Sorry, we are closed is a horror game split into two realities: a desolate industrial reality and a vibrant, enchanting one. Players will use their Third Eye to peer into either world (and maybe get tangled up with some hot underworld denizens along the way) in order to overcome a demonic curse.
Game Developers spoke to the game’s creative director, C. Bedford, and technical director, Tom Bedford, about the freedom to mix up clashing personal tastes, and how to create a horror game with friends using different visual styles. He talked about how he recreated the feeling of watching a movie. , and the challenges that arose from overlapping his two worlds.
Sorry, we are closed It features a striking visual aesthetic that combines a scorching neon Biblical sex party with a rusty metal nightmare. What inspired the creation of this game?
C. Bedford: This is a clash between what we enjoyed in games as children and our current tastes. Inspiration is actually quite diverse and comes not only from video games, but also from TV shows, favorite movies, and music.
I was definitely hooked silent hill As a child, I was really fascinated by this world, and so were the worlds of games such as: jet set radio! There are so many different sides to me that are hard to separate. I was feeling a little lost when it came to creativity as many other artists seemed to enjoy or create a certain style. I always felt stuck between multiple worlds and was a bit isolated in a way. I decided not to worry about it anymore. If I like something, I’ll go for it, even if there’s a risk of conflict. I don’t care anymore! Musicians I listened to repeatedly while working on this project were VHS Head, clipping., Mid-Air!, Unloved, Ital Tek, FKA Twigs, Moses Sumney, and Phono Ghosts, to name a few.
tom bedford: under development Sorry, we are closedI often focused on the emotions I experienced playing games as a child, especially the first 3D games I played. rayman 2, half life, an N64 Zelda game. They all had elements that scared me (under the well) ocarina of time!), alongside comical interactions with NPCs and locations you want to explore. These games can be terrifying, along with colorful characters and vibrant VFX.
Can you tell us a little about the design of the game’s two visual styles? Some are clear silent hill You were inspired by the look of a rusted mechanical world, why did you want to reflect this in such a vibrant art style?
C. Bedford: As much as I love you. silent hill, I’m not going to recreate it beat by beat. The vibrant style is just my personal preference. If I like something, I try to find a way to make it fit with everything else. Some of the most exciting media to me is a mix of multiple elements that I don’t think work. Especially when you think about it like the industrial club scene, I feel like the styles are closely related. It’s not that there are harsh neon colors next to this dark industrial look, but that’s actually what connects the world of the protagonist and the world of the devil. That’s what connects them.What hipsters and demons can agree on [laughs].
tom bedford: It was important to us to have characters who could express themselves in the world. Their vividness allows the game to stay away from being moody or oppressive all the time. You can explore different sides of the cast and interesting or romantic situations.
From a gameplay perspective, the art direction allows for a more cartoon-like effect. It doesn’t feel weird to unlock a cupboard and have the door snap open without any animation, or to see stars floating around the head of a stunned enemy. I’m very happy because the game doesn’t have a serious atmosphere.
What did you want to express with these two styles? What kind of complex emotions did you want to evoke?
C. Bedford: Fluidity, change, the different dimensions and depths that people can have. I want to capture the emotions people feel when they watch a horror movie with their friends. There are some scary elements, but we also chat and joke along the way. To be honest, it’s more of a combination of The Rocky Horror Show, Scooby-Doo, and The Cell than the super-scary experience typical of horror games. It has a fashionable runway feel to it, and I want people to wince a little, but mostly to laugh.
tom: We watched Twin Peaks together a few years ago, and at times it felt like we were watching two different shows. I enjoy finding comfort in everyday interactions and relationships, revisiting that happy place where I can eat cherry pie. So CB reminded him that something terrible was happening there at the same time. We hope players will experience similar contrasts as they enter and exit the demon world.
Desire also seems to be infused into many elements of the game’s characters and visuals. What kind of thinking goes into subtly (or not) weaving this into the design of the game and its characters?
C. Bedford: It’s not subtle at all! Sex and sexuality have always had a big influence on my work. My mother never shied away from explaining the sexual world to me as I was growing up. I think it’s given me the ability to have a healthy relationship with sexual imagery and create different types of characters that don’t necessarily align with the traditional ones. attractive. I honestly believe that anyone can be sexy, and I’m always seeking to further expand people’s ideas of what “sexy” means. Our game’s antagonist boasts a giant unibrow, which isn’t something people generally consider a desirable trait, but I’d like to change that. I’m happiest when someone makes me question what I believe to be attractive.
Sorry, we are closed is a game where two worlds overlap and the player can use the third eye to see between the two worlds. What challenges did allowing players to traverse between these worlds pose? How did you solve them?
tom bedford: We had to be careful with the play space to avoid players getting trapped in the geometry. There is no good time to be stuck inside a table in another world when you open your third eye. We decided early on that the walkable areas in both worlds should be the same.
There are several states a player can be in at once. The third eye may be open or closed, third-person or first-person perspective. The physical size of vision also had to be taken into account, since while the third eye may be open, distant objects are still outside of its effective range. Once you have a stable system for tracking these states, you can then use combinations of them to create your own interactions.
When designing the two worlds, we wanted to make sure that players didn’t feel like they had to scan the entire environment with their third eye to find hidden objects in order to progress. We don’t want to waste people’s time. This means creating puzzles that always have something visually interesting to grab your attention, but to find a solution you have to see what’s possible with the interaction of both worlds. .
C. Bedford: The technology we used created significant limitations on how levels could be physically constructed. We had to be careful with the texture work so that there were no gaps in the geometry when the player used Michelle’s powers. Being able to see things in first person as well meant that every area had to be completely designed, even if it wasn’t normally visible when walking around.
One of the challenges we’ve always struggled with was designing things that look cool or interesting when you switch between views, but in certain situations the camera angle we choose becomes difficult to see. Masu. All of our fixed cameras were chosen for ease of movement with modern controls, so it was a very delicate balance.
The solution to most problems was to be more process conscious, do lots of testing, and look at each area carefully.
How can we play differently in these two worlds? What was the idea behind giving the two lands completely different ways for players to interact with the enemies in those lands? ?
tom bedford: We wanted a mechanism that could change the appearance of the world and characters, provide alternative dialogue to explore these differences, and be used as a tool for solving puzzles. In early builds, the Third Eye changed the entire world when activated, but we found that limiting the ability to a small radius around the player provided many benefits. First of all, it’s really cool how the world changes as you walk around. More importantly, the physical shape now gives us something that can be used to provide a greater variety of interactions.
C. Bedford: The original idea was to have different enemies in each world, giving players a reason to switch between enemies. The desolate and abandoned area was then transformed to be populated only by demonic enemies, and the Third Eye allowed players to peer into the past and learn about the lives of other victims. In this initial implementation, you will no longer be able to participate in combat if your vision is open. I had to close my third eye to fight.
This was kind of interesting, but felt like the pacing was off as there were other areas that were too heavy on exposition and dialogue. Michelle was already able to use her visual abilities to solve puzzles, but the combat was still missing something. After adding physical shape to Third Eye, we considered how it could help players fight enemies, rather than relying strictly on the environment.
We thought about the player’s position during shooting. We thought it would be a lot like the light gun games you play at arcades. What’s really fun about this play style is that you have to shoot at the weak points of moving targets. And we realized that this vision could be used to do just that. We had to decide how to balance the risk and reward of a mechanic like this, and it completely changed the game for the better. This meant that players were able to do something truly satisfying during combat.
Michelle fights back against her curse by battling creepy, surreal beasts from hell. What kind of thoughts are put into their designs? Can you tell us about the creation of one of her enemies and how it relates to the game’s different visual styles?
C. Bedford: The first thing that came to mind was that I didn’t want to blatantly take advantage of humans or disfigure them. Normally a horror staple, it’s easy to fall into the trap of “wheelchairs are scary!” I don’t like that. So we decided to make the enemies more animal-like. In the area where Michelle lives, where the demon world is leaking, people are influenced by the demon world and take on completely different forms. Or vice versa, small animals are affected by darkness and become more human-like. They come from a chaotic world with blurred boundaries, so it makes sense that they’re a mesh of recognizable creatures and features.
We try to keep enemy designs in line with the location and theme of each level. For example, the subway station area of the demo has rats, which are often found in these types of places. I think these are great symbols of hoarding, and this ties in with previous victims we encountered in this area. She is obsessed with money, gaining wealth and hoarding more cash. She wanted to piece things together like this.
In other instances, some enemy designs are things I’ve seen in nightmares that I thought would be useful in a horror setting.
Similarly, Michelle has infernal weapons that she can use against monsters. What ideas went into creating a weapon that looks like it was born from hell?
tom bedford: It’s a shame to have these bold characters and not have the powerful weapons to go with them. Early ideas were about a demonic companion who morphed between different guns. You can see that every weapon still has eyes and teeth, although that aspect isn’t incorporated into the game. They are definitely out of this world.
C. Bedford: When it came to weapons, I just followed my instincts and the Law of Cool. [laughs]. It’s a lot of fun to use the characters’ weapons. It basically becomes part of their silhouette and an extension of their personality. Michelle, as a character, is very conscious about the way she dresses. Her weapon should be something she wouldn’t be embarrassed to carry or clash with her outfit. The great thing about video games is that you can create worlds. So I can offer her something like that. Otherwise, I have to write a conversation with her complaining about how unattractive her gear is.