Friendslop games may come and go, but (essentially) the granddaddy of them all, Deadly company is still the one I think about the most. It's scary, it's funny, it's otherworldly, literally, there are so many mysteries in it that you just want to spend time in this world. But while it will likely go down as one of solo developer Zickers's most notable works, he's just released a brand new horror game that's been 10 years in the making. And in a recent interview, he talked about how he got his start in the horror genre and the roots behind his latest work.
Talking to GamesRadarZickers noted that he “didn't start out making horror games, but I found my home in the genre. I don't know why, but I think fear has been my primary emotion since I was a child. But this is a deeper thing; the emotional spectrum of fear and courage, hope and despair is my way of interpreting the world. As an artist, this is my first language.
You can really feel it even in Lethal Company. Of course, this is a horror game, but as you play it turns into comedy, drama, tragedy, it is capable of much more than just scaring. As for his latest game, Welcome to the dark placeZickers also talks about a fairly wide influence, citing games such as Kentucky Route Zero and its magical realism. “This game goes down mind-bending text rabbit holes where you tell yourself a story,” he said.
Untold stories from No Code (now Screen Burn, currently working on Silent Hill: The City) was also a source of inspiration, but the biggest one was the classic text adventure game Zork. “When I was a kid, about 10 years old, someone downloaded Zork onto the family computer and let me go. I remember feeling like it was the most realistic and mysterious game I had ever played,” Zickers explained.
I'm sure the burning question you might have is, “How the hell did it take 10 years to make a text-based game?” Well, the answer is good old-fashioned scaling up. Because text is much easier to implement than 3D models or environments, as Zickers says, “As soon as I think of something, it can be played.” But it caused things to spiral out of control, which he sometimes described as “maddening.”
In the years since his creation, games such as Lethal Company and his other works such as It steals and Dead Seater was obviously in the way too. But Zickers continues to be an interesting developer because he doesn't tie himself to one type of game, even if he will always return to horror.
Oh, and if you didn't know, “Welcome to the Dark Place” free on Steamso even if Halloween is a few days away, you don't have much of an excuse not to try this.
