Uncovering the hidden joys of Finding Hannah

On its surface, Finding Hannah is simply a agleam and playful hidden-object crippled — but excavation a small deeper and you’ll find thing overmuch more.

The Hannah of Finding Hannah is simply a 38-year-old Berlin nonmigratory trying to navigate career, relationships (including with her champion friend/ex, Emma), and the nagging feeling that something’s missing successful her life. To assistance find answers, Hannah turns to her nurturing grandma and free-spirited parent — whose ain stories gradually travel into absorption and signifier the game’s connection arsenic well.

“It’s truly a communicative astir 3 women from 3 generations looking for happiness,” says Franziska Zeiner, cofounder and co-CEO of the Fein Games studio. “For each one, times are changing. But the question is: Are they getting better?”

To determination the communicative along, players comb done a bid of richly drawn scenes — a packed club, a bustling train, a pleasantly cluttered bookstore. Locating (and merging) hidden items unlocks caller chapters, and the much you find, the much the time-hopping communicative unfolds. The singular premix of connection and mechanic made the crippled a 2023 Apple Design Award finalist, arsenic good arsenic a Cultural Impact victor successful the 2023 App Store Awards.

Fein Games is the brainchild of Zeiner and Lea Schönfelder, longtime friends from the aforesaid tiny municipality successful Germany who some pursued careers successful crippled plan — contempt not being each that into video games increasing up. “I mean, astatine immoderate constituent I played The Sims arsenic a teenager,” laughs Zeiner, “but games were uncommon for us. When I yet went to survey crippled design, I felt similar I didn’t truly acceptable in, due to the fact that my crippled literacy was beauteous limited.”

The extremity is to make for radical who bask authentic pistillate experiences successful games.

Cofounder and co-CEO Schönfelder besides says she felt similar an outsider, but soon recovered crippled plan a amazingly integrated lucifer for her inheritance successful illustration and animation. “In my aboriginal years, I saw a batch of radical doing unconventional things with games and thought, ‘Wow, this is truly powerful.’ And I knew I loved telling stories, possibly not successful a linear signifier but a much systematic way.” Those aboriginal years included clip with studios similar Nerial and ustwo Games, wherever she worked connected Monument Valley 2 and Assemble With Care.

Drawing connected their years of acquisition — and possibly that shared unconventional inheritance — the brace went retired connected their ain to motorboat Fein Games successful 2020. From time one, the workplace was driven by much than fiscal success. “The extremity is to make for radical who bask authentic pistillate experiences successful games,” says Schönfelder. “But the merchandise is lone 1 broadside of the coin — there’s besides the process of however you create, and we’ve been capable to marque inclusive games that possibly bring antithetic perspectives to the world.”

Finding Hannah was driven by those perspectives from time one. The communicative was ever meant to beryllium a time-hopping travel featuring women successful Berlin, and though it isn’t autobiographical, bits and pieces bash gully from their creators’ lives. “There’s a country inspired by my grandmother, who was a caregiver during the 2nd satellite warfare and would tan with her friends connected a infirmary extortion portion the planes circled above,” says Schönfelder. The publication was written by Berlin-based writer Rebecca Harwick, who besides served arsenic pb writer connected June’s Journey and writer connected Switchcraft, The Elder Scrolls Online, and galore others.

In the beginning, I felt similar I wasn’t portion of the group, and possibly adjacent a small ashamed that I wasn’t arsenic games-literate arsenic my colleagues. But what I thought was a weakness was really a strength.

To plan the creation for the antithetic eras, the squad tried not to deliberation similar gamers. “The thought was to effort to scope radical who weren’t gamers yet, and we thought we’d astir apt beryllium capable to bash that if we recovered a benignant that hadn’t been seen successful games before,” says Zeiner. To get there, they hired Elena Resko, a Russian-born creator based successful Berlin who’d besides ne'er worked successful games. “What you spot is her style,” says Schönfelder. “She didn’t make that for the game. I deliberation that’s wherefore it has specified a heavy level of polish, due to the fact that Elena has been processing her benignant for astir apt a decennary now.”

And the hidden-object and merge gameplay mechanic itself is an illustration of sticking with a proven success. “When creating games, you usually privation to invent a caller mechanic, right?” says Schönfelder. “But Finding Hannah is for a much casual audience. And it’s been proven that the hidden-object mechanic works. So we yet said, ‘Well, possibly we don’t request to reinvent the instrumentality here,’” she laughs.

The effect is simply a hidden-object crippled similar nary other, portion puzzler, portion historically flavored narrative, portion meditation connected the choices faced by women crossed generations. And it couldn’t person travel from a squad with immoderate different background. “In the beginning, I felt similar I wasn’t portion of the group, and possibly adjacent a small ashamed that I wasn’t arsenic games-literate arsenic my colleagues,” says Schönfelder. “But what I thought was a weakness was really a strength. Players don’t ever play your crippled similar you intended. And I felt a precise strong, precise sympathetic transportation to people, and wanted to marque the acquisition arsenic creaseless and accessible arsenic possible. And I deliberation that shows.”

Learn much astir Finding Hannah

Download Finding Hannah from the App Store

Behind the Design is simply a bid that explores plan practices and philosophies from finalists and winners of the Apple Design Awards. In each story, we spell down the screens with the developers and designers of these award-winning apps and games to observe however they brought their singular creations to life.