Underneath the Stairs is a small studio primarily based in Zagreb, Croatia, and on July 14, its first recreation lastly hit Steam. From a small, tight-knit crew, Eyes within the Darkish: The Curious Case of One Victoria Bloom yielded a 5/5 rating in our overview for its distinctive tackle, and recent method to, the roguelike style.
The roguelike style isn’t my favorite. Whilst you can catch me ploughing hours past hours into varied sims that require a tonne of grinding, roguelikes have by no means been in a position to maintain me hooked for all that lengthy. Eyes within the Darkish, nevertheless, felt like a breath of recent air, and virtually prefer it was made for folks like me. For those that have simply by no means gelled with the style.
We sat down with Underneath the Stairs’ director, Vladimir Bogdanić, to speak all about how the studio got here collectively, and the way Eyes within the Darkish got here to fruition. From indie growth, inspirations, music, and even what the longer term holds for Underneath the Stairs, right here’s our perception into the world of Underneath the Stairs and its quaint recreation, Eyes within the Darkish.
How did Underneath the Stairs, a ‘tight-knit group’, come collectively? And the way did the thought of Eyes within the Darkish come collectively because of that?
Vladimir Bogdanić: At a recreation jam, we made one thing, however we weren’t fairly certain what it was. A bunch of individuals left, however the concept stayed, and it wasn’t actually till a few years after that we lastly began as a studio. Principally as a result of I didn’t actually have entry to any funding or something.
The corporate itself was based after we discovered traders within the UK, after which it actually turned a a lot greater factor the place we out of the blue had cash and will rent folks, and we might begin engaged on this correctly.
Up till that time, I ran a small net growth firm on the facet. And I nonetheless kind-of do. I used to be principally utilizing the funds from the net growth stuff to bootstrap the sport growth efforts. We weren’t certain what we have been getting ourselves into, however it labored out in the long term.
I’ve learn that the crew at Underneath the Stairs all have pursuits throughout completely different genres. How did these come collectively and encourage the sport?
Vladimir: It was undoubtedly sort of a tug-of-war factor the place plenty of us are coming in with completely different pursuits and views. What occurred was that each one of us and our completely different backgrounds got here to bolster the thought by merely fixing issues uniquely or providing completely different views.
There have been moments in growth when there was a consensus round a selected drawback and the right way to remedy it, however then one particular person actually wished to do one thing else and made a very good case for it. That turned the answer. Talking extra in broad phrases, I believe that’s actually invaluable to have on small groups; folks coming from completely different backgrounds and giving their very own distinctive viewpoints.
There should not plenty of alternatives in Croatia: plenty of us have grown used to working various kinds of jobs who require a special talent set, so over time you are inclined to be taught plenty of various things, and once you get to a challenge like this one, all of it actually helps.
I additionally learnt that you simply was once a resident DJ for fairly a couple of labels. Did music, and your expertise with it, tie into the event of Eyes within the Darkish and its soundtrack in any respect?
Vladimir: Oh, completely. I do know plenty of artists from the psychedelic-trance music scene, and I’ve toured extensively, so I’ve a couple of contacts there. After we have been occupied with what to do with the soundtrack, I had a pool of those who I might contact base with.
Versus the artwork type and course, which was Filip’s [Filip Neduk, Game Designer] factor, the music was extra of an iterative course of within the sense that I’ve plenty of unused tracks on my arduous drive. There may be plenty of music that hasn’t made it into the sport for no matter cause, and I believe the great factor there’s that I’ve the expertise of curating tracks for report labels. So, I do know what it takes to construct a music compilation, and that has been actually helpful in nailing down what sort of really feel we would like for the soundtrack.
The sport has a really flat artwork type with no depth or blurring; how do you make music that accompanies that? Initially, we had plenty of reverbs, echoes, and extra orchestral-type tunes. Finally, we received to scrap all of that and went extra alongside the traces of “let’s have some extra chip tunes”; one thing that sounds sort of flat, however once you hearken to it, there are layers in there, however it’s all compressed and matches the type higher.
One other key factor that I believe actually helped is rising the tempo and ensuring that it doesn’t matter what you’re doing within the recreation, there’s some sort of beat to maintain the tempo going so that you simply don’t get slowed down. That was a key choice that we made that influenced your complete soundtrack.
What you suppose makes the flashlight stand out? And did it, alongside ‘gentle fight’, pose any points throughout growth?
Vladimir: There have been undoubtedly a tonne of points. There’s not one particular factor right here that I might say makes the flashlight the very best factor ever, it’s extra a mixture of a number of smaller adjustments over the course of a very very long time. It’s small touches like once you activate the flashlight – it would not instantly activate, there’s slightly little bit of a delay.
Problem-wise, after we initially began with the thought of utilizing the sunshine as a fight mechanic, there was no tinkering. You weren’t combining bits and items to get a flashlight. We had a flashlight, some matches, a flare gun, and we had some cherry bombs. We have been simply messing round with utilizing these in any situation. So, you’d begin exploring, and also you’d waste issues like battery prices, hearth, or no matter it was, and the sport slowed right down to a crawl.
For the flashlight, it principally got here right down to utilizing it as a melee-like weapon – extra like a protect, actually – moderately than one thing that pushes you ahead. Then we sort of crystallised there, into “let’s have these three completely different classes”: the flashlight, projectiles, and devices.
That’s the way it advanced. The primary differentiator was that it is a flashlight, we would like somebody to tinker with it, and each flashlight has a spot for batteries. So, what if you happen to might put various kinds of batteries in there to vary the way it works?
It’s taking inspiration from an actual world object, and giving it an influence journey fantasy, so that you could go wild with it.
Eyes within the Darkish captures the gloomy, gothic temper of the mansion by each its design and inspirations, and the expertise is true to a toddler being afraid of the darkish – is that this what you have been aiming for?
Vladimir: I’m actually comfortable to listen to you say that, as a result of it’s undoubtedly a sense that we have been attempting to seize. One of many inspirations, for me, was the Beetlejuice cartoon. Should you’re watching it from a distance, there’s all the time that “Oh, that is actually bizarre and creepy, what the hell is happening?” however all the things has a very light-hearted tone. It’s actually enjoyable and interesting.
I believe plenty of horror and associated video games don’t usually go that route, it’s extra bounce scares or gore or no matter.
One other factor, by way of structure and degree design, is that plenty of roguelikes have random degree technology. We wished our recreation to really feel like an precise place. That comes at a price from a manufacturing viewpoint.
There’s extra handbook labour concerned, however the finish result’s that it seems like a spot; a spot you’d wish to go to. You enter a room, and it’s not only a random set of tiles and ranges, it’s an precise room in a mansion. That was the intent all alongside, and I believe the narrative helps to bolster that.
What made you resolve to make the sport non-linear, and did every other video games inform you of what you didn’t wish to do with Eyes within the Darkish?
Vladimir: We undoubtedly love the roguelike style, I might identify titles like Binding of Isaac – it’s been an enormous inspiration – and I’m an enormous fan of Spelunky, for instance. But additionally video games like Slay the Spire or Lifeless Cells.
We didn’t say “we actually love this one recreation, we’re gonna rip off half of it then do our personal factor”. We seemed on the whole style, and we figured what can we do right here that can set us aside? What can we do to attempt to push the style in a special course? I actually suppose that the style has a tonne of potential for some cool and revolutionary stuff.
Initially, we had one thing that was extra conventional; you end a run, and possibly acquire some expertise, unlock some data, however it was extra grindy. One of many issues that I don’t like about trendy roguelikes is that they have an inclination to lock plenty of the content material behind a grind, and look, I’ve a 10-month-old son, I don’t have the time!
I wish to simply play it, and I wish to be finished with it, however on the similar time, I like having the ability to return to it from time to time and possibly get a special sort of really feel for it.
Are there any points of the sport, now that it’s on the market, that you simply want you would change, and do you may have plans for any post-launch updates?
Vladimir: The narrative general has been the toughest one to nail, initially we had extra of a quest-based system. It turned a giant drawback since you’d develop into confused; when does a quest finish? Is it once you choose up a few objects? However then you definitely’re finished with the hunt, so what’s the inducement to maintain going?
That was an enormous factor that we iterated on loads. In the long run, we determined to do one thing the place you’ll acquire some form of narrative data; one thing that’s going to develop the storyline additional and progress all the things. However, it’s nonetheless a run the place it’s important to end all the things from starting to finish. I believe that was the suitable option to make.
By way of what we wish to add, I wish to add extra bosses and enemies, possibly extra zones that rotate relying on what run you’re doing. I believe we left the construction, general, open sufficient in order that we are able to add extra objects, impediments or perks. It principally boils right down to how the subsequent couple of months search for us.
By way of the overall construction and the way it’s been finished, I might most likely not change a lot. We’re actually proud of the top end result, particularly for our first recreation.
Do you may have plans to do something in another way in your subsequent recreation?
Vladimir: We’re within the very early levels, so I can’t actually share data. The one factor that I might say is, as you stated, Eyes within the Darkish hopefully makes roguelikes extra accessible to individuals who don’t typically play them.
Let’s simply say that I wish to do the identical factor with a special style.
Eyes within the Darkish: The Curious Case of One Victoria Bloom launched on July 14, 2022 on Steam and the Epic Video games Retailer.