Disney Dreamlight Valley’s August update adds The Princess and the Frog’s Tiana to the valley — and together with her, a brand new restaurant referred to as Tiana’s Palace. That’s proper, Ratatouille’s Remy is now not the one chef in city. On Tuesday, Disney Dreamlight Valley developer Gameloft Montreal introduced its subsequent update, which can embody Tiana, her restaurant, and a brand new restaurant stall that sells premade meals. She’ll additionally include Twenties-style decor to provide Dreamlight Valley some New Orleans aptitude.
Disney simply changed its controversial Splash Mountain experience with a brand new attraction, Tiana’s Bayou Journey, making it an ideal time to deliver the princess to the sport. Disney Dreamlight Valley artistic director Josh Labelle advised Polygon that gamers can count on numerous new, pleasant interactions between Tiana and the valley cohort. “I particularly love seeing Tiana trading recipes with Remy as they compare the finer points of Cajun and Parisian cuisine, clashing with Mother Gothel (of course), and sharing her culinary talents and New Orleans traditions with the Valley,” he mentioned in an e mail interview.
Past Tiana’s look, the August update — with timing to be decided later — developer Gameloft Montreal is closing out its A Rift in Time growth with the addition of Agrabah Palace from Aladdin.
Forward of the announcement, Polygon spoke to Labelle about Tiana, the ending of A Rift in Time, and the way forward for Disney Dreamlight Valley.
[Ed. note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
Polygon: Does Tiana’s Palace perform in a different way than Remy’s?
Josh Labelle: Tiana’s Palace is certainly a brand new restaurant for the Valley, and it can share a few of the similar performance that Chez Remy has, performing as a spot for villagers to assemble and get pleasure from meals served by the participant. I wish to shout out the artists on the workforce who did an incredible job bringing Tiana’s Palace to life, with direct inspiration from the gorgeous visible type of Disney’s The Princess and the Frog.
What is going to set Tiana other than Chez Remy is the brand new stall that may accompany her restaurant. At Chez Remy, gamers can buy substances, however they’ve by no means been in a position to buy full meals. Tiana will supply gamers a every day rotation of meals, together with some meals which are uniquely New Orleans-inspired.
With this addition, even gamers who don’t love cooking will now be capable to get the advantages of 5-star meals every day or have an opportunity to refill on items for his or her villagers.
Do you might have any favourite moments or interactions — even small issues! — from the upcoming new content material?
Tiana is such a enjoyable character; the workforce has completed an incredible job creating fascinating interactions between her and the remainder of the Villagers. I notably love seeing Tiana buying and selling recipes with Remy as they evaluate the finer factors of Cajun and Parisian delicacies, clashing with Mom Gothel (in fact), and sharing her culinary abilities and New Orleans traditions with the Valley.
In the meantime, in the conclusion of our growth go, Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift in Time, the workforce has completed an exquisite job of making Jafar’s twisted model of Agrabah Palace for our gamers to discover, together with just a few extra surprises that draw on Disney historical past to create some particular moments with a sure basic character.
What have you ever realized about what gamers need out of Disney Dreamlight Valley? Has that advanced over the previous two years?
We be taught extra about our gamers with each update. That direct relationship with the gamers and group is one thing I like about engaged on Disney Dreamlight Valley. We’re frequently working to enhance and be extra conscious of our gamers.
By way of large insights, this 12 months has reaffirmed for us how necessary it’s to commit assets to enhancing our present options and making the sport a smoother expertise. Within the coming updates, we could have a concentrate on quality-of-life enhancements, whereas addressing a few of the largest requests from gamers, like overhauling how our wardrobe and furnishings catalogues work and making it simpler to type these things.
We’ve additionally seen that gamers get pleasure from completely different elements of Disney Dreamlight Valley. Some gamers are right here to journey with their favourite Disney characters, whereas others love the customization and décor. We’re attempting to supply one thing thrilling in every update for every form of participant.
Picture: Gameloft
Are you able to converse to the options coming in 2025 that add extra methods for individuals to play collectively? How necessary has that performance been for Disney Dreamlight Valley gamers?
By way of multiplayer, we presently have two methods for gamers to play collectively: Valley Visits and weekly DreamSnaps competitions. Valley Visits have been an ideal addition to our recreation for gamers who wish to share their designs, take a look at what Scrooge McDuck has in inventory in different Valleys, or showcase their creativity and get inspiration from one another. We’ve improved that have since launch, with the power to do extra actions in the Valley whereas visiting one another.
Then again, DreamSnaps permits gamers to share and vote on footage in weekly challenges to earn rewards, which has impressed plenty of creativity from our gamers. As we’ve talked to our gamers about multiplayer options, we’ve heard just a few recurring issues: first, some gamers are very in multiplayer and would love extra methods to play collectively, however merely don’t know sufficient individuals who play the sport on the similar time they do, which limits our present Valley Visits function. A few of these gamers are additionally a bit nervous about enjoying host to individuals in their villages.
The brand new multiplayer options we’re growing for 2025 are aimed toward this type of participant, providing them methods to play collectively and work in the direction of targets without having to be on-line on the similar time, and without having to host different gamers in their Valley.
The opposite factor that we’ve heard from gamers is that a few of them are simply not in multiplayer and come to our recreation for a comfortable solo expertise. I believe that’s completely honest and we wish to respect these gamers and be sure that they’re comfy with the best way we combine any new multiplayer options in the longer term.
With respect to A Rift in Time coming to an finish: What did you be taught from the growth go and how individuals expertise storytelling in Disney Dreamlight Valley?
With Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift in Time, we wished to provide gamers an thrilling aspect story that may deliver new villagers, biomes, and non-obligatory options to the sport.
As we work on future content material for the sport, we’ve taken just a few classes from the growth go. The primary is the significance of pacing. Gamers have been excited to have a lot to do and so many new quests in A Rift in Time. Not like our base recreation, although, the principle story requested plenty of our gamers in phrases of the hassle wanted to unlock new areas, and the expertise didn’t at all times really feel as satisfying because it might have. Sooner or later, we’re aiming to provide gamers extra alternatives to cease, calm down, and interact with the sandbox with out feeling rushed alongside to the following quest. We’re additionally aiming to provide much more fascinating quests all through.
By way of our degree design, we wished to create a singular world stuffed with secrets and techniques to uncover. In some circumstances, we heard from gamers that the world of Eternity Isle had just a few too many twists and turns, and it was tough to navigate and customise. With future biomes, we’re aiming to maintain the joys of exploration, whereas making them easier and simpler to brighten, with higher and extra seen landmarks which are true to Disney tales. We additionally need the secrets and techniques and surprises gamers discover to be extra significant.
An enormous success from A Rift in Time that we hope to maintain constructing on is its strategy to new characters like Gaston, Rapunzel, and EVE. By being true to their accompanying Disney and Pixar tales, in addition to the core of our recreation, the workforce created hilarious moments with Gaston, like him constructing a substitute LeFou out of coconuts, in addition to an emotionally shifting friendship with Rapunzel and an opportunity to reunite EVE and WALL-E.
A Rift in Time reaffirmed for us the core of the sport that we wish to maintain onto and construct on: magical moments with beloved characters, set in a ravishing world that gamers can adorn and make fully their very own.
Can you share the present lively participant depend?
We have now a wholesome and steady player-base for the time being and see that a lot of our gamers proceed to be excited to return to the sport each time we add a brand new character that they love. With that in thoughts, we’re presently very centered on constructing out a powerful roadmap for 2025, crammed with Disney favorites. We’re excited to share extra of this roadmap with gamers quickly.
