Greg Kythreotis on creating the world of Sable and figuring out how to leave it behind

It’s somewhat fitting that Gregorios Kythreotis visited Galway on the eve of a storm to talk about the award-winning art of Sable, and the nomadic culture Shedworks created a decades-long history for. Much like the barren desert Sable, the Wild Atlantic Way of Ireland isn’t the most hospitable place for life. High winds, constant rain, and historically infertile soil - the British Empire didn’t say “To Hell or to Connacht” for no good reason. While the alien planet of Sable is a sun-scorched dustbowl, neither seems like the most welcoming of places to live. Despite this Sable shows a generation-spanning culture that has learned to live in harmony with its arid climate, while Galway has become something of a hub for tourists and visitors, known for how welcoming its people are and its vibrant inter-generational culture.

While at the FÍS Games Summit, Kythreotis took to the stage to talk about the indie game and covered countless topics. From troubleshooting how to make a game that looks like a line drawing in screenshots but reads as a 3D environment in movement, all the way to creating imperfections in cobbled stairs to give scenes life. However, after the talk, I was still left with one burning question, “How do two students who just graduated studying English literature and architecture become game developers?”

Kythreotis, one-half of the foundation of Shedworks and the architect in the room/shed, explained that he remembered six months before graduation showing a family friend his work, “He was like, ‘This is cool, but you’re clearly not interested in being an architect. What do you want to do?’” Kythreotis spoke about his interest in games, which were often the basis for his architectural research and design, and his family friend recommended talking to his son Daniel Fineberg, who was also passionate about video games.

“We just went to the pub and were like, ‘Look we’re not going to get internships anywhere with our degrees. Why don’t we just make our own internship and work out [of] my parent’s shed for a bit?’” said Kythreotis. “And yeah, that was decided over a pint.”

However, the success and attention for Sable, let alone the concept, weren’t instantaneous and, six months later, they both graduated. Yet, before entering the drudgery of a nine-to-five, both Kythreotis and Fineberg realized they were in a unique position. “I knew when we started, if we get proper jobs this is no longer doable,” and so they decided to keep the studio going a little while longer. Kythreotis attributes some of this to the fact that “finding work was really hard” at the time but also acknowledged the two of them were financially stable, “We had a bit of runway where we just could, you know, not work.”

Success, as it often does, came by way of luck. During his talk, Kythreotis tells a story of the concept of Sable as a line art experiment where players would go from point A to B in a demo built out of already existing, but stylized assets. Like many of Shedwork's demos, they took it to the pub, hoping for some free feedback, but instead of the usual mild indifference they usually faced, they found people gathered around the laptop they brought - enamored by the demo’s striking look. Soon they took to posting screenshots on Twitter of this vertical slice making use of #ScreenshotSaturday to catch some eyes and, before they knew it, they were talking to indie publisher Raw Fury about making a video game.

Fast forward several years and the team is working with Japanese Breakfast (a.k.a. Michelle Zauner) on the game’s soundtrack and performing at The Game Awards. Kythreotis explains, “The Raw Fury deal enabled us to [make the game and], it gave us a solid financial platform to spend the time making the game,” but believes that the thing that really gave the team legitimacy was continued engagement with the community. “We did a couple [of] gifs and those had articles written about them,” said Kythreotis, adding that it, “Gave us a legitimacy… to approach someone like Michelle.” He explains that they had noticed Zauner already had an interest in games, “There was a Polygon article [where] she did a little promotional game for her second album. She had made it with someone else but she’d done the music for it... So it was just a shot in the dark, but she had her Twitter DMs open at the time, so Daniel was able to talk to her.”

During his talk, Kythreotis mentioned how some of the game’s development was a bit of a whirlwind experience, explaining that there were multiple planned quests that had to be cut weeks before release as the team realized they had to get the game out the door. He also brings up the pressure of E3. “Before long, [Raw Fury] were saying ‘You’ve been invited to E3 Judges Week. Do you have a demo?’” and when the answer from the team was “No”, they were informed, “‘You’ve got three weeks. Can you do it?’” At this point, Kythreotis explained his thought process in that moment, “Well I could say no, but I’m not going to. I’m just going to make it happen.” Hearing him talk about it now, it all sounds like a delirious haze, “I don’t even remember reflecting on it,” he explained, “It happened at such [a] rapid pace. It was just like, ‘Okay, what do we need to do to get to the next stage of this?’”

After such a breakneck experience, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was hard to move on from Sable emotionally, especially considering they recently teamed up with Lost In Cult to create a Design Works book looking back on the creation of the game. Kythreotis explained that after the game shipped they started work on the PS5 version and some DLC, which ended up taking about a year. “We went to TGS for the PS5 launch, and we did some Japanese press because we were doing a Japanese localized launch, and I think that felt like drawing a line in the sand.”

All told, from starting production in 2016, to returning to the game for the Design Works in 2023, the team has been thinking about the game for over seven years. “It’s a long time… So I think we just want to work on new stuff now and see what comes,” he said. Being done with this chapter of his life is a strong theme when talking to Kythreotis, “I think [fans] want Sable 2, or whatever, but I think they also will want the stuff we will make. Something different.”

With an eye to the future Kythreotis talks about making something of “a similar size,” but he also made sure to mention he’d like to find a healthier work/life balance. He mentions how when he started Sable, he was 25, now he’s 32, and in that time and during the development, “you learn your limits.” Having spent so long creating the world of Sable, Kythreotis sounds excited for what comes next.“I love my work… but it wasn’t healthy.” He mentions how he didn’t take a holiday for three years straight and worked weekends. “It’s really hard to live in this world for so long, and you get a dozen ideas a year that could be games and you’re like I just want to make that now.”

For now, Kythreotis is happy with what he’s doing. Sable is out on PlayStation 5, Xbox consoles and PC and when asked about Raw Rury optioning the rights to several of its properties, including Sable, to Dj2 Media for screen adaptations, Kythreotis doesn’t think he’d be massively involved in any potential adaptation. “I enjoy film,” says Kythreotis, but, “I love the medium [I’m in and] I’m not the sort of person, who is making a game and thinking to myself ‘I wish I was making a film.’ If I wanted to make a film, I would try to make a film, but I really like making games.”

Lexi Luddy

Contributing Editor

Lex Luddy is a freelance writer and journalism student. She has written for Vice, Fanbyte, PLAY Magazine, Gayming Magazine, Push Square, startmenu and more. She can be found on X (Twitter) @BasicalliLexi talking about Yakuza, Kirby, and queer representation in media.