Hi all!

I'm the lead gameplay designer and engineer on the indie narrative adventure game, a•part•ment. We're huge fans of narrative-driven and adventure games (my GOG library is pretty extensive) and I thought my fellow GOG denizens would appreciate our game. :)

<span class="bold">tl;dr &ndash; Here's a Let's Play video</span> of a&bull;part&bull;ment by the Kinda Funny guys. They play through a small portion of the game with some pretty great commentary.

You can find <span class="bold">a demo of the game</span> here if you'd like to try it!

In a•part•ment you play as Nick Connor, a comic artist who was just dumped by his girlfriend of four years, Madison. You also get to enter the lives of the neighbors in his apartment complex, where you experience and understand their own struggles through specially crafted gameplay and story vignettes.

We wanted to make something that appeals to adults – gamers and non-gamers alike – and offers something different and interesting. The game is about more complex, intimate emotions that you don't typically see in computer games.

Yes, we've had a number of grown men and women cry while playing a•part•ment. We wear it like a badge of honor. :)

I'd really appreciate if you'd check out our <span class="bold">Kickstarter campaign</span>. We'd love if you could share it with people who might be interested in our game!

I'd be happy to talk more about a•part•ment, our design philosophy and development process, and also get any thoughts you have about it.

Thanks so much!

Sorry for the bump but this got buried. I'd love to hear what you think about our game and I'd be happy to answer any questions about it.

I can't find the attack button.

The aesthetic seems nice to me. The theme has potential to be very engaging.

I think you're well on the way to getting funded, and hope you will get there.

Two questions:
1) per your profile on the KS page, are you planning VR to be implemented with the game?
2) with virtual novels, or interactive fiction, I find the click, click, click to get through the narrative to be much more immersion breaking than turning pages, or obviously, just sitting and watching something. What are the progression mechanisms you created? It seems like there is a 3D space you move, likely with the usual keyboard + mouse look, and... what else? The floating text that I saw implies no clicking, but also no cutscenes removing control. If that's the whole of it I admit it seems a creative solution to retain immersion. (yes, I didn't watch the Let's Play - let's have a chat instead ok?)

Wait for the mods. They'll fix that problem.

Attack them with your emotions and critical thinking!

In other words, yeah I know the game's obviously missing an AK-47 or something. :D

Sounds promising indeed. And the kind of thing that could fit in with all kinds of 3D games. Bullet mode for introspection... so to speak. I'm not sure where the folks more into these games are, I'm pretty sure I rem posts about it...
Have you posted also in Idle Thumbs? I imagine they'd be quite into this.

One more of the things that drew my attention. Breakup and heartbreak are almost universal experiences. I'm somewhat of a masochist and don't mind (much) poking around those areas. Did you do any kind of market analysts on how your thematic choices are or not causing reluctance to experience apartment?

Wow, I love the concept of this game, and the art style is very distinctive.

Exactly. That's what I always use to solve relationship problems. (Well, I used an M16 when I was young, but older Soviet Russia stuff is just cooler, and the Kalash is a classic.)

Anyway, good luck with your game.

Thanks, I'm glad it sounds promising! We're still trying to find our audience but we know they're out there. :) We'll hit up the Idle Thumbs forums. Thanks, and if you think of other places we might find people who are interested in our game, please let me know. It's all about spreading the word!

Our game has a pretty central theme of universal experiences. Not only does Nick experience a breakup and you get to live with him in the aftermath of it, but the neighbor experiences all point to the fact that everyone has their own relationship turmoil. It's a very normal part of life, and it's something that we don't often get to see – for example, social media offers us the ability to cherry-pick only the good parts of our lives to present to the world. We hope our players find it comforting that we're reminding them that personal problems are universal, even though on the surface they may not appear to be.

Besides, while a•part•ment does dwell on negative moments it also highlights the positive and the experience of catharsis. So perhaps the game isn't quite as masochistic as it might appear at first glance. :)

We've done no market analysis on our thematic choices. a•part•ment is an artistic project and we had very clear goals for what we wanted to achieve, regardless of whether it was commercially viable. We didn't set out to make a game that's "fun", but rather something that's compelling and interesting. Thankfully our feedback from players so far has been overwhelmingly positive. We've had a number of people say that this is the kind of game that needs to be made. It's been really encouraging.

Hopefully Kickstarter proves that there are enough people out there who want to see this sort of game come to life!

Thank you! Don't see a game about these things every day, huh? :) We spent a long time refining our art and music with the limited resources we had. I'm glad it came together nicely!

One Kickstarter reward tier we considered was shipping a physical copy of the game with a bottle of wine and a box of tissues. An M16 would have been another viable option, but it might have caused some trouble at customs... :)

I've played the demo twice. I haven't progressed beyond the dripping section. For all I know, that's the end of the demo. I couldn't find a way beyond it.

Honestly, I expected the story to be terrible, but I was curious about how you'd deliver it.

Walking through text is an interesting idea. It reminds me of ancient Greeks (or was it Romans) that memorized speeches by associating points with different rooms in their own homes, and then mentally walked through their homes to recall those points. It seems like a comic without cells. A 3D comic without cells. Anyway, I reckon it's got promise a s a means to deliver a story.

So far, the story is flat. Virtual moping. And it starts before I'm familiar with any of the characters. So it's difficult to be sympathetic, or interested. I didn't read anything I couldn't have predicted. (Though the dripping metaphor was starting to go somewhere.) It seems the writing is entirely reliant on your novel delivery system. Which is a pity. An inherently strong story would make your system shine.

The objects which act as keys to elements of the story are bland: a pile of nondescript books, a drinking glass. You might instead make me think, "Oooh, hey, what's that?!" What are the meaningful objects in your own home? And the level layout could hold the promise of something more. I didn't get a glimpse of curious as-yet-unaccessible places. Most of the windows were opaque. One interior window revealed the contents of another room, but it didn't contain anything tantalizing. Maybe that would interfere with the mood.

The aesthetics are attractive enough but very sterile. Everything is pristine and untouched. I think the style conflicts with the idea that the space contains a history worth investigation.

The change in setting (to the white area with the trees) after the first space was exciting. It was a good "something's happening" moment. More like this, please.

The above is probably a bit too critical, sorry. It's not the kind of subject I enjoy exploring in my free time. Still, I'm supportive and I hope you produce something stellar.

edit:
Now it's the morning and I've slept a bit, perhaps I can be less of an ass.

When you visit the home of someone new, what draws you in? What catches your interest, and makes you want to look more closely? For me, it's often a bookshelf (or a shelf of videos). Also, art on the walls stands out, particularly if it seems the resident may have done it themselves. Models, mechanisms, toys-- anything that makes em wonder how it may work. The view (and less consciously, the light) from each window is also a draw. In your design, however, these things are either absent or abstracted. Most windows have closed blinds, almost all wall art is empty frames, and the books are blank. It's a model home rather than a home, and so while I might approach it as a potential renter, it doesn't really answer my curiosities about the resident.

As for my grouchy comments regarding story. Breakups conjure up expectations of standard laments: Why? What do I do now? N years of my life. When we first met... etc. And your story (so far) has fit those expectations. But there's nothing yet beyond cliche. Both residents are artists, and there's real potential there for specificity and interest in terms of both story and visuals. Perhaps the girl illuminates all her subjects with fire before painting, sometimes adding different oxides to the flames to change the color, and she's got a strange reason for doing so. When someone is described as an artist, I'm immediately interested to see her work. But so far, she's delivered as generic artist, and her canvas is empty. Again, I think my curiosity is dulled because she's an abstraction.

Maybe that's more constructive. Again, best of luck.

I get where you're coming from. And I'm positive those that experience it will find it compelling and interesting. What I'm implying is that I see two complementary ways to increase how much of the intended audience actually goes into the experience. The how you spread the word does matter as well - so here's some constructive suggestions.

On one hand, given the weight of the themes (regardless of the payoff in the end - we're looking at the intial investment) I'd suggest more characterization. You clearly do not have player avatars, but played characters. Focus on that to get more audience. One of the aspects that jumped at me in your OP was (paraphrasing) "play a guy that got dumped"... the experience might not be masochistic :) but your pitch kind of is ;)

Actually, maybe saying "play with", instead of "play as" would solve that in a subtle yet decisive way.

On the other hand, you clearly have some innovative presentation/play techniques. Focus on that as well to get more audience.

Fundamentally, tempting as it is, hold off on the message: of catharsis, of struggle, of introspection. Let the work do that on its own, later. In a way, you're kind of giving away, not the ending of your work, but its narrative arc certainly. Focus more in the intro / prologue. Seduce your audience, to embark on the journey, by which I don't mean that you should mischaracterize the work, just that...

Well just that if you want to have a audience going in that is consciously interested in that kind of experience, your marketing in volume will be frustrating for you. What I see you have is enough to do mass marketing, so to speak, and it will not be in any way deceptive, just a bit different from how you're doing it.

So, the marketing you're doing now: places like Idle Thumbs are perfect for you. Character based marketing - you can go into communities that deal with these topics and pitch like that there. Gameplay based marketing - even in Steam you'd find audience for that kind of pitch.

Do you have a dedicated marketing person in your team? I didn't notice... still you're on the right track. Putting yourself out there is the most important step. All else can be learned as you go :) Good luck.

PS: Let me point more folks here from another thread I noticed...

Check your PMs. :) Thanks for the very insightful feedback grimwerk. Two caveats: the public demo ends there since it's intended to just be a teaser, and the game isn't polished and ready for release yet. Why else would we be running a Kickstarter campaign? :)

In the full game there are a variety of mechanics that we use to deliver story. Text placed in the environment is one of them. I'm glad that one worked so well for you, since it's the simplest one we use.

Without revealing too much, the water metaphor is continued further in Jim's stories. (You'll get to enter his apartment again and dive deeper into his life.) The other neighbors' stories, which aren't available in the public demo, explore other emotions and other aspects of relationships. They all have unique game mechanics, though they all center on text and reading.

I'll add that specificity comes with play time. We can't hit the player with too much exposition at the start of the game, especially considering they are grappling with new game mechanics and might not be a gamer. Details told early in the game are likely to be forgotten, so we start simple to ease them into the story. This is a fine balance and perhaps we need to tweak it further. However the quirks and details about Nick and Madison do reveal themselves with more play time.

Speaking of the environment – you may have noticed his apartment began to fill up with objects relating to the moments Nick and Madison shared together. That continues through the entire game, but you only get a very brief glimpse of it in the demo so it's not so noticeable. Also, the frames on the walls are empty for a reason... :)

I understand your point about the aesthetics. We were originally a small student team with no budget and a short development cycle, so we had to make do with the resources we had available to us. One huge reason for our Kickstarter is to polish up the visuals and audio to bring them to where they need to be.