Interview: Orphan’s Brandon Goins
For the uninitiated, Orphan takes players on a journey through the mountains and coal mines of Appalachia during an alien invasion. As a platformer that guides a child through the chaos of a night filled with madness, the game received funding from a successful Kickstarter campaign, and I chatted with developer Brandon Goins on his project.
Erik Meyer: Orphan follows a child navigating the dangers of an alien attack alone at night, initially brandishing only a flashlight. As a developer, what spurred you to begin the project, and as you’ve added features (a raygun, etc), what do you see as vital in guiding the player experience?
Brandon Goins: Creating a game has always been a dream of mine, although I knew nothing about how a game was made. But finally I reached a point in my life where it was all I could think of doing, and so I finally jumped in and decided to learn. The idea of the game slowly transformed, starting with the simple idea of a boy alone on a night-time adventure. I never intended on making an alien invasion game, but as I experimented, coming up with ideas and graphics, it seemed like the natural thing to do. I was probably inspired by games I loved growing up like Metroid and Journey to Silius, and so an alien-robot theme developed. As far as guiding the player experience, this has been the biggest challenge! The games I grew up with were very light on story and heavy in exploration, but I think nowadays more story is expected, so I’m trying to balance the two.
EM: The game’s Appalachian location (incorporating mountains, coal mines, and winding rivers) gives it a unique feel, even if we ignore the alien invasion element for a minute. Describe how you incorporated these landscape elements into the game. How much does the setting guide the game, and how much importance do you place on the where versus the who or the what?
BG: I grew up in Appalachia and so this theme was very natural to me though I hoped it would provide a unique experience to people not from here. I used mountains, caves, and mines to create some “verticality” to the world map and give the player different routes to explore. The player needs water to replenish health and so there are always rivers, ponds, and waterfalls in the easier areas of the map, whereas the more difficult areas are barren. I also incorporated camping into the game so a player can pitch a tent in any level area of the game and save progress.
EM: Much of the game takes place in shadow, but color (red lasers or orange fire or blue energy beams) occurs in high contrast. I’m curious about this stylistic choice; how do you see the visual look (and your background as a photographer) amplifying the mechanical terrors that chase the protagonist, and what do you see as the key to balancing vital details and murky nightmares?
BG: Well, the silhouette style has made graphic production much faster, considering I’m a one-man team, though it’s not been without challenge. Without 3D models to light realistically, I’ve had to come up with my own ways to fake lighting and try to keep each scene interesting. As you pointed out, the use of color is helpful to amplify dangers to the player while the darkness and ambiguity of the enemies hopefully adds to their mystery and fear-factor.
EM: The trailer certainly captures a War of the Worlds quality, and as you’ve progressed through the development process, how much do you embrace a H. G. Wells comparison? What else informs your sci-fi sensibilities?
BG: I’ve watched the Alien movies a few times during development, and always find inspiration in them. But a lot of my sci-fi inspiration comes from games like Metroid and Contra, both of which were inspired by Alien. I also love Ancient Alien mythology and so in Orphan, this may not have been the first time aliens have existed on Earth.
EM: Kickstarter helped fund your work, and that involves a fair amount of communication with fans, social media, and press. What has that part of the journey been like, and how has it changed the project? What responses to your work have surprised you?
BG: The Kickstarter is the only reason I’ve made it as far as I have and is the main reason I keep going. This has been a much bigger and harder undertaking than I could have imagined, and I am more than a year behind schedule. My commitment to the backers who made the game possible has been my main drive to keep going. I try to update the backers at least monthly, even if progress seems slim. They have been great to help me beta test the game, and so I’ve gradually released more content each month for testing. Hopefully, this will mean the game will have minimal bugs when launched. They have also came together to help me provide different translations for the game and so hopefully at launch there will be about a dozen languages supported.
EM: Every indie developer does things a bit differently, so describe your process at Windy Hill Studios; how do you go from concept to implementation to polished product? What kinds of things have streamlined the process, and where have you faced hurdles?
BG: My process is far from streamlined! I’m not even sure if I have a process. I’ve spent a lot of time jumping around to various parts of the game making progress on anything I could. Now I’m trying to stitch together the pieces and fill in the missing blanks. The hurdles are everywhere! Sometimes what seems like a simple idea can introduce a lot of unexpected problems to solve. Trying to base the game in a somewhat realistic world has been the most challenging. The Metroidvania mechanic of finding new items or powers to access new areas is much harder when you can’t rely on high-jump boots and lava suits, so trying to guide the player from Point A to Point B without them finding themselves in a situation they can’t handle is always a challenge.
EM: The 2d action platformer has evolved since the 8-bit games of the ’80s, so what personal genre preferences do you bring to the table? What kinds of pacing or exploration do you find most satisfying, and as you’re drawing comparisons to titles like Limbo, what mechanics have you found most satisfying, thus far?
BG: I like a game heavily based on exploration and light on instruction, and so that’s what I’ve tried to do with Orphan. I think the way to balance that is to make sure that even if the player isn’t on the correct path, they are rewarded for the exploration, so there are helpful items scattered around the game as well as clothing and other items to increase your character stats.
EM: On your Kickstarter page, you mention finding yourself inspired by the scene of Snoopy sneaking across the countryside in It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (1966). What is it that draws us to aesthetically pure bumps in the night? What pushes us to sneak through forests at twilight? What is it that we find compelling, even as we push ahead into uncertainty?
BG: That scene just drips with excitement and intrigue. Though those backgrounds are nothing more than pencil and paper, we can see past them and sense the bigger world out there where some are sound in their beds and others are fighting for their lives in the great war. Even the immediate story of the Great Pumpkin is about a mysterious figure that may or may not be out there. Importantly, those cartoons exist in a world where a child can be out all night and fall sleep in a pumpkin patch. I think all children want to live in a world that is dark, mysterious, and calls for exploration. If I can capture a little of that essence in Orphan, I’ll have done what I set out to achieve.
In case you missed it, here’s the trailer:
