About The Mysterious Untitled Adventure...

[Möwe]

"more akin to recent horror movies (that is, the good ones)"

could you please name some?

[Agustin]

Well, naming some may hint too much at the game... or perhaps give the wrong impression. Let's just say that one of the styles we're looking to approach is the one seen in the Saw movies.

Just to dispel any doubts, this new game WON'T be teen horror, God forbid...

[Imari]

Hi Augustin and Alejandro!
Congratulations on Scratches. Its fame is much deserved.

I'm hoping that the next game will not have a lot of gore in it. Scratches was a perfect mix of anticipation and dread, yet there was never any real gore. I thought it was brilliant and classy. It was also perfect for Alejandro's subdued and elegant art styling. I'm glad that you're going to continue with the point-and-click interface and first person perspective.

Can't wait until the game comes out!

[Agustin]

Well, to be honest, we want to pursue another style this time. Or, to put in different words, we don't want to mimic Scratches. That said, the new game will share many of the things that made Scratches such a great experience.

There might be a little gore here and there though... not buckets of blood, mind you - psychological horror will still be the primary genre, but we want to "spice" things up a little. The story certainly allows for it (which wasn't the case in Scratches).

[Lale]

Thanks Imari for your comments... sorry for my delay of response, but I´m fighting with the dictionary hehe... We want to experiment with another style now, because if you make two games similar inmediatly you have the risk to boring, and yoursel boring doing the same for second time... the next game I think will be diferent but equal in some way, the soul of scratches, the psychological horror as Agustin said is the same... and the diferent aspect I think is a big unexpected sorprise.

[Möwe]

I loved the story of scratches. But another style will be great. I think, you guys have a certain attitude and concept about how an adventure game should to be: THAT is what should remain the same in every game, every thing else may change!
Looking forward for the untiteled project to evolve! :D

[Disco]

Hello Augustin and Alejandro. Congratulations of the success of Scratches, it is well deserved. The upcoming title sounds intriguing.

I have a question about the game features. I realise you don't want to give anything specific, but I am confused by the wording here:



Your memories will play a very important role in this game


From this I am not sure whether you mean the character's memories or the player's memories, as in successfully completing the game relies on common knowledge/real life stuff. What is meant by this?

[Agustin]

From this I am not sure whether you mean the character's memories or the player's memories, as in successfully completing the game relies on common knowledge/real life stuff. What is meant by this?
Oh one, those puzzles that rely on real-life knowledge truly suck (except when they're downright obvious, such as basic scientific knowledge).

What I mean is that the memories of the main character (and yours, as the player) will be extremely important and take part in puzzles. This aspect of the game will be comfortably handled via the interface though, so no worries!

[Imari]

Okay, so I'll have to take lots of notes for the puzzles and I'll have to keep my eyes shut when the blood starts spurting.... ;D

Honestly, I'm not a horror fan, but I enjoyed Scratches so much that I'd probably play anything that you guys produced.... well, maybe not a shooter.

[Agustin]

You'll be probably glad to know that puzzles will be more "friendly" this time. Still challenging, mind you, but it will be more evident what to do next, as opposed in Scratches where you had to figure all out on your own.

As for the gore, we may include an option to play a "clean" version of the game. I must warn you: this adventure will be disturbing, even without any gore. Then again, if you think about it, the ending in Scratches implied some quite disturbing possibilities as well.

[Neverwinter]

Is this new adventure a Prequal to Scratches? Please say it is :P

[Möwe]

this adventure will be disturbing ;D ;D ;D
please disturb me

[Lale]

No, the idea is make a diferent history independent of scratches, but I don´t Know how much can I tell you... No much ok, you have to wait a little more... and yes, it will be scarry and disturbing...

[Agustin]

Hehe... "scarry" as in scarring your emotions and your soul for the rest of your life ;D You will never forget this experience, take our word for it.

And no, no Scratches prequel, sorry. Although there are a few Scratches related surprises for the immediate future ;)

[Neverwinter]

:O Agustin you must tell us now, the suspense will kill us :( what are these Scratches Related Surprises?

[Möwe]

surprise: he won' t say! ;D

[Agustin]

Indeed: I won't say :P But it has to do with new content... there you go, start drooling all over that!

[Neverwinter]

SCRATCHES 2?! THE EXPANSION?! WILL IT BE CALLED "ITCH" :O :O :O Tell more pleaseeee!

[Agustin]

No sequels nor prequels, sorry. We don't if anything like that will ever come to be...

[Agustin]

As the “title” suggests, this is still in early stages of development. While the plot and structure of our next game have been decided and are complete, we're still not quite ready to disclose that much information. The reason is that we want it to be a surprise and we're planning a very unique promotion. You should be catching the first glimpse of it early next year.

I believe it's time we state clearly that this new game won't have anything to do with Scratches. It's a completely separate project and, dare we say, in many ways its fully opposite. Generally speaking, it will be a game among the same lines: first-person horror, strictly adventure with no action sequences, you will be very in touch with the emotions of the main character, and that's about where the similarities end. While the interface will have several improvements, it will be also point and click. The game and story itself will be very different though. Let's just say it will be... a rather nasty experience.

We have been hinting at some of its features in our website. Adding two new clues to the already existing four, we're now at a whooping six:


It will be a horror first-person adventure
It will take place in a single location, over the course of one night
There will be several characters to interact with, as well as many others appearing in various cutscenes
Your memories will play a very important role in this game
The whole atmosphere will feel stylish and edgy, more akin to recent horror movies (that is, the good ones)
It will introduce an exciting new type of character's journal

[GSeven]

Ag, when you say the game will be distrubing and have some blood in it; would it be different enough for the rating to go to M, rather than what it is now, T?

[Agustin]

Yes, I think we might be looking at an M rating here.

We will consider toning down some of the disturbing aspects of the game via a menu option though.

[Nuxly]

We will consider toning down some of the disturbing aspects of the game via a menu option though.

Does it mean we will have the silent hill-like fog effect?

....also... can you tell us more about this option to remove the blood? If I correctly understood, you will have to make a "clean" version of each room... Will all the images be with the game? Won't it take about GigaBits ?

[Agustin]

Well, it's a bit early to discuss about those details. I think I may have explained myself incorrectly - it's not like every single room in the game will be painted in blood. And we certainly won't make a clean version of all of them! If one room happens to be particularly bloody, then we can simply redo it without the gore - but not if it's only a matter of drops!

Since most of the disturbing aspects will take place during cutscenes, I think we can just "cut" those videos easily in the clean version (very much like cuts in ordinary movies) when the option is enabled.

This will be decided during final stages of development though and it all depends on how "nasty" the game is resulting (once again, please don't take the impression that this will be gorefest, that's certainly not the case!).

[PolloDiablo2]

Ah, great to see you are still around to answer questions. I missed most of Monday due to login problems and all of Tuesday because of a business trip. I will think of some questions to ask later tonight or tomorrow morning, if I understand correctly Thursday is "all questions to all developers" day which is perfect for people who've not been able to visit, like me. :)