Bloody Brief #3
Hello, y’all. It’s MARCH. I want to say “how is it March?” but I know how it is March. We all kept on living and the days came and went and we arrived to the part of the year that many of us in the English speaking part of the world agree upon as being “March.” Maybe for some of you this feels more like a “marzo.” Maybe a “san gatsu.” In any case, the days keep coming. I’m glad you’re still here with us!
Over the last two months we showed you VESPER YOUNG, our main character. Our project managing short king. Every time I write a bio for them, they lose an inch. Who knows how tall Vesper will be by the release? 5’ 3” is probably where I’d draw the line, though 5’ 2” isn’t off the table. Part of the issue is I (Tristan) am kind of tall (5’ 10 or 11”, idk), so when someone is like, “Imagine someone short,” I am like, 5’ 7”, got it. I also have a friend who is 6’ 8” which also kind of fucks up my perception of “how tall are people?” If I am in a public setting where people are standing, one of the thoughts that crosses my mind when I stop paying attention to the conversation (I zone out a lot) is usually, “Wow, I am a lot taller than a lot of people here.”
Vesper is short! How does this affect gameplay in Vampire the Taskerade? Mechanically, it has no effect. However, narratively, other NPCs might mention it as they size you up. Power dynamics can get weird in corporate settings and how people gauge who is a threat and who is not a threat will vary from person to person. It seems wild that someone working for a company which is by definition exploiting them (capitalism) could be like, “which one of these other exploited people is my biggest THREAT? Who has the juice, who has the rizz? (In this situation, the person uses old slang and new slang.) Obviously it is not my employer, who could crush me like a bug and get away with it, but Donavan, with that loud ass tie. How dare he.”
Oh yeah, this time we thought, hey, how about a little game play? Eh?
Eventually, each character will have several sprites, which will give insight into their emotions when talking to Vesper. What you choose to say will affect your relationships and statuses with the NPCs.
In our game you’ll have lots of people to chat with. Underlings, colleagues, bosses. Even a devil or two, if you dare. That’s just what corporate life is like, amirite?
OKAY. MOVING ON.
Upcoming Events
Steam Page: TBA
GDC: March 17th-21st, I (Tristan) will be there! Not talking, just attending.
Narrascope: June 20th-22nd in Philadelphia, I (Tristan) will be there! I'll be doing a talk with one of my paycheck job co-workers. Details to follow.
Attention/Dinero
This month I want to shout out Anima Interactive and the video game they are making, Take Us North. In their own words, “Take Us North is a narrative adventure survival game that follows the journeys of migrants and asylum seekers on their way to cross the US-Mexico border. Inspired by real-world stories, Take Us North aims to foster greater awareness and empathy about some of the most crucial global issues of our time.”
This game is going to be really important. I know it is. The team has been working with migrants, anthropologists, organisations and more, wanting to do justice to the many stories and experiences that cross and sometimes unfortunately end at the US/Mexico border. Anima Interactive is going to be running a Kickstarter soon, so if this is a project you want to see happen, sign up to be notified when it goes live, share and if you’re able to, support.
That's the news for now!
In battiness (㇏(•̀ᵥᵥ•́)ノ)
Tris