We have to admit, this has been brewing for quite some time, but we wanted to stand at least on vaguely firm ground before adressing you, the interested public, with our grand ideas! Currently we are working towards a playable prototype, sorted out some tremendous technical issues, disagreed and then agreed on artwork, went through countless hours of interview footage and tried to focus our forces on some mildly realistic short term goals. For those who are eager to get back to more important business, here's a short list of the main features:
- An adventure game that leads through the turmoils of Eastern Afrika
- Hybrid design that uses both film and engine in a visually stunning mix
- Compelling narration that mixes reality with fiction
- Interview gameplay featuring dozens of interviewees with unique stories
- Extensivly researched scenarios
And for those who are still interested and are eager to read more: what is this project anyway? We are bunch of artists, some coming from such exotic fields as the performing arts, that came together with the idea of combining gaming and politics (don't yawn, please) in an exiting new manner. When we talk about exiting, we mean also exiting for us: field research. This interest has brought us over the last years (and while making a mod called „Frontiers") to the borders of Europe and beyond, to container harbours, refugee camps, the woods of Eastern Slowakia and other places. „From Darkness" was therefore also coming from our desire to share our field research in a more direct way and to give people a different voice then just remodel their heads or use them in making-of trailers. Technically it proved to be more difficult then we thought, but with the help of some talented coders, we managed to be able to use our research and video footage in-game (using the unruly yet brilliant Cryengine). What followed was a five week trip to Eastern Afrika during which we conducted dozen of interviews, resulting in a giant database of video, that will be part of this game, that features both these „real" videos and a fictional narration:
The player (you) takes on the role of a Belgium journalist that is hired to conduct a series of interviews and investigations for a colleague in Kenya. As her employer gets both lost and drawn deeper towards the center of the continent, she follows him, encountnering both darkness
and hope.
So that's it. Some sort of narration, countless hours of interviews and other impressions from Eastern Afrika and now we are trying to work towards a first playable prototype, that we will present this
fall. And now, have a trailer and stay tuned:
That's a truly interesting and meaningful concept in times where games are more about lol moments and who can shoot the most zombies. I am impressed!
Thank you! We do love slaying zombies too, but maybe it's time for the medium to move on to more meaningful shores.