Never Yield is a 3D Runner That Lets You Hold the Fate of Detroit in Your Hands

In Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield you take control of Wally as he tries to recover items from his past in hopes of saving the future. Never Yield is a high-speed, stylish, 3-D side-scroller drawing inspiration from endless runners and takes place in Detroit, Michigan. Neil Jones, the creator of Never Yield, developed the game largely by himself as a passion project with the help of friends for the music and code review. The game was recently shown at the Game Developers of Color Expo and I was lucky enough to get to ask Neil Jones (Aerial_Knight) a bit about the project and how it’s coming along.

Phillip Russell: In Never Yield we take control of Wally as he uncovers “sinister evidence” that might change Detroit forever. Can you tell us a bit more about Wally’s adventure and what inspired you to tell this story?

Neil Jones: Wally was kinda a mesh of a lot of Black characters I liked when I was a kid. I design the story around the gameplay, a lot of the story can be found if the player really looks for it but for the most part, I wanted to tell a simple story with really good gameplay.

PR: What were some of the characters, shows, games, that inspired you to make a game like Never Yield and what do you think drew you to them?

NJ: Some of the games and shows that inspired the game were No More Heroes, Canabalt, Cowboy Bebop, Sonic, and Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast.    

PR: Being from Michigan myself, it’s always nice to see my state—and especially a city as special as Detroit—represented in games. Why was it important to you to set the game in Detroit?

NJ: I try to set all my games in Detroit because it’s what I know best. It’s a cool place and more people should visit. This is an interesting version of Detroit, it’s not any kind of direct representation by any means but I try to get the feeling across.

PR: Never Yield is a 3D side-scroller that draws on mechanics from genres like endless runners, what drew you to these gameplay mechanics? Why do you think “flow,” speed, and motion were important for this project?

NJ: I spent a lot of time trying to design something that people were familiar with while at the same time left me a lot of room to change things. I’ve been calling it a “narrative runner.” The game plays like a runner with a lot more options for movement. I think a lot of people enjoy games with a really good flow that they can play without thinking too much.

PR: The sound design and more specifically the emphasis on fore fronting Detroit artist Danime-Sama, and other Black voices, seems to be a key pillar of the game. I was wondering if you could talk about the importance of music and sound in this game?

NJ: The music is really the core of a lot of the games I design. I think for Black people, music is such a large part of our culture that it’s kind of my starting point sometimes. For this game Danime-Sama and I really have an interesting workflow, I would come up with a level concept/block out and show it to him. We’ll talk about how it should sound. He would then make a base of a song which I put it in the game, making tweaks to the level so it matches the feel of the song better. Then we will keep going back and forth making little changes till everything lines up. 

PR: When can we expect to play Never Yield and could you tell us what platforms it will be available on? 

NJ: The game is on track for early next year for PlayStation/Xbox/PC. I’m still working out the date. There are a lot of moving dates in the industry right now with all that’s going on, but I’ll set the date in stone closer towards the end of the year. I’m also working on other platforms but I don’t like to over promise until I’m 100% sure I can make something happen. 

PR: You’ve been developing Never Yield largely by yourself with the help of friends, what got you into game development? What’s been the most important thing you’ve learned while making this game?

NJ: I made the choice in high school that I wanted to make video games. I never really saw myself as anything but a developer. I’ve had many jobs over the years, but nothing ever felt as right to me as making games has. The most important thing I’ve learned is that time is worth more than money. I never really understood that concept until I started this game, but I kinda live by it now.