Creature Labby Polish independent game studio Image Power is a simulation and strategy game wrapped in what the company calls a reverse horror theme. The game is currently listed on Kickstarter to release the game on consoles and develop the game further. The game has achieved over 65% of the goal in a couple of weeks, and there are still a few days to pledge to the Kickstarter and help the studio reach the initial goal, perhaps even opening up some of the stretch goals.
Instead of a typical protagonist, the players assume the role of an evil villain inCreature Lab, aDr. Frankenstein-inspired mad scientistwho wants to avenge the dismissal of his theories by the public. To make this happen, he has to create mutagens, build abominations, wreak havoc on the city to gather resources, and create the Ultimate Mutagen to enslave the people. Game Rant spoke toCreature Labdeveloper Image Power about the game’s aesthetics, Kickstarter goals, horror influences, gameplay, and much more.The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
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Q: Let’s start with you. What made you interested in game development, and how did you find yourself at Image Power?
A: I was a gamer since the early 90s when I got hooked on Dune 2 andthe original Prince of Persia. From the early days, I felt the desire to create content that I could share with my friends. I started with map-making for games from the Heroes of Might & Magic franchise and I gradually took on more ambitious projects.
I was an admin on gaming websites and occasionally joined forces with Amplitude Studios. Encouraged by such experiences, I decided to dedicate my career to game development and joined Image Power. I was initially a level designer, but I soon became a game designer and, eventually, a COO.
Q: Can you explain what kind of game is Creature Lab?
A: Creature Lab lets you experiencethe thrill of being a mad scientist. It sets you on a path of a modern Frankenstein. You can brew mutagens, grow body parts, create abominable creatures, and send them to a city to obtain resources and test subjects. All while avoiding the military. For some reason, they don’t take kindly to your monsters roaming the streets!
Most of the game takes place in your laboratory, where you perform your radical experiments in first-person perspective. This includes tasks like carrying bodies to a mutation chamber or setting parameters on your limb incubator. There is light a puzzle element too, as you need to figure out the properties of your freshly created potions – by analyzing them and by seeing how they affect your creatures.
There is also a strategy aspect to all of this. You have a city map, where you plan various missions or accept contracts for your shady Dark Web patrons. We tried to keep it simple on normal difficulty but if you want something more challenging, then you will need to plan ahead and utilize the strengths of your various creatures. You are on a clock, though. The more you send your creatures to the city, the more intel the military gathers. Eventually, they might find you and attack your lab.
All of this is rooted in horror, hence the “reverse horror” moniker. In horror games, you usually try to survive the effects of twisted experiments. Hereyou are the evil geniusbehind them.
Q: Did you want to make a game from the perspective of a villain from the beginning?
A: Yes, that was one of the first core ideas that we all agreed on. We wanted the players to experience something different. Many kids likeplaying the role of a mad scientist, and we were no exception. Playing the role of ‘the bad guy’ is an interesting concept. Usually, you only see evil geniuses once they are defeated by heroes. We wanted to show what it’s like to be that mad scientist. Basically a ‘slice of life’ perspective from the life of a twisted, yet brilliant mastermind.
Q: The game simulates being a mad scientist. What does this entail?
A: Everything thata modern Frankenstein would do! Like chemistry! This is the activity that will take up a large portion of the gameplay. All available substances have elements that determine their properties. The trick is figuring out what potion has which elements – and how these elements might interact. The cool part about it is that every time you start a new game, the names of ingredients will be randomized – so you will always have something new to get back to.
If you make a mutagen, you can use it to revive the dead as (somewhat) loyal creatures. You can then extract their DNA to grow new limbs and change the arms and legs of your creations as you see fit! You can also enhance your creatures, to grant them temporary special abilities and boost their stats. And of course, you can experiment further to improve any already concocted mutagens.
You do most of the things manually, which means also moving creatures between different machines/containers, keeping them sedated, operating on them to attach upgraded limbs, and so on. Then, when your creations are ready, you invade the city. You have many different types of missions for them to accomplish. You also need to gather resources from the city, harvest fresh corpses, spread panic to evade pesky investigators, or fight the military for control of the city! This is the base gameplay loop, but there are of course nuances to every part of it.
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Q: Is there a story behind this mad scientist and his mission to create these beings?
A: There is a story element in the game. You start up as a disgraced scientist, whose theories were criticized by his peers. You seek acknowledgment, maybe with a dash of revenge on those who doubted your genius. At the start of the game, the scientist already has the means to animate the dead. The player’s goal is to create a so-called Ultimate Mutagen. Once spread in the city, it will turn all citizens into devoted followers of the scientist who will finally receive the praise he knows he deserves.
Those story elements are interwoven into the game, and also into our promotional materials, like devlogs, which are narrated personally by the mad scientist. There are also some subtle clues in-game allowing you to piece the events together. But we cared about leaving enough space for the players to write their own stories, to get immersed into the role.
Q: What do these created mutants do, and how do the mutations affect their capabilities if at all?
A: The mutants you create are used to infiltrate or outright attack the city. They face the police and army in combat, gather resources for you,complete certain story missions, and raise the panic level, which plays an important role in your efforts to avoid capture by the military.
Each mutant has its stats – base ones are vitality and efficiency, but you also get specialized ones, from resource acquisition to the level of terror the mutant causes, its stealth capabilities, or the ability to perform better against certain types of enemies. you may also customize a lot – with new and more powerful mutagens or new limbs. Certain limb combinations grant special abilities, as do temporary enhancements. The challenges awaiting the mutants are quickly getting more difficult, so constantly updating your creations is of the essence.
Q: You also mention that the game has some genre-combining features. Can you describe them?
A: We have touched on the subject already, but I think the strategic and puzzle elements are what sets Creature Lab apart fromother games in the simulator genre. Many of them have management elements, but here you need to plan ahead. You have a city map, with each district having its own level of resources and characteristics, but also different police and military units stationed.
You have to always evaluate the risk because you can lose your precious creations if they are too weak to take on your enemies. Furthermore, you can improve your odds by sending more creatures – but doing so will attract more attention and help with the military’s investigation. Turning corpses into monsters is not really socially acceptable so if they detect you and find your lab, it’s game over.
Q: You reference Dr. Frankenstein in your materials. Are there any games or other media that have heavily influenced the game?
A: Well, there are lots of notable mad scientists in pop culture. We were of course inspired by those that followed in Frankenstein’s footsteps, especially in breathing life into abominable creatures. Think Dr. Moreau, Herbert West, etc. There is anaura of 50s and 80s horror films in our approach, this little bit of kitsch that contrasts the seriousness of it all.
You can spot lots of little nods to the genre, too. And we also looked fondly for inspiration at those “villain simulators” of old, like Dungeon Keeper or Evil Genius, although we approach the topic with less comical exaggeration.
Q: The game has a unique horror-themed visual design. Can you tell us how that came about?
A: This is where the bit of80s kitsch or even comic book aestheticcame into action. We wanted to tribute the genre and generate an iconic “mad science” aura. Hence, the logo for the game, the skull symbol in the OS of lab computers, or the general usage of “toxic” greens - but also things like lab equipment, all those “chambers” flooded with mutagens for example.
Of course, we didn’t want to overdo it, so it’s contrasted by a few more modern-looking tweaks to the UI and such. As for the creature design, we went all the way into the horror aesthetics, with our unique spin.
Q: You are currently seeking funding from Kickstarter. What do you intend on creating if and when you reach the funding goal?
A: Our main goal is availability. Creature Lab has a modest budget, but we believe in the idea behind the game and our execution of it. Thus, we think that not only PC players would like to experience what we had cooked up. Mad science knows no boundaries. Ifthe campaign on Kickstarter will hit the base goal, we intend to port the game to all modern console systems. Several stretch goals also take the idea of making the game more accessible further – with such things as support for more languages or providing an original, crazy soundtrack.
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Q: You also have stretch goals and benefits for those that support via Kickstarter. Can you give us a rundown of those?
A: With those more ambitious stretch goals, we really would like to expand the game significantly. We are full of ideas, this is our passion project, so we let our creativity run wild. We’d like to add more base mutants, and more limbs, but also crazier things, likea mobile companion app. Our favorite stretch goal is probably Igor – an AI companion that can help you in the lab. We designed three very distinct versions of Igor and allowed people to vote for their favorite.
As for rewards, all the tiers have pretty cool stuff to offer. Your name can appear in credits or even in the in-game news. We have a bundle of awesome games, a set of game-themed wallpapers, an art book, and of course copies of Creature Lab for PC. With higher, limited tiers we wanted to allow our backers to get creative as well and add their ideas to the game itself. We have the option of naming your substance, designing a unique limb, or even an original monster. We will of course help to realize their ideas so that they fit the theme of the game.
Q: One of the stretch goals is additional limbs. Can you expand on what those might be?
A: The base game allows you to choose from several preset limbs. You can grow them in an incubator and then attach them to your creatures. These not only affect the visuals but also the monsters’ capabilities. For instance, attaching a pair of hooves to your creation will make it faster. There are other limbs too, such as a steel-cutting bone ax or a venomous arm that lets a creature attack from a distance.
You can see some concepts on our Kickstarter – we have ideas for even more limbs that we weren’t able to add to the base game. Things that could, for example, drain blood from the creature’s victims to heal.
Q: The ultimate stretch goal is turn-based tactical combat. Do you already know what that would look like, and what could you tell us about it?
A: We think that adding active combat instead of the visualizations we have in the base game would have a positive impact on the experience. That said, we will aim to keep it quite simple – we don’t want it to take over the other aspects of the game, just enrich it.
We have stats, units, and tactical approaches to the missions already in place, so we may build upon those foundations by providing players with some degree of control over their creatures as they fight the military. For instance, by letting the creatures choose their targets and control their deployment. All with a simple,turn-based action systemand a possibility to skip manual control for those less interested in this feature.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add or mention?
A: On behalf of our team, I want to thank all the backers, friends, and players for their engagement in Creature Lab. Thanks to them, and also their feedback, we are sure that the final product will make the impact the idea deserves. Of course, we’re yet to finish the campaign, so we will be thankful for your support and for spreading the news further!
We also invite all fans to add Creature Lab to their wishlists! We also have a busy year, as we intend to publish two more games in 2023, so you can also check them out – our upcoming titles are Cruise Ship Manager and Offroad Mechanic Simulator. Meanwhile, I encourage fans of horror-themed games to check out Haunted House Renovator, our first game produced in Unreal Engine 5.
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