Independent video games have existed basically since the medium’s creation, though it wasn’t until relatively recently that releasing one’s passion projects to a global audience became feasible. The advent of the online marketplace has changed the way smaller creators can distribute content. Where once a finished product would have been relinquished to Cool Math Games for students to play in their labs during computer applications class, there now exists a glossy Steam page for it, with a great big Add To Cart button beside a piece of shiny capsule art.
The genie is out of the bottle. Game development, now more than ever, is for anyone. But it is certainly not for everyone. You need to be ready to put an unthinkable amount of time and effort into the grind, and even then you will need to steel yourself for disappointment. As it turns out, many are brave or stupid enough to take the plunge; and they walk among you…
The Water Cooler
No one working on HeavenX does game development for a living. We’d guess that we’re not alone. This is the kind of industry that puts bread on the table for only a select few, and getting anywhere requires a few years in the mud to prove your worth. In the meantime, we gather in the break room at your office, earning an honest living and biding our time.
Maybe one day we’ll be free from the rat race. Free to pursue our own dreams on our own terms. Free from the well-loved office bathrooms and the droning hum of its fluorescent lights.
Maybe not, though. Perhaps we’ll just gracefully age around the water cooler until it’s finally time to retire. If that time ever comes…
It was within the absurdity of office life that we found the soul of HeavenX’s narrative. During one of our stand-ups, a member of our dev team was exhausted from a busy week of work, and recounted that his higher-up had told him, “I need you to go ahead and remove the term “off the clock” from your vocabulary.” We laughed. It was like something you’d hear in Office Space. A level of inhumanity mixed with droll absurdity that flipped a switch on the direction of the project. HeavenX needed to be an office simulator. The possibilities were suddenly endless.
Hot Around the Collar
All of the work-related horror stories we’d share became fuel for a growing fire of spiteful creativity. The story of HeavenX had always taken place at a megacorporation, but had relied primarily on leaked “reference documents” to move the plot forward. It wasn’t until around then that we decided to tell the story via emails and direct messages to simulate a true-to-life dystopian salaryman experience.
Since then, the reference documents have been repurposed alongside a node-based story system. In practice it’s quite similar to a visual novel, taking place within a few chat programs on a digital desktop interface. You interact with your coworkers in meaningful ways that change the outcome of the story and allow you to discover the mysteries of the game's world in an organic, earned way.
Of course, this has provided us with multiple opportunities to pepper in nods to absurdities we’ve encountered in our own work lives. Office jargon, interdepartmental feuds, employee incentive programs, all can be found greasing the wheels of HeavenX’s main story.
If you’ve never set foot in an office, we like to think you’ll never have to once you finish our game. If you do happen to work an office job, then we hope that HeavenX is as therapeutic for you to play as it was for us to create.