Designer Talks: Petrified Apple

Welcome back to TwistedSpoon Studio! For the month of December, I'll be sharing interviews with experienced designers and developers discussing their experiences in the industry. Let's go ahead an jump in!

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Welcome to TwistedSpoon Studio, and thank you for coming. What should I call you?

Thank you for having us; we’re a boyfriend & girlfriend and collectively call ourselves Petrified Apple. The story of that coming from a petrified apple one of us owned, split in half. We each carried a half when we were briefly continents apart.

How long have you guys been making games professionally?

 

We’ve been working on our first “commercial” project for about a year now, although the concept art and idea for it was conceived almost 2 years ago-- shortly after whimsically making & releasing our first game recreationally.

Why did you decide to start making games? Is there a particular game, franchise, or developer that inspired you?

 

Girlfriend does art, boyfriend does programming & music; we both enjoy exploring creativity so it’s really the perfect combination. We discovered this when on a whim we decided to participate in Ludum Dare.

You mentioned that you participated in Ludum Dare. What kind of game did you make, and what did you learn from it?

 

The theme of the jam was “Keep it Alive.” Our entry was titled “The Keeper” (https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/the-keeper-1). The idea, art, music, scripting, even splash screen were all made within a 3-day period. It was an intense binge & experience, but we finished a game, thus planting the confidence in what we can do. The game is obviously primitive, but we accomplished what we set out to do with it, given the time constraint.

What's it like working as a team? What are the benefits and challenges of that approach? 

 

Living together and working on the same project means we immediately know when the other is wasting too much time on the internet. We’re both dopamine junkies and try our best to keep each other in check.

If you could make your dream game, what would that look like for you?

 

We’re working on our dream game! It’s a spooky game, with moral decisions to be made, bosses to encounter, lots of rats to potentially befriend, problems to solve, horrors to avoid(?), & lore to unravel.

 

Out of the games that you've worked on, which are you the most proud of? What makes it shine?

 

The game we’re working on, Ghostkin Capers. While keeping the scope realistic, we’re really pushing the boundaries of what we can do, and the experience we’re trying to create. The level of detail in the dithering adds to our visual style, but is a very time consuming process!

What inspired your current project, Ghostkin Capers? How would you describe the gameplay? 

Ghostkin Capers evolved from a string of conversations we had together after our Ludum Dare entry. We came to the not-very-unique conclusion that video games have a lot of potential as a creative outlet... Which has a large appeal to us given our complimenting skillsets. We also both adore watching old movies and frequently binge through specific director’s filmographies. Working on a game like ours gives us even more creative freedom than most directors would have (in a sense at least), as we literally create our actors and pull all the strings ourselves (NPCs).

As for the gameplay of Ghostkin Capers, you play as a spookster who, for whatever reason, decides to help a couple boys who stumbled upon the haunted manor. You unravel grotesque horrors much spookier than yourself, while making friends with many silly rats, and having to make moral decisions that influence gameplay. There will be puzzles to solve, bosses to fight, and a lot of lore to unravel that’s all weaved together.

Ghostkin Capers has a killer aesthetic. What led you to that particular style? 

For this project what comes to mind is: David Lynch, Uno Moralez, Francisco Goya, Tim Burton, Junji Ito, classic Disney (works like B&W Mickey Mouse and others like Snow White), Yuko Tatsushima; and various other things, such as silent film elements and 50’s horror flicks posters. We were thinking about two and a half dimensions ever since we started building the project. It ended up being a made-up something between 2D and 2.5D, and I guess the aesthetics are supposed to compliment, support, and quite literally showcase the story. The visuals are just a tool of storytelling, I don’t follow any standard or guide... I select elements that support the narrative, the assets as crafted organs that will let the plot live.

That's all the time we have, but thanks so much for participating in this interview! Do you have any final thoughts or plugs that you want to put out there? 

We’re working hard on our game Ghostkin Capers, if anyone would like to keep up with that, they can follow our progress on Twitter (https://twitter.com/GhostkinCapers), or just go ahead and Wishlist our game on Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1804860/Ghostkin_Capers).

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Thank you for tuning in to Designer Talks! We'll be back with another exiting guest next Wednesday. Until then, check out Petrified Apple's game Ghostkin Capers at the links above; for more TwistedSpoon content, take a peek at last week's main feed article, where we covered some card by card designs for the custom Magic set Festival of Urbestia; and check in this Friday for an all-new world-building session for the same world, featuring the first map of Urbestia.

See you soon!