Dev Dialogs Direct Interviews Svklmrt on In The Facade We Trust
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DEV DIALOGS DIRECT INTERVIEWS SVKLMRT ON IN THE FACADE WE TRUST
Svklmrt was kind enough to allow me to ask them a few questions about their experience developing In The Facade We Trust. The story behind developing a video game from the perspective of an indie developer always intrigues me. I’m not a video game developer, so I like to learn what goes into every stage of developing a video game.
I asked the questions, and Svklmrt kindly replied. This is Dev Dialogs Direct interviews Svklmrt on In The Facade We Trust.
Is In The Facade We Trust your first video game as an Independent developer? Do you have any prior experience?
Yes, it’s my first game. I haven’t made any games before.
What emotional response do you hope to evoke from players with your video game?
The frightening allure of curiosity.
What is the primary theme you wanted to explore? What is the main character’s motivation?
The feeling of having to decide the unknown.
The character has only one motivation: to survive.
There are not a lot of jump scares, and the ones that exist are effective. What was your strategy in maintaining a scary game but limiting jump scares to make them effective?
As it says on the store page, “This is not a game of I screamder, I scared.” This is a game of struggling with manipulation, the unknown, and being dependent on someone and therefore having to trust. Thanks to this, there is no need for jumpscares except for sequences such as escaping/getting caught.
The Steam page for In The Facade We Trust discloses the use of AI-generated voice and visual content. The use of AI can evoke mixed feelings from gamers. What are your thoughts on the use of AI, and why did you choose to use AI in your game?
I used AI voice acting because I didn’t have a budget, and I’m just a student. If I had a bigger budget, I wouldn’t use AI voice acting. AI voice acting is still not as good as human voice actors, but if they are at least as good as voice actors in the future, I will still use them.
What was your biggest challenge when developing the game? How did you overcome the challenge?
Animations. Making animations is very difficult, and finding free animations is even more difficult. I was either going to do it myself or buy them for a fee. As I said, I am a student, and I didn’t have a budget, so I did it myself. The only way to do it is to spend time on it, if you give up and are lazy, you will end up with a half-baked job. I once worked for 8 hours for an animation that would only last 5 seconds. This was, of course, because I was also learning the game engine.
What has been your biggest challenge since releasing the game? How have you managed the challenge?
Of course, to advertise it. Every day, dozens of games are released on Steam, thousands a year. Of course, a slightly attentive user will notice that 90% of these games are projects that have not been worked on and are not expected to sell. But the competition among the remaining 10% is very intense. So I asked people to play. I explained my situation to YouTubers and Streamers. The game must have caught their attention because the response rate to the emails was something like 1/50… And believe me, this is a good number.
What advice would you give to aspiring indie horror video game developers?
A game should be developed with a good plan, even the simplest game. It should be divided into parts and done one by one, and it should be done according to a schedule. They should not work outside of that day’s working hours or slack off from work. Otherwise, they will burn out very quickly, and the project will remain unfinished.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
If you know a programming language, focus on the mobile sector. If you don’t know much about programming, focus on the PC sector. You can produce much more creative work for the PC in a much shorter time with very little programming knowledge.
OBJECTIVE COMPLETE
Now that you know a bit about Svklmrt, check out the featured article on In The Facade We Trust. You’ll explore aspects of the video game that left enough of an impact for Ties That Bind Gaming to seek out an interview with its developer.
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