With the release of the Backrooms movie, and other movies like EXIT 8 that is also based on a videogame, we wanted to discuss a bit more in-depth the development process behind our Backrooms game, and how this project came to be. While it has turned out into a great opportunity thanks to the phenomenon’s popularity growing even bigger, Backrooms Level X was a project made with love by a developer who’s a fan and published by Firenut Games.
That’s right: the game was a solo development project, where programming, lighting, level design, enemy AI… was all done by just one developer, with a bit of support for character modelling done by the studio developing one of our big projects for this year, Baptiste.
The goal was to make it more accessible to people who weren’t familiar with it and to give more content to avid fans alike. That’s why the game is a mix of iconic levels from the source material and newer, different ones that keep the same level of eeriness. In them you can also find the recurring theme of chess. These levels and the way you navigate them are inspired by top-down mazes that you can find in workbooks.
Both as a developer and a publisher, you need games that follow trends to be developed quickly and, most importantly, to have something that makes them different or better from all the others flooding the market. Here are some ways in which Backrooms Level X achieves this: it also has a lot of character thanks to many of its other hidden secrets, like gnomes spread across some levels, the secret appearance of a giant rat, the sounds in Russian coming from a radio that repeat a secret number in some levels… And even a jumpscare where the developer’s eyes appear! Of course, we can’t forget about the rubber ducks used to solve some puzzles either. They will stare at the player and their eyes will glow!
But that’s not all there is to Backrooms Level X: the sheer amount of references, including its achievements, are another way to get the attention of fans of all kinds, who are sure to find at least one or two they know and love. Players can also find references to other Firenut games, like Baptiste and Chrysolite (who also shares the developer with Backrooms Level X), helping create a shared lore and universe between our games. There’s even a character in the game, a man carrying a suitcase, that is inspired by Half Life’s G-Man, and he repeats a line from Chrysolite.
So as you can see, Backrooms Level X is a game based on a popular phenomenon that just doesn’t go with the flow, but has its own personality and identity. Not only that, but it also goes well with the other games in our catalogue, and helps us grow and strengthen our brand. With this, we hope to showcase that there are many ways in which you can make use of trends, and that when you have a deep understanding and respect for them, your products will turn out more genuine and better.
Backrooms Level X is now available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, and XBOX ONE and XBOX Series X|S. Make sure you check it out if you haven't yet, and follow us on social media to stay tuned for any news!