DARKSPIRE

In June 2024, shortly after the closure of Roll7, I teamed-up with Bill Lowe and Drew Jones, two key members of the Rollerdrome team to create Heart Key.

Our goal was not only to develop another fantastic game, but to recreate a little slice of Roll7 around a small, unique project.

From October ’24, armed with a killer pitch and a sick prototype, we pitched to dozens of publishers in an attempt to secure a deal.

Ever the optimist, despite many warnings that there’s no money out there, I was convinced we could beat the odds thanks to our team pedigree and a killer game concept.

THE PITCH

Below is an edited version of the pitch deck, with the production and commercial slides removed.

“DARKSPIRE is a cinematic, survival horror game that cannot be trusted”

Cinematic – leveraging fixed-cameras for maximum vibes. We wanted to create the sense that you’re playing a long-lost Argento dark-fantasy movie. “A24 don’t make games, but if they did…”

Survival Horror – a love-letter to the classic, with Resident Evil (2002) being the benchmark for the best in the genre

Cannot Be Trusted – a horror games’ ability to scare us diminishes once we know its secrets, but DARKSPIRE will keep you on your toes by changing the world layout, puzzles, item locations and jump-scares on each playthrough.

MY ROLE AT HEART KEY

Biz Dev – Reached out to and booked dozens of pitch calls with dozens of publishers, platform holders and other third-parties.

Pitching – I created the pitch presentation and delivered it to said third-parties.

Prototyping – Working with Bill Lowe to develop our playable prototype build.

MY ROLE ON DARKSPIRE

Creative Direction – Everything from the concept, narrative, setting, visual identity

Game Design – Every aspect of the game design, controls, movement, combat, items, weapons, enemies, puzzles, levels and the dread director

Level Design – I hand crafted 14 rooms for the prototype, blocking out layouts, setting up fixed-cameras, doing an initial pass of the lighting, placing items, scripting events and puzzles

The Dread Director – Designed the rule-set that powers The Dread Director, a suite of systems that randomizes the layout of the world, distributes key items and consumables, arranges puzzles and jump scares. The goal, to create a project with an ebb-and-flow of tension-and-release that’ll keep players on their toes after dozens of playthroughs.

WRAP IT UP

We went the distance with a couple of publishers, but sadly they decided to pass.

Not the outcome we’d hoped for but I met tonnes of new folks in parts of the industry I’d not previously occupied, learned a tonne of new stuff and generally had a blast.

I’m incredibly proud of the pitch and prototype we created. No regrets.

BONUS CONTENT

Some visual development of a more retro, stylised aesthetic.