LIVING THE 1980s DREAM: BEYOND THE FINAL LEVELLIVING THE 1980s DREAM: BEYOND THE FINAL LEVEL

Author: The Numbered Entity Project

Through the Kill Screen is an Adventure-RPG set in the 1980s with quirky humour and horror/thriller elements. James K. Isaac, the game's creator, answers some of the most popular interview questions below.

1 )What are your earliest recollections of computer games?

I remember soggy summer holidays in seaside towns, hanging around the pier where arcades and fairgrounds frothed and blared like a beacon. Lights, sound and music meshed into another world. Perhaps the feeling was similar to a Dark Age peasant attending mass in a magnificent cathedral. Can you imagine how otherworldly that must have been? Stained glass colouring the light, incense flavoured air thrumming from the voices of a choir, such a contrast to what surrounded it.

Arcade cabinets chomped 10 pence pieces as quickly as I gorged on Slush Puppies and candy floss. Pac-Man was a particular favourite, until, once, I dared to follow the notes of distressed, sinister music, to where the teenagers nested. There, I witnessed a lance-hurling knight, whose armour always fell off at the worst moments, fighting creatures in a graveyard. The game was called Ghosts and Goblins, the first game I played that blended folklore and movie tropes into a story-driven interactive experience. Suffice to say, I was hooked.

2)What were your favourite and most memorable games you played growing up?

The consoles I grew up with were the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Mega Drive. I loved all the usual popular games, though I and my brother had a slightly off-kilter taste compared to our friends. At around the age of 9, I discovered Maniac Mansion on the NES, the game which would give rise to the Lucasfilm/Lucasarts domination of adventure games in the 1990s. I had never played anything like it. It had that scary-movie vibe, tense exploration mixed with humour. Weird to the extreme, with multiple endings, it is still one of my favourite games to this day.

3)What other interests, besides computer games, do you have?

I have worked as a teacher and lecturer, in China and the UK, for ages ranging from adults to children. I have also written many short stories, most in the fantasy and sci-fi genre, available in various magazines and collections. In general, I love world-building, history and storytelling. My first novel WOAD, is due out this year, from Montag Press.

4)What are the inspirations behind Through the Kill Screen?

Thematically, I wanted to tell a story about childhood and imagination within a horror-thriller plot. Kids in the 1980s had the freedom to indulge curiosity and adventurous spirits in a way that kids in our present risk-averse culture don't. Films from the period, such as The Goonies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and War Games, all tell tales of cheekiness, trials of friendship and adventure with a very real element of risk and consequences, seen through the eyes of children. I tried to create this 'feeling' in my game.

Games wise, I am very intrigued by RPG mechanics used in a more contemporary setting. I was inspired by the wonderful Night in the Woods, Undertale, Lisa: The Painful, Mother and South Park: The Stick of Truth. These all had such great story-driven depth under bright, relatively simple visuals. Games like these drew me in much more than the visually stunning AAA fare. Indie games, as an experience, may often be more relatable considering they are made by small teams or, as in my case, one person. This can give them an edge in telling smaller, more personal stories.

5)What is Through the Kill Screen about?

Through the Kill Screen is an Adventure RPG with horror/thriller elements. You take the role of Leon, a mischievous boy enjoying his 1980s childhood. Misbehave all you want, in the small town of Snoring. Live life through your CHEEKINESS, IMAGINATION and FINGER SPEED stats, overcoming bullies, playing computer games and annoying adults with the help of your best friends.

However, that carefree life is brought to an end. After a nightmare filled, fitful sleep, Leon wakes in an empty house. His parents have disappeared and there's a rumour circulating among his classmates. A kid in another town reached the final level of Hungry Koala and broke through the kill screen! Something was waiting beyond that final level...

You must solve the mystery and return Snoring Town to normal or embrace some of the changes, it is for you to decide. How you behave will affect your final, grown-up form.

6 )What inspired the 'look' of the game?

I wanted the game to look cartoony and bright to invoke the memories of Saturday morning cartoons and the games of the 1980s. Everything seemed a bit brighter then, in memory at least. There are bits of an Undertale style with the focus on the colourful pixels. However, Night in the Woods, which is such a quirky, amazing adventure, definitely influenced the way certain things in the town look regarding colours and patterns, although my version is much more simplified compared to that game. To paraphrase, one Twitter commentator said the games look like the cartoon series 'Home Movies. in a good way.' I take that as a compliment!

7)Commentators on Twitter have already praised the music used in the trailer. What can you tell us about the music in the game?

Almost all of the music has been created by talented chip-tune composers, whose work can be found on Youtube, namely: Pix, TeknoAXE, xDeviruchi and z3r0. I picked two 'tones' of music, a chirpy, happy, whimsical set of tunes and a tense, sinister, spine-tingling set. The music adds so much to the atmosphere and draws a player into the events of the game world.

8)What makes computer games such a compelling form of art and media?

Interactivity! The player is the story, to a lesser or greater degree. The player's emotional response to the story is based on things done to them or their avatar or what they or their avatar actually do, rather than an emotional response to a detached presence received passively on a screen. A game's story is the player's experience, not an author's or director's scripted intention. Though, of course, boundaries between media and art are massively blurred and games/books/movies/music seems to be morphing into 'grand experiences' rather than single-form artistic expressions.

9)What games are you playing right now?

Right now I'm deeply involved in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Crusader Kings III. These things seem to suck you into some black-hole pocket universe where nothing else exists but the Game.

10)When will Through the Kill Screen be out and where can we get it?

Through the Kill Screen is released on April 20th 2022, available from Steam and Itch.io for PC. I'm planning a Linux port to follow not too long after.