Fellow Generation-X alumni, do you remember those things called magazines where you’d avidly read each page back to back and stumble upon a film, band, or author, and read a Q&A and gain instantaneous respect, enthusiasm and/or inspiration for the things that an artist has said about their work?
That’s the spark I’m going with based on the feedback I had back from Party for Introverts – creators of the upcoming psychological horror Cabernet game – a tale of a young vampire contending with their morals in the late 19th century.
If you read anything today, please read through their answers, as it not only gives a glimpse into the other side of gaming, that is, creativity, but also builds further anticipation for this exciting game. Should you decide to come back and frequent this website? Great! But the achievements to unlock today are to read the following, then wishlisting the game on Steam.
A Q&A With Party For Introverts
Party for Introverts has to be one of the best studio names around. But what’s in a name? Are you both bona fide introverts, or is it a ploy to garner one’s attention while the other sneaks up and suck(er) punches our blood?
100% introverts here, albeit slightly different kinds! Arseniy is up for going to the party; however, he can be a bit reserved when first meeting new people, and his social battery tends to run out rather quickly. Laura, on the other hand, needs to be dragged to the party. She’ll be friendly and outgoing once there, but will then need 3 days of social recovery afterwards.
Arseniy, you’ve worked with triple-A titles such as Death Stranding, Blood & Truth, and Returnal. How different is the process for working on a smaller title? Are they comparable, aside from the scale?
Although very different in some ways, they are most certainly comparable. In my biased opinion, I believe that working in AAA can be a strong advantage for any aspiring indie developer. It provides valuable insight into the industry, teaches you how to work with different disciplines and personalities, and last but not least, helps generate connections that can be extremely important when you are trying to set up and grow a business.
Perhaps the biggest differences are:
a) Working in one specific discipline in most AAA positions vs doing everything all at once in a small team as an indie
b) Not often being able to choose what you work on in AAA and maintaining a certain emotional distance from the project vs working on your own IP as an indie and feeling like every decision and outcome are extremely personal and hugely important (even when they aren’t).
All of these are valuable experiences, and both AAA and indie can certainly learn from each other across the board!
Have you encountered any significant difficulties with the game development – be it technical or creative, i.e. were there any hurdles in encompassing the core story whilst keeping it still playable?
Our games always tend to start from story and emotional beats. We then choose everything else based upon what we think will assist in telling this narrative. There are so many fun mechanics that can go along with vampires and vampire games, but we really had to consider what kinds of things served OUR types of vampires in OUR type of world. For example, should we let our protagonist fully and freely rampage? Could this be fun for some players? Yes. Does it make sense within our world? No. (Don’t worry there is still plenty of blood sucking to be had!)
As such, we had to come up with specific feeding codes for our late-19th century inspired society that reinforced the story we wanted to tell. Tricky, but a fun exercise in world building too.
When developing a game, do you look for inspiration from similar titles from other genres, or do you shy away from games altogether and are led by the story and look at various media?
A little of all of the above. Cabernet is a bit of a blend when it comes to genre, and we like it that way! As players ourselves, we tend to be drawn to really story-rich titles, whether that be RPGs, action, adventure, puzzle, visual novels etc. However, we are led by all types of art; in fact, we often find ourselves in our most creative moods after consuming other mediums, most notably literature, TV and graphic novels. We believe that drawing inspiration from these other works can give our video games more depth, especially as we more so want to capture the feelings that our favorite stories inspire rather than iterate on existing titles and genres.
Laura, you say your stories are emotion-driven and non-traditional – do you have go-to material that inspires?
My professional background is actually in theatre producing, so the dramatics and storytelling of live performance certainly influences what I do at Party for Introverts. Additionally, I have quite a personal fondness for the genre I like to call “horror with heart” (more unsettling than scary, more searching than hopeless), so I think that has served me well in creating Cabernet. Like everyone else, I always eagerly await the next Mike Flanagan project— Midnight Mass is a particular favorite for this former Catholic school kid. And I am such a massive admirer of Joe Hill’s writing. I love pretty much everything he creates, but he somehow manages to write some of the most incredible heroines. Vic McQueen and Harper Grayson have my heart, and I’m sure subconsciously helped shape how we approached Cabernet’s protagonist, Liza.
Art conjures up historical scenarios to enable us to reflect on what is happening in the now, making it more digestible for those who might not see what’s under their noses. Does Cabernet have a particular message you want to convey?
Definitely. Our game touches upon themes including the cyclical nature of history, corruption, and the impact of alcoholism/addiction on interpersonal relationships– all things that remain relevant to this day. From a historical perspective, we particularly chose to set the game in the late 1800’s as we were interested in exploring these themes through the lens of the rise of industry and mass production.
However, in the end, we’d have to say that the main message of our game is that despite feelings of hardship and hopelessness, the choices we make can have a subtle yet powerful impact.
Ignoring the fact that the video gaming industry is lucrative from a business perspective, do you think that narrative-focused games are finally earning their respect as an art form?
That’s a tricky one… because there is definitely still a stigma attached to video games as a whole by some in the greater arts community. However, we do think that as games continue to permeate the larger popular consciousness, even being adapted to other forms of media, there starts to be a greater openness to respect games as art. Especially with a narrative game, where it’s largely about telling a compelling story, if you expose a non-gamer to it there is often definitely an “aha!” moment of recognition that it’s trying to do the same thing as any other piece of art (evoke emotion), just in a different format. But for now, a lot of the respect does still mainly come from within the gaming community.
It is also not so easy to obtain financial success or even initial funding for narrative-driven games in the current market. Sure, some teams do make it big, but the genre is still considered to be somewhat niche even within our industry. We, of course, certainly hope that it becomes much more mainstream, which will allow more teams to express themselves in the way they really want.
There is still a lot of work to be done and simply time needed– but we really do believe it will get there!
With games like Oxenfree becoming freely available while plodding through Netflix (who, of course, produced), would you like to see people playing Cabernet on their streaming devices in the future?
I mean, that would be amazing! The more exposure for indie games like Cabernet the better. We are always up for figuring out new ways of getting Cabernet out to new audiences. Of course this all requires funding, resources, and some pretty big connections, so we will have to see.
Aside from the stellar voice talent for the game, who would play the real-life cast in Cabernet? Shying away from the assumed internet response of Jenna Ortega as Liza, I was picking up Aubrey Plaza, which, amusingly, her image features on your Twitter page, Arseniy. Or could Laura play the lead? Who would play the Countess?
It’s interesting you mention Jenna Ortega and Aubrey Plaza. While we love both of their work, we actually think they share a bit more in common with our icy vampiress Alisa. A little more deadpan and a little more unhinged in the best possible way. Liza, on the other hand, comes into the game with a bit more warmth as a trained doctor and a history of helping people (although the player can choose whether to expand upon this initial character trait or diverge from it).
Laura certainly wouldn’t say no to playing Liza, however she prefers someone like Elle Fanning (have you seen her in The Great?!, she’s remarkable); someone who is able to portray vulnerability and optimism one moment then sharp intelligence and strength the next. For the Countess, a Cate Blanchett or Rosamund Pike type- someone commanding but able to reveal cracks underneath.
What are you most proud of with Cabernet?
That we are actually making it! It’s quite a leap of faith to make any piece of art let alone a full length game with only two core people. It was very much an “if not now, when?” scenario that made us take the plunge.
From an in-game perspective, we are really proud of the characters we crafted. They all represent integral facets of the story and themes we wished to explore. We honestly really care about all of them, and for us, the game world would feel incomplete without them.
Hypothetically speaking, what would you choose from one of Liza’s perks? (No judging here).
Laura: Bat flying all the way! I do wonder why we can’t fly, and I would have way too much guilt and anxiety to indulge in the others (hypnotism, feeding, invisibility).
Arseniy: Invisibility (not in a creepy way though!). I just think it would feel tremendously satisfying to disappear and enjoy your own company somewhere in the middle of the busy city or a crowded party.
What are you both playing at the moment?
Laura: Next up for me is the AI: The Somnium Files sequel. Despite some questionable elements, I will forever be obsessed with the Zero Escape series, so anything by those creators is always on my list. Weird, dark, philosophical sci-fi peppered with metaphysics, what more could a girl want?
Arseniy: Such good timing for this question! I just finished Goodbye Volcano High yesterday, and it is without a doubt one of the best titles I’ve played in years. I was waiting for it since the announcement, and it ended up being everything I wanted it to be. Sending KO_OP devs my sincere admiration and respect waves!
It’s a cheeky shot in the dark, but how close are we to a release date? Will we see this on console?
2024. If you’re looking for further specifics, sorry our lips are sealed for now!
As for consoles, right now we can only say that it’s certainly something on our minds.
And, because this is predominantly a vampire-themed title, what’s your favourite vampire tale? If it’s Twilight, I’m hanging up.
Laura: Don’t worry, it’s not Twilight! (However, as a teen female in the mid 2000’s it would be a lie to say I haven’t read them) Still, I’ll eschew boring literary picks here and give you some fun ones. As mentioned, I’m a HUGE Joe Hill fan, so “NOS4A2” is up there with its pseudo-vampire figure. I also remember loving “Sunshine” and “In the Forests of the Night” as a kid– they felt a little dangerous and sexy to my pre-teen self and definitely ignited my love of vampires at a young age.
Arseniy: You know what, screw it. There are obviously so many amazing vampire stories and characters that I can go on and on about, but this time I’ll call out a TV show from the 90s “Der kleine Vampir – Neue Abenteuer“, based on a German children’s book series. I was obsessed with it in my childhood, and I believe that this is my Rosebud when it comes to my passion for vampires that, of course, only grew stronger by indulging in more serious pieces of literature, movies, TV, graphic novels, and, of course, games.
Party for Introverts are Arseniy Klishin and Laura Gray. Thank you so much to the pair for taking the time to answer these questions. Liza was unavailable for comment, but you can reach her through the Cabernet Steam page below.
