Our theatrical adventure Knee Deep draws a lot of inspiration from the bizarre news factory of Florida. Starting this week, we’re picking unusual news stories from the Sunshine State to showcase how truth can be so much stranger than fiction.
Knee Deep
Knee Deep in Strange Florida No. 1
Our theatrical adventure Knee Deep draws a lot of inspiration from the bizarre news factory of Florida. Starting this week, we’re picking unusual news stories from the Sunshine State to showcase how truth can be so much stranger than fiction.
OFFICIAL FICTION NO. 2: The Long Haul
The agent sitting across from K.C. Gaddis sips his coffee. He sets the cup down next to a manila folder. His partner, the woman with the no-nonsense ponytail and short-clipped fingernails, presses her hands on the table in the interrogation room.
“Tell us more about your father’s dealings with the Church of Us,” she says.
Gaddis doesn’t look at her. Keeps his eyes on the gray porkpie hat resting on the table in front of him. “No,” he says.
“C’mon, Mr. Gaddis,” the male agent says. The cup’s got a motto on it: WORLD’S BEST WAFFLES. “It’s relevant to our investigation.”
“Is it?” The private investigator gives a dark chuckle. “Dad’s dead. Been dead a long time.”
The female agent stands straight, crosses her arms, and paces behind the detective’s chair. “Motive, Mr. Gaddis.”
Gaddis rolls his eyes. He sees her in the mirror on the wall behind her partner. She’s stopped now, scowling down at him. “Oh, give me a break. I didn’t kill the guy. Certainly not over Dad.”
The manila folder opens. Slender fingers pluck out a photocopied page. The male agent says, “We’ve got the incident report from 1980, when he killed himself.” He slides the paper across the table to Gaddis. “You talked to Cypress Knee’s police chief at the time.”
“Chief Groves,” Gaddis replies. He moves the porkpie so it’s on top of the paper. “So what?”
The male agent shrugs. “Your father sank a lot of cash into the Church of Us. Nearly cost your mother the house. You’d taken, what, two part-time jobs to help the family survive?”
“Three if you count the paper route for the Notice,” the detective says. “But that was decades ago. A long time before I met the vic. As far as I know, the church reps who got their claws into Dad are still out there, scamming people left and right with their crazy cult religion.”
“Still,” the female agent says, “you’ve clashed with him before. Maybe he just made a convenient target for a lot of pent-up rage.”
Gaddis shakes his head, letting out a sigh as he laces his fingers together. “You’re fishing, lady. Maybe it makes a convincing story for you two, but I don’t have much stomach for killing, even in anger. I just want to do my job and get paid.”
“So you must really be mad about your gig going south,” the guy with the waffle cup says.
“How does that go to motive?” Gaddis asks. “That was after our pal died. Donovan Miller delivered that news. Wouldn’t it make more sense for me to shoot the messenger?”
The woman rounds the corner to the other side of the table to stand next to her partner. “Crimes of passion don’t always make sense. You’re an ex-cop. You know that.”
“Wrong,” Gaddis says. “They’re usually pretty clear, unless the perp’s a nut. She left me. No one else can have her. He called me a chicken. He cut me off in traffic. Everybody’s got their reasons. And even if the killer’s a lunatic, they’ve got some kind of twisted logic at work. So let’s cut through the bullshit, all right?” He slides the chair back, stands, and picks his hat up off the table. “I’m done answering questions. I’m done listening to you accuse me of a murder I didn’t commit. It’s been a long goddamned couple of days. I doubt I’ll ever get this swamp stink out. I want a shower. I want a lawyer. I’m done here.”
The man clears his throat. He rests a palm on the folder. Looks toward his partner. She shrugs. He says, “That’s the thing, Mr. Gaddis. You’re not done here. Not by a sight.”
“Excuse me?” Gaddis frowns. He jabs a finger at the agent. “I know my rights.”
The woman offers a thin smile. Crosses her arms again. “They don’t apply here,” she says.
“That’s kidnapping,” Gaddis replies.
“More like protective custody,” the man says.
“Bullshit. I don’t need your protection.”
“We’re not protecting you,” the woman says, her smile fading.
“So you might as well get comfortable, Mr. Gaddis,” the man suggests. He raises the waffle tribute cup in a grim salute. “We’re in this for the long haul.”
Knee Deep in family struggles
Strip away the swamp noir murder mystery trappings of Knee Deep and, at its core, this stage play-in-a-video game is really a story about fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, and their ongoing struggles to connect.
You've got divorced dad Jack Bellet, trying desperately to hang on to his son, Reggie, under threat of a custody battle with his ex-wife. Romana Teague, the young blogger, is estranged from her scandal-scarred mother. Detective K.C. Gaddis lost his father to the Church of Us before drifting away from his own mother. Even crazy swamp rat Jefferson Dean Gallant copes with family issues: a gator in Chief Roadside's Wonderland named Merle ate his infant son and crippled his wife before escaping into the murky wilderness.
So, yes, Knee Deep takes you into a stage play about a noir-styled mystery involving land deals, Hollywood has-beens, and suspicious femme fatales. But it's also an exploration of how families fall apart and sometimes knit back together - and how some families aren't blood relatives at all.
PREVIEW: Knee Deep review milestone fiction
We're just a few Steam reviews away from posting a new piece of fiction from the world of Knee Deep. This one features private investigator K.C. Gaddis.We'll post the full story at 75 reviews. For now, here's a sample:
The agent sitting across from K.C. Gaddis sips his coffee. He sets the cup down next to a manila folder. His partner, the woman with the no-nonsense ponytail and short-clipped fingernails, presses her hands on the table in the interrogation room.
“Tell us more about your father’s dealings with the Church of Us,” she says.
Gaddis doesn’t look at her. Keeps his eyes on the gray porkpie hat resting on the table in front of him. “No,” he says.
“C’mon, Mr. Gaddis,” the male agent says. The cup’s got a motto on it: WORLD’S BEST WAFFLES. “It’s relevant to our investigation.”
To be continued...
The noir will be with you...always
Even though Knee Deep’s a swamp noir adventure in a tacky little Florida town instead of a galaxy far, far away, it owes a lot to the Star Wars movies.
I first watched Star Wars in the cinema at Orlando Fashion Square in 1977. Nearly 40 years later, you’ll hear a little Han Solo snark in the grim quips of private investigator K.C. Gaddis. Monroe? He’s just a four-legged Chewbacca. Gary Buckingham and Eula Dean are the redneck replacements for C-3P0 and R2-D2. And, sure, maybe Remy Dixon’s a mix of Jar-Jar Binks and Darth Maul.
I’ve loved the (original) movies since long before #MayTheFourthBeWithYou became a thing. So, it shouldn’t come as much surprise that I peppered Knee Deep’s narrative with references - some subtle and some as subtle as a wampa at a tauntaun rodeo. The end of Act 2, for example, puts Jefferson Dean Gallant and Robert Woodstep in the roles of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Gallant laments that Romana Teague was the town’s only hope.
Woodstep responds: “No, Jefferson Dean Gallant. There is another.”
We’ve got moments similar to Darth Vader’s first emergence in Revenge of the Sith (without the whining for Padme) and the destruction of Alderaan from A New Hope. Hey, there’s even a chute for our heroes to enter during an action sequence!
But you won’t find any Ewoks in the swamps of Cypress Knee. Just gators and, if you look really closely, maybe a swamp ape.
How about your favorite games? Any Star Wars Easter eggs hiding there?
OFFICIAL FICTION NO. 1: A Man with Many Plans
(A note, scrawled in pencil on the back of a twice-folded Hungry Chief’s paper placemat. The handwriting appears jerky, as if written while on a bouncing knee:)
OFFICIAL MEMORANDUM
June 5
Mr. Silloway,
I’m developing a recipe for hickory-smoked salted head cheese. Sounds tasty, yeah? You know it! I think this would help shake up our rather mundane menu - a nice change of pace from the usual Scout Burgers and Dervish Dogs. We’d probably get coverage on one of the big food networks or maybe a write-up in the Cypress Knee Notice. How’s that sound?
Eager to hear your thoughts.
Remy Dixon
Assistant Manager of Retail and Cuisine
Chief Roadside’s Wonderland
(The memo returns two days later, hand-delivered by janitor Jim Larman, crumpled into a sloppy ball. Larman’s not thrilled playing courier. Not like he can complain much, though. Not a lot of decent jobs out there for disgraced college professors who mix drugs with underage girls. A new message, written in black ink, appears below the original commentary on the menu:)
NO. AND YOU’RE NOT ASSISTANT MANAGER OF ANYTHING EXCEPT HEADACHES.
RS
***
(Next time, the message comes to Rutledge Silloway on a Mohawk Inn postcard clutched in the fangs of a plastic Gator Chomp toy. The toys cost about 15 cents each to produce in China. They sell for $5 in the Fun N’ Fuel at Chief Roadside’s Wonderland. The message is in pencil again:)
OFFICIAL MEMORANDUM
June 6
Mr. Silloway,
Maybe candy-coated anchovies? A treat for children of all ages!
Enthralled for further discourse.
Remy Dixon
Indeterminate Title With Indefinite Authority
Chief Roadside’s Wonderland
(Larman brings the card back an hour later, with red ink block letters covering Remy’s writing:)
NO. GODDAMNED. WAY.
PUT THE CHOMPER BACK ON THE SHELF. IDIOT.
RS
***
(Another memo arrives in Silloway’s motel office scrawled in permanent ink marker on the back of a diaper:)
OFFICIAL MEMORANDUM
June 7
Mr. Silloway,
I’d like to suggest dollar-movie days in the old Digital Smoke arcade at the base of the Wonderland tower. We could show classic movies from my DVD collection. I’ve got both Clerks movies, Pineapple Express, and Requiem for a Dream. We’d pull in movie buffs from miles around!
Curious to hear your viewpoint.
Remy Dixon
Director of Entertainment for Chief Roadside’s Wonderland
(The diaper’s used by the time Larman delivers it to Remy in a tall kitchen trash bag.)
***
(One more memo. Back to pencil, written on a faded yellow page from a Mohawk Inn motel room notepad:)
OFFICIAL MEMORANDUM
June 8
Mr. Silloway,
I’m disappointed by the swift dismissal of my ideas. What gives? I just want to do my part to bring more visibility and notoriety to our little gem along Interstate 95. Sad to think you don’t share my enthusiasm for the future of Chief Roadside’s Wonderland.
Now, what if we host trivia night at Hungry Chief’s every other Thursday?
Undoubtedly devoted to the cause.
Remy Dixon
Loyal Patriot of Chief Roadside’s Wonderland
(The reply doesn’t come back for a week. When it does, Silloway’s bloody red scrawl reads:)
I WAITED. ANSWER’S STILL NO. ASSHAT.
RS
Knee Deep in Shakespeare's legacy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn4lvUpNmho
Revved about Rezzed!
One year really makes a difference!
The Prologue Games team traveled to EGX Rezzed for the first time in 2015 to share a glimpse of Knee Deep Act 1: Wonderland. We met a lot of supportive folks who gave great feedback and encouraging words about the aesthetics, the curious characters in Cypress Knee, and the overall story.
Still, they wondered: What about voice acting? What about a little more clarity in the opening moments of Romana's interrogation and in the dialogue choices? And when's this game coming out, anyway?
A year later, we've launched all three acts of Knee Deep on Steam - 90,000 words of dialogue and reports, more than five hours of content - and we took every bit of constructive feedback to heart.
Voiceover? It's there. Some clearer narrative moments to give the player more context as the game begins? Yep!
So we're overjoyed to have spent the past few days entertaining fans - some old and many new - with much more polished demos of our swamp noir stage play in a computer game!
It was awesome to hear people praise the game without qualifications, then ask: "When's it coming out?" And they smiled or gave a thumbs up when they heard every bit of the story was waiting for them to purchase on their smartphone Steam app or when they got home later.
We didn't spend our time mulling over what to fix or how much work lay ahead on the project, because it's done now. We've done what we can to nurture Knee Deep toward life in the indie wilderness. Soon, we'll have to start planning the next project.
But we're always going to have a special place in our hearts for Knee Deep, and do what we can to bring as much attention as possible to our theatrical adventure, which so many players hailed for the distinctive look and narrative approach.
And we're so grateful to EGX Rezzed and everyone who visited our space at the London Tobacco Dock. We traveled a long way from North Carolina for the show, but it feels like a worthwhile and hard-earned victory lap.
Thanks for playing!
Knee Deep's back in the IndieMEGABOOTH!
It’s news as sweet as sun-brewed tea on a swampy Florida afternoon. Knee Deep’s been selected (again!) as part of the IndieMEGABOOTH showcase at PAX East 2016!
The theatrical swamp noir adventure by indie developer Prologue Games finds itself in fantastic company that includes Thimbleweed Park, Night in the Woods, and The Flame in the Flood - just to name a few!
Knee Deep will be available for visitors to play in Boston April 22-24. Lead developers Colin Dwan and Wes Platt also will be on hand to answer any questions that players might have about the project.
The three-act stage play-inside-a-computer-game launched its final installment on March 8. The story begins with an actor’s apparent suicide in a backwater Florida tourist trap, but the player’s investigation soon reveals that nothing’s quite what it seems in Cypress Knee.
With a distinctive soundtrack by SkewSound, iconic theatrical presentation, and a full cast of voice actors, Knee Deep provides a unique, choice-driven narrative experience.
The play is the protagonist
Meg Jayanth - lead writer on the amazing globe-trotting adventure 80 Days - gave a talk during the Game Developers Conference about the critical role NPCs can play in shaping a story and how they can subvert the usual expectations people have about a game’s protagonists.
Specifically, she wants to undermine the idea of an “entitlement simulator,” where the player’s inhabiting the role of a character that’s destined to win - whether it’s fame, fortune, or romance.
The protagonist doesn’t always have to be a winner. They don’t always have to get their way. They don’t always have to be a hero.
Sam Barlow, creator of Her Story, said at Wordplay in Toronto last year that he keeps a sign in his office that reads “The player is not the protagonist.” In that game, he subverts the idea of the player’s protagonism by occasionally showing the reflection of the investigator in the monitor.
These subversions found in 80 Days and Her Story are why those games deserve so much acclaim.
As Knee Deep progressed from one act to the next, we sought to subvert player expectations by at least partially sidelining the established main characters and letting the narrative unfold through player interactions with secondary characters. Instead of every scene focusing on either Romana, Bellet, or Gaddis, the final act touches on them for significant moments but mostly turns attention to characters such as Monroe, Woodstep, and Gallant.
None of the characters in Knee Deep are perfect. Well, except for Monroe. He can do no wrong, even when he’s impossibly driving a complicated piece of construction equipment. The three so-called “heroes” - blogger, detective, and newspaper reporter - all are deeply flawed and scarred. In the end, it’s up for interpretation what happens to them.
We want players to relate to all the characters they control during the course of Knee Deep, but - perhaps more important - we want them to feel free to shape the evolving story of the play. By shifting the narrative viewpoints, we sought (not so subtly) to make the player feel more connected to the story of Cypress Knee and the dramatic events during this crisis than any one character.
In Knee Deep, the play is the protagonist. The game’s about theatricality in politics, on the stage, and even in the news we watch on TV or read on blogs. You learn about the town through the central characters interacting with NPCs in the first two acts. In the third and final act, some of those NPCs turn to central characters and help drive the story to its over-the-top conclusion.
It’s not a game for everybody. That’s OK. It’s a game for people who want to shake up the status quo of the hero protagonist, who don’t mind shifting viewpoints, and who treasure experiences that don’t always end happily.