Hide and Shriek Mansion is an ambitious point and click adventure game currently under development. We had the opportunity to sit down with the lead developer Stephen Espion, and he shared his thoughts and ideas of the development of the game with us.
XP4T: What’s your background? Do you have experience developing games?
Stephen: I’ve not had any direct experience developing – my involvement in the games industry started in QA testing and localization management, which then led to cinematics, motion capture and trailer production, but I’ve been learning Unity for a few years now, and have a team who are more experienced, helping to produce this title. When I was a teenager, I always wanted to make a point and click adventure game, since I was a huge fan of Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and Day of the Tentacle. I decided that it was best to just start developing one, rather than always thinking about doing it. Putting the ideas down on paper definitely helped to collect all of the different elements into a cohesive game that would be fun.
XP4T: How is this project being funded?
Stephen: The prototype is being developed on a shoestring budget, but we’re hoping to get funding on Kickstarter and find publisher interested when we are ready to show a gameplay video that is good enough to show. If we can get enough support, we’ll get everybody on board full time, and start a small studio.
XP4T: How many people are working or have worked on this project?
Stephen: Just four at the moment; two environment artists, one programmer and myself as the creative director. At the moment, everybody is working remotely, and in their spare time. I wrote the design document and decided on the visual style, and have broken the gameplay mechanics down for the team to focus on individual elements. I’m working closely with the programmer to create the navigation, camera and inventory systems, and blocking out the game world with placeholder assets that the artists are creating from scratch. It’s all coming together slowly, but we are still months away from having a game that is playable.
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