Plummet Studios Exclusive Developer Interview for End of the Line
When tragedy strikes your tiny town and you find yourself trapped in abandoned tunnels trying to escape enemies around every corner, what do you do? Do you run and hide or face your enemies head on? Well, you’re not going to last long if you choose to run and hide when you play End of the Line. This the newest game from the creative team over at Plummet Studios; a team that we had the extreme pleasure of speaking to recently. Check out our exclusive interview below!
Hi There! Please give us a quick introduction of Plummet Studios. What’s your mission?
Hey! Our main goal is to tell a story. It’s certainly not going to be an easy story to tell or hear but its a story that we believe most people need to hear. At its core, it’s truly about the gray area in between right and wrong. We want people to hear our story and be entertained but intrigued for more. If we can, we would also love to make it better for other quality developers to get started, not only with games but other applications and systems. We went through the struggle, why not help others based on what we know?
What’s a fun fact that others may not know about your team?
Our team started out as a small group of friends just wanting to show people something cool based on what we loved. Some of those friends are no longer working on the team but are out doing incredible things. Our team consists of quite a few people to take in smaller jobs with me as the conductor. Even my own sister is helping with this project and she’s been incredibly supportive of my project!
How did you get involved in developing indie games?
When I was younger, I loved the popular game “Minecraft” for a while. I loved watching people make new things that seemed to completely change the core game. I started to make things too at one point, until I decided “Why not go for the real deal?” if I’m putting so much work into something, I should be able to look back on it and have people still play it even when Minecraft is gone. I instantly started to learn game design and C# from that moment on. I studied hours of videos and played tons of indie games to break them down and see how they work and what I didn’t like about what was already on the market. I strived to fix all of the problems I saw that annoyed me, break clichés, and do something different while keeping true to the meaning behind an “indie game”.
What do you do when you’re not developing indie games?
That’s an interesting question. I try to do a lot of things to keep developing from getting old and to get ideas. I love travelling to different places and trying out new experiences like climbing mountains or ziplining. I absolutely love theme parks like Walt Disney World, Universal, Six Flags, etc.. I go on a ton of coasters and make an effort to ride every coaster on the East Coast in operation. I’m an avid exotic pets keeper whos kept some amazing reptiles and fish. My next animals are hopefully dart frogs and an axolotl which I’ve already been making some nice tanks for. In general, I’m here for experiences and to do something new every time I can.
Let’s talk about End of the Line now. This spooky, yet eerily intriguing game has us at the edge of our subway seats. How did you come up with this amazing concept?
I was on a trip to NYC when my family decided to go down into a subway station. The stairs down were a bit close and the whole thing had an almost “creepy” feeling. (I did also see some nicer stations while I was there) The whole experience started implanting ideas in my brain but those were pushed back for a while as I was working on something involving a museum. When that project fell through, I was talking with my uncle about the idea of a new horror game based on an old creepypasta I wrote. The monster was very different from what the final monster was in this game but provided a structure for a new creature with shining eyes. As I thought of shining eyes, the subway train came back to me with similar looking headlights. All the creepy memories came flooding back to me and I realized… this was a pretty good idea that I haven’t really seen done before.
What was the biggest challenge you encountered in building End of the Line?
My biggest challenge was probably myself during most of the game. I’ve not exactly been known for sticking to one project when I hear a different idea, so that had to change. I started by making to-do lists of things that had to be done by the end of the month. Another problem was my generally bad estimates of time and how much I can complete. As deadlines got closer, I became more stressed out that I couldn’t complete what was needed. In the end, I had a friend tell me to just push back the deadlines for myself and it helped. I can make a much better game now than I could before. Unfortunately, I had periods of time where I couldn’t get much progress done because “the lighting bothered me.” or “that thing doesn’t behave exactly how I thought.” I didn’t learn until recently to put the shovel down when you’re digging yourself into a hole. Now, I’m on the road to creating something truly great.
What was your budget for End of the Line?
Our budget was zero for the project until I was able to get some funding right from my pocket. After I used this funding, we used around $500 so far in creating the game. Unfortunately, that won’t be all of it either so we’re experimenting with merchandise and other donation services. This will make for a better game and hopefully more games to come!
What lessons have you learned through the stages of development of End of the Line?
Our biggest lesson was that it’s ok to change things from what you intended. After being so hesitant to change key factors because they didn’t fit in with the original story. We decided to update the story to include new portions. It makes the story better, more endearing, and much much more tragic for everyone involved. We believed that we had to go through with a set idea and flow but that’s not totally true. Sometimes, you have to stray away before you find something that works. We luckily did!
What feature did you develop for End of the Line that caused you to step outside your comfort zone?
End of the Line has a huge matter of choice written into the game’s final code. We have 7 endings planned with around 6 variations for each one! That’s around 42 total endings that you can get in a game which is pretty insane compared to our past fairly linear games. Everything you do can impact your final story… maybe you said something rude over a radio or ran when you should’ve hid? Either way, you’ll get a different ending that will entertain you but may leave you asking “What really happened down there?” You have to play again to find out!
Anything you want to tell the Plexstorm community before we sign off?
First of all, thank you so much for the chance to be able to tell a little bit about our upcoming game, End of the Line. We are really aiming for something special and some interesting stories to be told. Our game will be releasing a free-to-play demo in mid-2019 that goes through half of the story so you can decide if you’ll enjoy the final product. We are also warning anyone who’s ready for a happy ending to be possibly sorely disappointed. If you are looking for a good story though, you have come to the right place! End of the Line is truly a passion project and a love letter to the horror genre and the indie game industry!
