December 1st, 2009

Welcome, to another Developer Diary, following the progress of the adventure/horror title, Lost Souls, the third and final Dark Fall game.

On the first Day of Christmas…

MC: Why return to 1st Person, after the 3rd person of The Lost Crown?
JB: Well, the Dark Fall games, the previous ones, have all been 1st person. It’s important, to immerse the player in the world, to generate a more realistic experience. Games are always more scary if you are ‘seeing’ them with your own eyes.
PP: Do you think Lost Souls is more frightening, psychologically, than The Lost Crown?
JB: Hell yes! The Lost Crown is very whimsical, and nostalgic, and has a character on screen to react to things, or in Nigel’s case, NOT react to things. It’s quite a soft edged game. Lost Souls is more about being trapped in a horrible place, and having to do horrible things, which leads up to a horrible event.
MC: So, it’s quite horrible then.
JB: I think so. It’s the nastiest, most miserable thing I have ever written.
PP: Will that put off some Dark Fall fans?
JB: I hope not. The first game wasn’t exactly cheery; it had a slightly ‘hopeless’ feel.
MC: Yeah, but ‘hopeless’ isn’t ‘miserable’.
JB: Did you find it miserable?
MC and PP: Yes!
PP: I had to leave some of the rooms, and take a break elsewhere. It was very oppressive.
JB: Hotel rooms?
PP: Yes, especially on the first floor.
JB: Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s sleazy and sordid, but I like to think it’s balanced nicely with the nostalgic ‘memories’, or ‘Regrets’ as they are called in game. Those scenes are soaked in nostalgia, and, I hope, make the past look very appealing, in comparison to the nasty 90’s and depressing 00’s.

On the second day of Christmas…

PP: I was going to ask about nostalgia; How realistic or accurate do you feel you have made your World War 2 settings?
JB: I thought you might ask that! Well, I’ve made them as realistic as possible, because I love that era. To me, World War 2 is the new Victorian Era.
MC: Huh? What do you mean?
JB: At school, and on telly, up to a few year ago, we were bombarded with documentaries and dramas set in the ‘Victorian Era’. I liked it. Everyone did! But, generations come along, time moves on, and a new ‘nostalgia’ era is chosen. Right now, I think it’s the 40’s (and World War 2). So, I wanted to bring across as much of that time as possible, without sacrificing drama and escapism.
PP: What’s your favourite ‘World War 2’ room?
JB: Definitely ‘The Blitz’ room. It’s naughty to admit, but I love the whole Blitz experience. The Air Raid Siren, the underground shelters, the ‘black out’…you know…the whole thing! It’s such a classic time, which people recognise and understand. It was a pleasure to re-create some of that feeling for Lost Souls.

PP: Did the Blitz really get as far as Dorset? (England’s South-West, Ed).
JB: Ha ha! No, not really. But, there were bombs falling all across the South-West. You know, secret British ammo stashes, hidden landing strips for planes, and of course, the docks, where the Naval fleet were stationed. So, it’s not too much of a push, to imagine a few bombs landing on Dowerton.

On the third day of Christmas…

MC: 10 years on, do you think your modelling and design skill have improved?
JB: I hope so! It’s weird, actually, to go back to a location I’ve built in the past. The rooms and outdoor places in the first Dark Fall look very basic, in comparison to this new game. I guess I’ve learnt a bit more, over 10 years!, so bring some new skills and tools to the place.
PP: Although the locations were quite recognisable, from having played the original game, the newer graphics were so much more! Almost taking on a surreal quality when compared to the originals
JB: I did get some emails, and Facebook messages, congratulating me on the ‘wise’ decision to re-use old locations and models, which was a bit weird. I guess many looked at the new screenshots and thought the original Dark Fall looked that way.
MC: You could see that as a good thing.
JB: How?
MC: Your first game obviously left strong impressions, and people believed in the world.
JB: I guess so, but any direct comparisons, between the old artwork, and the new places will reveal that Lost Souls is superior, in terms of artwork.
PP: That’s nonsense. The visuals can add to, but can't replace enjoyment, or story. I enjoyed the first Dark Fall because I was able to explore, poke around, and learn about the history of the place. You can do that in Lost Souls.
JB: Yes! I know. But…it looks much prettier.

MC: Prettier? Some of the stuff is vile. I don’t want to get into ‘spoilers’, but the Life Leech stuff, and the horror elements are NOT pretty to look at.
JB: yeah, I see your point. Ok, I’ll put it this way; the locations are more detailed. So, whereas gamers had to imagine cobwebs, and dust, and dirt, in Dark Fall 1, they don’t have to in Lost Souls.
PP: Is that enough?
JB: Yes! I wanted more detail. Moving on….

On the fourth day of Christmas…

MC: You stuck with the Wintermute engine for DF3 - but the Wintermute engine is designed to create 3rd person games with 2D backgrounds. DF3 is a 1st person game showing 360-degree settings, and uses much 3D. Explain yourself!
JB: I’m not surprised you had to write that one down!
MC: Answer.
JB: I became very familiar with Wintermute, and liked it a lot, during the making of Lost Crown. It’s a brilliant kit if you want to make a Syberia-like game, with little experience, and even less money!
MC: That doesn’t answer my question.
PP: Does the new 360 turn stuff add much to the gameplay?
JB: I think so. Obviously, making a ‘warp’ engine out of an engine not designed for that purpose is a bit…errr…eccentric…
MC: Mad, more like.
JB: Ok, mad. But, it does work. I love it. It’s not like the warp you get in the old Cryo games, where the world followed the mouse, no, instead I’ve kept the 90 degree turn, of the previous Dark Fall games, but added transitions and movement in between. There’s also a slight ‘head bob’ which I think is quite cheeky.
MC: Like a shooter ‘head bob’.
JB: Exactly that! I think it makes the game world feel more live.
MC: Using an engine, against its will, as it were, increased the production time.
JB: So? I am very happy with it. Plus, I got to do something I’ve always wanted to do.
MC: A warp game?
JB: No, look up at the moon, above The old Station Hotel.
MC: Fair enough.
JB: Bah! Humbug, Scrooge!

On the fifth day of Christmas…

PP: Dark Fall: The Journal was released in 2000. Is it any coincidence that the last of the Dark Fall trilogy is released for, and set, 10 years later?
JB: I’d love to lie, and say it’s all about ‘the right time’, or something to do with astronomy, but I can’t. I was actually working on a DF3 with Nigel and Lucy, from The Lost Crown! It was going to be a kind of cross-over. It was a stupid idea (The Crown games are in black and white, with characters on screen!). I would have frustrated Lost Crown fans, and annoyed Dark Fall fans. So, I started again! The 10 year thing is a coincidence, but it does add some extra drama!
MC: Will fans from 10 years ago finally get some answers, about the Dark Fall.
JB: Argh! I’ve answered questions like this before, but obviously you want more!
MC: Well, put it this way, do we get more clues as to what the Dark Fall is, or will it be like ‘Lights Out’ and have a sci-fi answer.
JB: No, there’s no sci-fi. In fact, there are NO ghost-hunting gadgets in this one either. I liked the sci-fi twist to Lights Out, as I like things like Doctor Who (which has NEVER done a fantasy, open-ended story). But, people don’t seem to like DF2, for the sci-fi, so I’ve not included any in DF3. There’s a good ol’Good vs Evil story-line, which is wrapped up quite nicely. I don’t think anyone will be in any doubts as to what the Dark Fall is, anymore. Especially not in the world we live in now.
PP: What do you mean by that?
JB: We live in dark times, and shadowy forces like the ‘Dark Fall’ seem to flourish. It’s a hungry force, looking for despair, loneliness, and purgatory. It feeds on misery.
MC: Do you really believe we live in ‘dark times’?
JB: Darker than 2000, that’s for sure. The millennium, (it sounds tacky now, doesn’t it!), was really optimistic, and felt like something new, exciting and brilliant was about to happen.
MC: Including your future games, and stuff.
JB: Yeah, maybe, but if you look at it like that, the last 9 years have been quite painful. Independent developers, especially adventure developers, have been treated appallingly. But, we are not here for that.
PP: Has that, the experience, influenced DF3?
JB: No. It hasn’t changed what the Dark Fall is, I’ve just made it more obvious. You’ll see.

 

On the sixth day of Christmas…

MC: You have never appeared at any trade shows with your titles, yet this is your 4th game. Why is that?
JB: Well, fifth if you count working on yours!
MC: True.
JB: I don’t know. No-one ever asks me. I did think that this year might see me at the one in Germany…
MC: Leipzieg?
JB:…yeah, but no-one asked me. I should have just, gone along, you know, but I was a bit busy. Maybe it’s time to make the effort, get out there and shake a tentacle or something.
PP: What happens at those events?
JB: I have no idea! I guess they are like any conferences, or trade-shows; you get to chat to people about your project, try and get some interest, and have a few beers with fellow devs.
MC: Aren’t you doing that now?
JB: Yeah, I guess so. Ha ha! But, it’s cider, not beer.

On the seventh day of Christmas…

PP: You have voiced many characters, in your games. Who did you ‘voice’ in Lost Souls?
JB: Not many. Mr.Bones is the one that springs to mind.
PP: Yeah, he’s quite odd.
JB: In a good or bad way?
PP: Both.
JB: It’s hard to cast a character like Bones, as I needed to find someone who could do a thick ‘west country accent’. That’s quite hard to find, to begin with, plus he also needed to sound…well…evil. A bit serial killer-like. So, I nabbed that part. It’s nice to play a part that dark. I found myself putting my lips right up to the mic; slurring and breathing. A bit psychotic, basically.
MC: Any others?
JB: Monster noises! All sorts of shrieks, growls and groaning. The neighbours hate me.
MC: You don’t have any neighbours. The town is dead in Winter.
JB: Well, ghostly neighbours then. My favourite ghost, and it’s one that is easy to find, is in Room 2A.
PP: Oh yes! I remember him.
JB: He’s LOUD!
PP: Yeah, but I did want to help him. He was one of the ‘Lost Souls’.
JB: Hmm, ‘tis true. I guess not all ghosts can be saved, or helped to move on.
PP: Do you feel the ghost of Room 2A is a reflection of you?
JB: Umm….that’s interesting actually, as it was a strange room, 10 years ago, with Dark Fall. You could enter that room and get, either; a trilby hat, or a big Dark Fall symbol, scrawled on the wall. There were no clues to who the man was then, or now, so perhaps I AM hiding out in Room 2A. I like the idea.
MC: Really?!
JB: Yeah. I’ve been in most of my games, in one way or another. Not in a classy Hitchcock way, more of a camp, self-referential way. For example…
PP: (interrupting)…the typewriter man in The Lost Crown.
JB: Yes! It is supposed to be me, writing the game from within the game. A bit pretentious, I know, but I liked the idea.

On the eighth day of Christmas

MC: 16+ is a higher rating than you are used to? What's going on there?
JB: I know! I’m not a ‘TEEN’ author anymore! Well, I am, 16 is teenage. Actually, I hated being 16, at the time. It’s like a nowhere age.
PP: Get on with it.
JB: Ok. This time round, the story needed a bit of the red stuff, and some good scares. I knew when I started to build the game that it would need a higher rating. I was nervous of 18, or Mature, as I know lots of gamers play my games with their kids. So, I feel a bit guilty. But, the story comes first, and I believe most of the nasty stuff is suggested, rather than over stated. The game is about a missing child, Amy Haven, and the Police Inspector who investigated the case. Also, the fact that the investigation was plagued by mistakes and press intrusion, seems quite adult. I don’t paint the police as heroes. Now, that seems like a topical subject to me.
MC: Yes, it is.
JB: Ok, so, do you see my point? If you find yourself writing something that you know is quite adult, it would be daft to soften it up, or worse…
PP: Make it trivial.
JB: Exactly! But, in all honesty, I don’t think the game is too rough, and nasty. Gamers will feel as if they can put things right, and that’s important. Plus, the nostalgia rooms, the Regrets, are a lovely contrast, and point out that the news has always been depressing. You just have to get on with it.
PP: Keep Calm And Carry On.

JB: You know what? I could kick myself, as I never included that slogan anywhere! It would have been a brilliant thing to throw up, on screen, now and then, to reassure gamers, and boss ‘em about a bit.
PP: Yeah, I sent quite a few images, with that slogan.
JB: I know. Sorry. My bad.
MC: You could put it in TLC2?
JB: No, I’m leaving the World War in Dowerton.
PP: Fair enough.

On the ninth day of Christmas…

PP: Will we see more from Dark Fall? Your moving on to The Last Crown (TLC2) - will there be The First Crown?
JB: Off topic! Moderator!
MC: It’s a pub.
JB: Ok, umm, yes to both. As a force, the Dark Fall has to pop back up again. And, yes to a First Crown. There were three Anglo-Saxon kings, who ruled Anglia; brothers Ganwulf (Lost Crown) and Pendraed and their father, Aldwulf. I am looking into the life and powers of Pendraed in The Last Crown. Then, hopefully, I will move onto the big one, Aldwulf, with The First Crown. All set in Saxton, all in “black and white with vivid splashes of colour” and all featuring Nigel Danvers (the reluctant hero) and Lucy Reubans (the kick-ass sceptic).
PP: Great!
JB: Yeah, I never thought I’d find myself with a 3rd person series, having always preferred Myst-style adventures, FPS and RPG’s like Morrowind…but, I really enjoyed making The Lost Crown, and was mightily surprised by how well gamers took to it.
MC: It is an unusual game.
JB: Not too weird though. People seem to ‘get it’.
PP: It’s like good children’s fiction, you can interpret a lot of the story in a personal way, and the world is imagined, rather than stated.
JB: yeah, I guess Saxton, and The Lost Crown, exist in pure nostalgia. You’ve got my love of M.R.James, A Month in the Country and The Goonies(!!) all mashed up in the script. It’s like a culmination of…I don’t know…all the things I like about the landscape, the adventures it offers, and something very personal. A love of melancholy places, like churchyards, and wintry harbour towns. It’s the world the tourists don’t see, because it gets buried in tourism in the hotter months.
PP: Well, some tourists have seen it in winter.
JB: Yes! I took quite a few people round Polperro, this last year. A screenshot from The Lost Crown even made its way onto the cover of the Polperro Festival program. People are really interested in visiting the ‘game’ locations, and I am more than eager to get the locations recognised. Duloe Church (Northfield in The Lost Crown, Ed) has been rotting away for years. That church will close to the public, forever. It’s such a shame. I’m not an overly religious person, but I do like architecture. So, if I can raise the profile of those antique places, I will.

On the tenth day of Christmas…

MC: You make all your games as self financed, one-man projects. Are there any plans to expand?
JB: Absolutely! I am talking with publishers, right now, about what to do with the Wii, and getting a team together. It seems to be the console of choice, for adventure titles. In fact, our humble (and battered) genre could really flourish on that platform. I find that very exciting.
PP: What’s the difference?
JB: Between a Wii and PC? Umm…it’s a games console, rather than a computer.
PP: It’s smaller?
JB: Not just that, they are very popular with female gamers, casual gamers and those who don’t feel a need to appear too ‘technical’. It’s fun, basically. A lot of the games are co-op based, and involve moving about….physically…
MC: …looking like an idiot, a lot of the time.
JB: Ha ha! Yes! But, there are several survival horrors, coming out on the Wii, while the others (PS3, XBox and PC, Ed) seem to be moving away from those kind of games. So, it could be a good time to try out something new.
PP: So, I’d have to get a Wii?
JB: No, anything I make would be cross-platform, as I don’t want to abandon the PC. But, not having to test new OS systems (like Windows 7 for Lost Souls, and Vista for Lost Crown) would be lovely!
MC: Yeah, that would be good. So, how do you go about that?
JB: I have no idea! I guess a few good questions, to the right people, would help. I’ve got more free time, now, so will look into it. A trade show might be a good place, too.
PP: Ah ha!

On the eleventh day of Christmas…

JB: Ok, I have a question…
MC & PP: Ok…
JB: If you could single out the worst thing about my games, what would it be?
MC: I’m not answering that!
PP: Too short.
JB: Too short? TLC “boasted 30+ hours of gameplay”! I’m quoting.
PP: That’s true, but I always want more!
JB: There is “more”...I just have to make it first.
MC: Yeah, I’d say you take too long in-between games. You should make one a year!
JB: Look who’s talking! It’s been 2 years since Barrow Hill.
MC: Nearly 3!
JB: Exactly. You’ve been helping me, but it would be nice if we could have one game a year, each!, and get things moving on the consoles.
MC: It would, and Bracken Tor is coming, but…
JB: …taking a bit longer?
MC: Kind of. It’s part of the freedom of being independent. You can take things at your own pace, and make sure the game is finished to your own standards, rather than a publishers.
JB: Yeah, I know what you mean. You don’t mean ‘exacting’ standards either.
MC: No, not at all. I have to be able to enjoy the task of making the game, otherwise I’ll do something else.
JB: Yeah. 2008, and 2009!, haven’t been brilliant. Publishers going bust, the High Street in tatters, and some people being…well…criminal. But, a New Year is almost upon us, so look to the future!
PP: Here here! (raises glass)

 

On the twelfth day of Christmas…

MC: Why Dowerton? Again? How did it feel returning to the setting from the first Dark Fall game, whilst making the last Dark Fall game?
JB: Weird. At first I thought I’d find the place nice and familiar, almost welcoming. But, it wasn’t the case. When I was testing Lost Souls, I think I had an experience very much like the gamers will.
PP: Meaning?
JB: That it was familiar, but not friendly. I was really pleased to find that. There is always a risk, when returning to locations, storylines, characters…that you’ll loose some of the original spark. But, I don’t think it’s lost anything. What did you think?
PP: If anything, Dowerton is now more grounded in the real world, with plenty of references to modernity, which makes the abandoned locations feel even more haunted.
JB: Yes, it feels isolated and lonely.
MC: Like real abandoned places!
JB: Yes. I was quite shocked by how many derelict buildings litter the landscape, actually. It’s really quite breathtaking. There’s everything from long forgotten asylums to World War bunkers.
PP: Did you know that Polperro has an underground signalling station, from the Cold War?
JB: No! Where is it?
PP: Chapel Hill, by the radio mast.
JB: That makes sense.
MC: Can you get into it?
PP: Probably. There are hundreds of them across the country.
JB: Wow. I didn’t know that. I would have put it in TLC.
MC: Put it in TLC2!
PP: Yes! And, what it does point out, is that ‘abandoned places’ are always much closer to home that you think. So, Dowerton Station, on the edge of a small town, is not so unusual. That gives the game a nice edge…you feel as if the hotel is somewhere you could genuinely find, and explore.
JB: Would you? If it were real? Would you go in, poke around, explore…?
PP: No. Not at night. And not alone.
MC: I wouldn’t. Not if it is anything like Lost Souls. It’s too oppressive.
JB: So, if we had to round up Lost Souls…what would you say? Matt?
MC: Dark, oppressive and…umm…final.
JB: Ok, and Philip…
PP: Menacing, nightmarish, redemptive… I would have said ‘dark and oppressive’ but you’ve beaten me to it!
JB: Ok, cool. Thanks, this chat has been a pleasure. It’s another game finished, ready to go. For those listening, thanks for staying with us, to the end! And, of course, I hope you enjoy Lost Souls. Dark, oppressive, final…and, I’ll add…fun! Promise.

After finishing off, myself, Matt Clark and Philip Philippou made our way out into the dark. It seems to have been raining, in England, for the last 40 days and nights. Winter is upon us, and the floods are lethal. The landscape does seem to be darker, this year. So, without further ado, I wish you a Merry Christmas, hope you are well, and I’ll see you in the New Year. There’s lots of news to come! In the mean time, I’ve got a Cold War Bunker to explore…somewhere in Saxton!

Jonathan