. Velasco revealed that they spent an immense amount of time on map design. They ensured there were enough nooks, shortcuts, and spaces of varying sizes to allow players to navigate hidden paths or seemingly unreachable areas using various tools. They added more shortcuts to connect these areas and refined them as player abilities expanded.

It was an intentional design choice to make the world feel much larger and more expansive as players collect more secondary weapons and tools. He mentioned that it is possible to 'cheat' by breaking the game in fun ways, but the map design was considered deeply enough to accommodate even those methods. This design philosophy also led to the creation of a tightly interconnected world.

While Yacht Club's flagship Shovel Knight featured linear levels in a side-scrolling action format, Mina the Hollower is composed of a world where each region is connected like a spiderweb. At the same time, they had to pay close attention to the layout of each region. While some areas are relatively linear, others require the player to complete four surrounding regions before reaching the final path. This macro-level design guides the player's flow while keeping the connections loose enough to avoid feeling strictly linear.

This approach ensures that the main levels provide clear direction, while the remaining sections emphasize exploration. This was the aspect the developers struggled with the most, as it was a significant departure from the level design of Shovel Knight. Velasco explained that maintaining spatial balance and interest while allowing for multi-directional traversal was particularly challenging.

Secrets, Rewards, and an Adventure Guided by Player Discovery

Mina the Hollower features several such complex, loosely yet naturally connected regions. Each region has its own distinct vegetation and theme. This was intended to convey the feeling of exploring different worlds through unique enemies, objects, mechanics, and visuals.

At the same time, it was important to make the entire island feel like a cohesive whole. The developers achieved this by making the transitions between regions as distinct as possible, treating the various areas like a kind of connective tissue. Velasco emphasized his love for "themed worlds" and the sense of adventure that comes from their stark contrasts.

This vast world is filled with secrets, each leading to a unique reward. Among the many features of Mina the Hollower, this has been the most highly praised. A world where exploration is rewarded, and the joy of discovery—this, too, was the result of much deliberation.

Velasco stated, "It is important to make the secret paths and main paths clearly distinct so that players understand when they are on a secret path." They also used methods like showing a treasure first to tease the player, then letting them find the way to reach it on their own. They planned the level design mathematically to ensure sufficient rewards were spread across each region.

He laughed as he replied that there are things players would never find unless they were guided toward those secrets in some way, adding, "I think there are still a few secrets like that left in the game."

In this way, the developers prioritized a design where players discover and experience things for themselves rather than relying on direct explanations. The newspaper system is one such element. A new edition of the newspaper is published whenever the player clears a specific area. It reports on the player's activities while simultaneously hinting at where to go next. In a game without a clear map, it provides subtle clues embedded in the world-building, ensuring players don't get completely lost.

Velasco mentioned games that featured newspapers, such as Kengri P. Jr. MLB or Paperboy, noting that the scenes from those games he enjoyed as a child stayed with him. The ambition to create their own version of that experience led to the newspaper system in Mina the Hollower.

The combination of the protagonist Mina, the inventor, the guild, and the 'Hollower' setting was quite intentional. Mina is portrayed as very intelligent and physically capable, yet somewhat naive. Just as players throw themselves into the game and follow its direction without much question at first, Mina also jumps into the incident just like the player.

At the same time, Mina's naive yet stubborn personality makes her the type of person who would embark on a 30-hour journey to do the right thing and save countless people. Velasco noted that this youthful spirit provides a different kind of fun compared to the protagonist of Shovel Knight, who is older and perhaps a bit 'past his prime.

There was also much discussion regarding difficulty settings. The game includes over 200 difficulty options, ranging from making the game easier or harder to features like an item shuffler. Director Velasco, a fan of randomizers—mods that randomize item locations in games like 'The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past' or 'Super Metroid'—encouraged players to try these options out for themselves.

From Shovel Knight to Mina: Yacht Club Looks to the Future

Mina the Hollower is one of the titles released this year to exceed a Metacritic score of 90, alongside Forza Horizon 6. It received high scores from critics even before its release, proving the solid quality built up over its long development period.

The developers were confident that Mina the Hollower was a great game—the best in Yacht Club's history—but they admitted they didn't expect the near-universal acclaim from critics and fans. He added that seeing people enjoy the game and respond to even its more eccentric choices has been "an amazing experience."

Yacht Club is once again ushering in a new era, and it was Shovel Knight that paved the way to where they are now. Despite the massive success of Mina the Hollower, comparisons to Shovel Knight—a title that defines an entire era of indie gaming—are inevitable.

Velasco shared his feelings, noting that after talking about Shovel Knight for over a decade, it feels very new to be asked questions about Mina the Hollower. At the same time, he expressed deep gratitude, saying, "It feels like the end of one era and the beginning of a new one," noting that there are now fans who talk only about Mina the Hollower without much interest in Shovel Knight. He expressed confidence that they now have two excellent IPs.

He stated that Yacht Club's goal is to 'make truly great games' and that they will continue to move toward that goal. At the same time, he offered a realistic perspective, noting that commercial success is also important to sustain that pursuit.

Yacht Club has always focused on fusing modern sensibilities with retro gameplay. Both Shovel Knight and Mina the Hollower exemplify this. Velasco stated that as they move forward, they will continue to infuse every game with that same spirit.

Furthermore, Yacht Club has several new projects in the pipeline, along with new ideas for Mina and even more for what comes after. While there is so much they want to do, the team is currently focused on Mina and getting the game into the hands of as many people as possible.