Eastern Student Starts Indie Game Project - Looks to Expand Team

Mathew Biadun | News-Editor

With open-source code, game engines, and education made more accessible than ever thanks to the internet, making your own videogame has gone from a childhood dream to something truly achievable. One student at Eastern has taken that bet, kickstarting their own indie project, and looking to hire Eastern talent to help out.

MaKaylah Dugas, who also goes by ‘MaK’, is an English major in her junior year, working to complete a five-year Master’s program in Education. Though English is usually associated with literature, MaK has always been drawn towards videogames as an alternate medium for telling stories.

“I’ve loved video games my entire life,” she wrote in an email interview, “and have always wanted to bring my own stories to life through the medium. Whenever I wrote stories for class, I found myself thinking they would work better as choice-based narratives where the reader could shape the outcome. Now that I’m older and have the resources and motivation, I finally have the opportunity to explore that.”

Some of those resources have come from herself. In the past, MaQ has worked on designing sprites and UI for a game project at the Montserrat College of Art. Others have come from the people around her. Her girlfriend, who currently studies videogame creation, serves as the game’s coder, while her sister helps work on UI. The name of their Project Team is Puntjak Games, whose logo is shown below.

So, what is this project? Here’s how MaQ describes it:

“The game is called They Found Fur, a narrative horror mystery. It will be a point-and-click style game in which you play as Almon Harbor, a schoolteacher who’s hiding his lycanthropy from the violent werewolf-hating town of Ceder Crest.

When a series of livestock attacks marked by wolf fur causes panic, the town prepares a trial at the end of the week, during a full moon. Sensing another werewolf in the classroom, Almon turns his attention to investigating his students to find the identity of the wolf and teach them to suppress their transformation. With only days to act, Almon must investigate four suspects, all of whom are students in his class. Through dialogue-based interrogation and point-and-click style investigation, the player must determine which student needs to be saved before the trial begins.”

MaQ drew on her own experiences in crafting the game’s story. 

“The themes in the story draw from the fear of growing up queer in a small town. I knew I was a lesbian from a very young age and often felt like a monster among my peers. I assumed that coming out and escaping that environment would alleviate that fear, but it has resurfaced in the face of my future. It is my dream to go into education, but I still carry anxiety about how I might be perceived in that role, and whether I will be accepted in the spaces I hope to work in.”

Along with her own experiences, MaQ drew on other games she’s played and enjoyed, to figure out what features the game should have. “This project was inspired by games like Life is Strange, especially its decision-based systems. The tone and storytelling were influenced by Night in the Woods and Stephen King’s It (specifically the novel), particularly in how they explore hidden horrors and prejudice within a small town.” Other games she’s enjoyed, and which have served as narrative inspirations, are Firewatch, Jazzpunk, The Last of Us, and Papers, Please.

Are you interested in the project? You have an opportunity to become involved! MaQ is currently looking to expand her team, looking at Eastern’s campus for possible talent to bring on. 

“I am looking for artists to help with character design, backgrounds, and UI. I am also willing to hear out any other forms of involvement, such as composing, coding, writing, etc.

There is absolutely no video game production experience required (nor animation experience). I am only asking for a portfolio (or document containing your work) to showcase your abilities. This is supposed to be a fun project, and even if someone is not completely confident in their work, I value interest and passion over skill level.

The pay would work one of two ways: either as commission per piece, according to the artist’s rate, or the artist would receive an agreed-upon portion of revenue made through Steam purchases upon release."

The link to the application is found here.