Archive of our old blog (2005-2010)
Meagan VanBurkleo was so nice as to publish a preview of The Path on the website of Game Informer (probably the biggest computer magazine in the world). We let her play a beta version of the game and she reports on the experience. Warning: spoilers!
And meanwhile, we are closing in on a launch date for The Path! The exact date isn’t determined yet but unless something unforseen happens we believe the game will be ready in March or April! We’ll let you know as soon as we do!
“[This game] might be best described as a sandbox adventure game, with heavy thematic elements of survival horror. The intentionally ambiguous narrative, [the developers] have told us, is expressed through the actions of the players, and unravelled as the [game’s characters] explore. But exploration is forbidden by the very premise of the story. It’s a heavily metaphorical tale set in an unashamedly fictional world: more about what you’re supposed to take from it, than how much you believe in it. And, just to confuse the hell out of us even more, apparently the only way to complete the game is for the main characters to die.”
Lewis Denby, Resolution Magazine
Happy New Year!
We completed a series of player observations as part of the alpha test phase of The Path. 12 players over the past couple months helped us find bugs and gave their observations. We thank them endlessly. It was a very great and educational experience for us which will surely make The Path a better experience for everyone who plays it.
see larger versions on The Path gallery page and on flickr
We have released 4 new screenshots of The Path. The other screenshots on the site are quite old by now and the game has changed a lot in this year of production. Once we get to beta (we are very close!) there will be a deluge of images and video. For now, we just want to give you a peek at what we’ve been up to.
ahem, some quotes from a recent text we wrote about the aesthetics of the game…
“You control the avatar, but she also has a life of her own -directed by Drama Princess, a home-brew alternative AI system. The foliage on the trees turns out to be careful arrangements of gothic ornaments. What first seemed like sound effects, is in fact a continuously changing musical soundtrack -created by Jarboe. Random signs of decay on the screen become helpful hints for navigation. The entire forest feels natural but closer inspection reveals its artificiality. This is not the real world. You have entered a fabrication, a story, a memory, a dream.”
…
“Painting with the aesthetic palette of realtime 3D rather than using the medium for the simulation of reality, The Path could not have been made without contemporary technology. Yet it clearly sets itself apart from any other Next Gen game. The hand of the artist shows. Sometimes messy and strange, sometimes verging on the sublime. Harvey and Samyn are not in complete control. A large part of the attraction of game technology is its potential to surprise. Rather than locking down the look of each and every scene, The Path contains systems that alter the aesthetics of the game in ways that the creators may not have expected. To some extent, the players themselves can decide what things look like. Walking down the path, for instance, changes the time of day. Depending on where you enter the forest, you will be wandering through a bright and misty environment or a dark and spooky one.”
And if all that still sounds overly mysterious, hopefully we’ll be able to pull back the veil with some video… soon, soon, soon.
For those of you who can read Dutch, there’s a (sort of) preview of The Path on the Eurogamer Benelux site. The game was not exactly finished when we showed it to Philip Cremers, but it’s interesting to read his impressions.
The Path is anders dan je doordeweekse spel. Toch speelt sterven een belangrijke rol, al zal het niet gebeuren doordat je personage doorzeefd wordt door kogels. Eens je het huis van grootmoeder hebt doorlopen, sterft Roodkapje namelijk. Hoe en waarom dit zo is laat men bij Tale of Tales liever in het duister, en als we eerlijk zijn willen we het ook niet echt weten. The Path maakt zich voor het grootste deel sterk door het mysterieuze aspect en het gevoel dat je zelf krijgt bij het doorlopen van het spel.
Read it here.
Before we started working on The Path, we weren’t very familiar with the horror genre. And even now, after lots of research and so much work, it still feels odd to realize that we’re making a horror game.
It’s very comfortable to us to work with the strange and surreal elements in The Path. We have, in fact, always done this sort of thing. But in the past it was called art. And when people from outside the arts world happened upon our work, we invariably got the “what drugs were they on?” comments.
But if such “freaky and weird things” are put in a horror context, suddenly all objections disappear. It’s as if art, when confronted with popular culture, turns into horror. Or as if art is only acceptable in the mainstream when presented within the horror format.
Do art and horror have something in common?
I guess they both deal with the unknown. And they both contrast the familiar with the uncanny, or look at familiar things in a non-familiar way.
And if art turns into horror in a mainstream context, does horror turn into art in a museum context?
Today we are revealing the final girl in The Path. Scarlet joins her sisters Robin, Rose, Ginger, Ruby and Carmen as playable characters destined for the fate of Little Red Ridinghood.
Scarlet is the oldest of six. The firstborn. In a family with an invisible mother. Quite a responsibility. One that she faces with determination and a sense of duty and pride. She is 19 years of age. She should probably be enjoying what’s left of her youth. But with five younger sisters, one more unruly than the other, somebody needs to maintain order and stability.
Not that Scarlet doesn’t wish to share the burden. Or a moment of silence. A moment of quiet understanding with a soulmate. A moment of true togetherness. Her loneliness is a secret she will take to the grave. Sooner than she may expect.
We have just finalized this character and have added pretty pictures of her to the website of The Path. There’s new portraits of Scarlet in the gallery and a beautiful desktop wallpaper in the downloads section.
Between her studies and the household, Scarlet doesn’t have much time to write in her Livejournal. But feel free to peruse what’s there.
And once again, we are posting pictures of the creative process that preceeded Scarlet in her current form to The Path’s development journal.
That’s it. Six characters for you to play with.
There’s more characters in the game. But for those you’ll have to wait until the game comes out. 
It is time for the new and improved version of Ruby to be revealed. Number five of the six Red Girls that you will be able to play in The Path.
The other girls call her “goth”… It’s one way of killing people: stereotyping them, putting them in a box and throwing it away. But there’s more to Ruby than meets the eye. A young lady by now, 15 years of age. Life has opened up to her as a rotting flower of corruption. She can see through it all but remains an enigma herself.
When asked about her leg brace, Ruby says she’s in pain. But doesn’t specify where it hurts.
Ruby does not long for death. She takes a perverse pleasure in observing the extreme decay of adult society. But what will happen when she ceases to be a witness and becomes a participant instead?
The Ruby character was featured in the early demo of The Path that was a finalist in the Independent Games Festival. But her model and texture have been revised for the final game. The results of which can be seen on the website of The Path. You can find portraits of Ruby in the website’s gallery and another nice desktop wallpaper in the downloads section.
Ruby talks to her Livejournal as if it were a stranger. You won’t find any secrets in it. There is no man behind the curtain.
For a peek into the production process and some making-of pictures of Ruby, have a look at the development journal of The Path.
