It started like a typical morning. You woke up, didn't have time to eat breakfast and went to work, which you hate from the bottom of your heart – the usual stuff. Next, the boss was rude as expected, the co-workers dumb, and the only reedeming factor on the horizon was the usual bro meeting with Frank - with a lot of beer to forget about your lousy day. He came to your place at 7pm as usual, you killed a few bottles and had a laugh.
And now Frank is lying in a pool of blood in your living room, which is quite a concern. Sure, it was an accident - he just slipped on an empty bottle, cracked his head on the table and passed away instantly. It probably didn't hurt him too much - he was drunk as a lord. Sadly, no one will care it wasn't a murder, and you heard through the wall a few minutes ago that your neighbors called the police because the party was a bit too loud for their taste.
You need to hide the body ASAP.
Body of Evidence may be recognized as an unusal "cat & mouse" game with a gory twist. It is a brutal puzzle game of sorts. In every scenario the player has to hide one or multiple bodies before the time runs out. When the countdown reaches zero, the investigator searches the crime scene for signs of foul play. Even a small bloodstain can put you in jail, so you have to be very thorough in cleaning up the mess.
There are multiple hiding spots on every level and it's up to you to figure out the best way to disguise the body. Pretending that he's sleeping may not be the greatest idea, so putting him under the bed or packing him in the wardrobe sounds a bit better. Maybe there's a lake near the crime scene or some conveniently placed acid barrel? Knowing your environment is the key to outsmarting the investigator.
Oh, and one more thing. You need to remember that moving bodies from one place to another isn't as easy as it seems. They're heavy and quite cumbersome. Also, the ones still bleeding make an awful mess while dragging them around. It's like trying to find a place for a really large and heavy ragdoll, if you know what I mean.
Ok, so now that you know a bit about advanced hiding mechanics, let's take care of poor Frank...
If you find this interesting, please add Body of Evidence to your wishlist to be up to date with upcoming announcements about the game!
How a Collaborative Approach Drives the Development of Body of Evidence
Written by Michał Piwowarczyk for Fat Dog Games
There is a studio in Cracow, Poland, which is currently contemplating how to best hide a dead body in a gym and how much time it should take. Meet Empyrean.
Empyrean, a development team comprised of 17 people, is working on a game in which you conceal evidence of brutal crimes; you can experience the thrill of nearly getting caught while mopping up blood from the floor.
“We wanted to do something different this time - something not that serious, but still grounded in reality,” says Kris Krej, CEO of Empyrean. “People tend to get passionate about games. When we were developing football management MMO 90 Minute Fever, we had tens of players who spent more than 5000 hours in-game each. This time we wanted to try something different – a story driven game."
Overall, Empyrean seems to be walking a well-worn path for game developers. First, you learn the ropes by doing various projects for clients. Then, you start working on an idea that you really want to do, like Body of Evidence.
Body of Evidence is a first person game where players take on the role of a hired guy who tidies up rooms and other spaces as the bodies get cold after the dust settles. The game informs you of how much time you’ve got left before some undesirables show up at the door and start asking the wrong questions. From then on it’s just you, your wits and the environment which must be transformed from a crime scene to a clean, guilt-free place.
The anatomy of a crime (scene)
The idea for a crime scene game came to Krej naturally. “My dad is a policeman,” he says, “He couldn’t talk about his work, but for my sister and I, it sent our imaginations racing. BoE is a bit different from traditional crime solving, but it does stem from an interest in forensics - this, and naturally, the overabundance of crime motifs in popular culture.” And that's where the company’s collaborative approach kicks in.
“The game is inspired by TV series like Dexter and characters like Mr. Wolf from Pulp Fiction. Each developer introduces something of their own into the mix. We gather in a single room and throw ideas around until something sticks. Then we pick the best concepts,” says Krej. Popular culture, with its decades of ready crime investigation material is an obvious point of reference for creating the game’s concept, but the team wants to venture deeper. There are plans for levels to be more directly inspired by the development team’s favorite shows and movies.
“You will be able to spot elements from Quentin Tarantino works like Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, but we also feature motifs from American Psycho and John Wick. We are aiming at every 4th level having a strong wink-wink moment.”
Follow the blood
Once the theme for the level is set, the team starts to think about how to adapt it to the game mechanics, develops a leitmotif and prepares mission goals. The collaborative approach to the design also helps with this phase.
The levels differ in complexity and difficulty. Some of them consist of a single room with one body which needs to be dumped somewhere in 3 minutes with a bit of blood spatter on the wall which needs to be cleaned up, while other levels are much more complex. For example, there is a lake house where you have to follow a trail of blood to find the corpse lying under a tree.
“We have this idea to include a level where every developer can implement their own idea,” says Maciej Knot, the company’s marketing manager. “The lake house will be a trippy level. Its function will be to introduce an element of insanity to the story. There is a standard, sane way to finish the game, but depending on your choices on certain levels the story will branch out into a more psychotic version.”
The team's inspiration list is extensive, including such obvious choices like Mrs. Kaplan from The Blacklist or George Clooney’s “fixer” character in Michael Clayton, but also more obscure references, such as the 155th episode of Seinfield.
Giving it back
Krej knows that such a collaborative approach requires one key, indispensable element. Fresh blood, which brings fresh perspectives. This is why he and his studio actively participate in educating a new generation of game developers. This involves not only helping with hackathons or publishing content packages on asset stores, but also direct contact through participation in higher education courses like the 'Computer Game Technology' course at the AGH University of Science and Technology or '3D Object Modeling' and 'Sound Engineering Basics' at the College of Economics and Computer Science in Cracow.
“Students sometimes change courses and sign up 2 or 3 months after the semester begins as mid-term exams are getting nearer,” Krej says, “so they are taking a big risk with learning a new subject just before the dreaded examination period begins. But they want to follow their dreams and this is a business for passionate people.”
Krej, however, knows that there is a downside to all of this. The gaming development sector is, after all, less stable or profitable than other IT industries. He turns to Maciej Knot, his marketing manager. “You could work at Mercedes, couldn’t you, Maciej?” he asks. They both laugh.
“We all have something to say and this is why we are making games”, says Krej.
A bit of movie in our game
Did you know that Body of Evidence is chock full of movie references, especially those with quite a lot of blood on screen? Examples? Here you go.
Fight Club One of the levels we are most proud of is inspired by the movie and the book Fight Club. You will meet two familiar characters in our place. Well, if you know the original, you know that they are not really two characters...
Dialogues and animations are really decent on this level, and we have a new element of mechanics here as well. It's a nod to Fight Club fans. Don’t miss the cabinet with soap for easier clean up ;)
Pulp Fiction On this level the house from The Jimmy Situation scene in Pulp Fiction was recreated. The house’s layout, the characters and even the neighborhood are similar to their movie counterparts - but the plot is different.
You can talk with three characters here. Each of them provides you with a piece of information necessary to pass the level. This level is still in progress, we will be adding new elements for a really polished environment.
Want to know more about Body of Evidence? Add it to your Steam wish list and wait for the upcoming announcements!
