#Blud is an motion RPG with vampiric overtones and is the debut sport from Exit 73 studios. In our assessment, we talked about how the sport touches on nostalgia, but additionally brings again a few of these basic 90s TV Sequence vibes as properly. It additionally encompasses a distinctive utilization of social media, as its X/Twitter-like program can be utilized each to put up selfies but additionally to maintain observe of sidequests.
Just lately, we chatted with the heads of Exit 73 studios to debate the lengthy journey of #BLUD from brief video to full launch.
Twinfinite’s Damiano Gerli has been talking to Exit 73 Studios’ Artwork and Sound Designer Bob Fox and Author and Sport Producer Gregory Lane.
Twinfinite’s Damiano Gerli: Blud undoubtedly brings some heavy 90s cartoon vibes, what have been your inspirations engaged on Becky and the remainder of the solid?
Exit 73 Studios’ Greg Lane: A variety of Becky’s pals fill roles just like social gathering members of a tabletop RPG. Terrell is the healer, Morgan is the witch, and so forth… however there’s additionally quite a lot of affect from different ‘ensemble’ casts. (Ali wouldn’t be such a recurring character if Cordelia didn’t hang around with Buffy first.)
Damiano Gerli: So far as vampire inspiration goes, which have been your greatest ones? I undoubtedly really feel some Buffy in there, for the reason that general narrative framework undoubtedly works carefully to that of a TV sequence.
Greg: Buffy for positive. Couldn’t even get by way of the primary reply with out going there. Lol. Whereas
there’s a actual Carpentersville within the US, our city title is derived to honor the grasp of horror,
John Carpenter. However yeah – Blade, Misplaced Boys, all of it appears to be truthful sport.
Damiano Gerli: How does Twilight and the “shiny vampires” mania, think about so far as #Blud inspirations go?
Greg: There’s some extent within the story the place Becky’s mentor tells her she must “smite the vampire
lord Dragur”, to which she responds “he’s going to be so smitten”. Corey then chimes in with an “I
hope they’re not that type of vampires.” We needed to drive residence the thought of killing vampires
as a substitute of falling in love with them.
Damiano Gerli: That is your first sport as Exit 73 studios, have you ever labored on something beforehand gaming-
associated?
Bob: Our first involvement within the sport business was once we have been requested by Capybara Video games to
animate all of the cutscenes for Cartoon Networks O.Okay.Okay.O Let’s Play Heroes! It was one in every of our
favourite experiences as an animation studio they usually have been completely superb to work with. It
undoubtedly acquired us a bit extra desirous about studying extra concerning the gaming business.
Damiano Gerli: You talked about in a put up on X that you’ve been engaged on the sport for a number of years. How was the journey from the primary drawings to the ultimate product?
Bob: #Blud initially began as a pitch for an animated sequence years in the past. We animated a brief check and created a pitch bible, however by no means actually garnered any traction, so we shelved the thought. Afterward, we needed to begin testing out making a sport and went by way of a bunch of our outdated concepts, we ultimately settled on Blud. After getting a demo collectively, we took it to a number of conventions and saved tinkering with it. We lastly have been in a position to land a writer and had the time to complete our sport.
Damiano Gerli: Talking of gameplay, #Blud is an actual time motion rpg/journey, what have been/are your favourite video games within the style and the way did they arrive into play when designing the gameplay?
Greg: Legend of Zelda: A Hyperlink to the Previous was undoubtedly the most important pillar. The liberty and
potential to discover a city at your personal tempo lined up with our venture aim of letting gamers really feel like
they’re in a cartoon. For a number of of our boss battles and mini-games, we reached outdoors style
conventions, seeking to video games like Battletoads, Punch Out!, and even Quantity Munchers.
Something that would hit the mechanics of nostalgia, actually.
Damiano Gerli: #Blud additionally closely options social media amongst its gameplay mechanics. What’s your relationship with social media and the way did it affect its function within the sport?
Greg: Because the title was set from the unique sequence pitch, we needed to make use of that as a
basis of worldbuilding. The primary draft of the mission log was going to be utilizing the participant’s
notes app, however we shortly transitioned to social media, since we may have extra interactions with
NPCs (for sidequests and issues like that). We leveraged the hashtags in our social media system
as hints, in case gamers don’t need to learn and parse by way of the textual content, or simply get caught up at a
look. Personally, I’m a recovering neighborhood supervisor, so I’ve spent an exorbitant period of time on
social media. The themes of our relationship with social media play strongly in our sport. It’s
actually a parallel to the soul-sucking nature of vampires.
Damiano Gerli: the staff that labored on #blud is unquestionably small, with solely 5 folks (if I bear in mind accurately). How did you handle the work over a number of years of sport growth?
Greg: Yeah, our staff is 2 artists (Chris & Bob) in Lengthy Island, two programmers (Andrew &
Cody) in NJ & FL, and myself in Maryland. Pre-pandemic, we went to quite a lot of festivals and occasions
treating them as “mini-milestones” to get work accomplished. In the course of the pandemic, we had the chance to accomplice with Humble Video games to pivot to full-time growth. (There’s no telling how lengthy we might be at it if we didn’t swap issues up!) The 5 of us are all in the identical time zone, so we will spend a lot of the day in a video chat, developing with concepts or tackling areas of growth. It’s been an actual delight to get the sport into the arms of gamers in any case this time!
#BLUD launched on June 18, 2024, printed by Humble Video games. It’s at the moment accessible on Steam.