We’ll be working on a review for Dawn of Fear, so I got in touch with Brok3nsite to talk a bit about the game’s development. Come check it out!
PS4Blog: Good morning! Welcome to PS4Blog.net. Could you please help us get started by telling our readers a bit about yourself and your work?
Hi, my name is Antonio Manuel, and I was born in 1984. I am the CEO of Brok3nsite, a videogame development and production startup. Since we’re a small group, we all assume many roles (laughs).
I started studying journalism because I wanted to write about videogames until one day I played The Last of Us and I thought: “They should do more games like this.” Instead of waiting for others to do that, I decided to do it myself.
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PS4B: On that note, Dawn of Fear is on its way to the PlayStation 4. How would you describe the game to someone who’s never heard about it?
It’s a survival horror release that uses the gameplay mechanics of the first games that emerged in the genre. You will have to explore, investigate, and solve puzzles, all while managing your inventory as you try to survive.
Dawn of Fear puts you in the shoes of Alex, a young man who loves to draw, which is why he always carries his notebook with him. He decides to go study fine arts away from home. Later on, the family’s lawyer calls Alex to let him know his stepmother has taken her own life. As the only surviving family member, Alex goes to the family home to organize all the paperwork and bury his stepmother. Once at home, Alex discovers the necromancy studies that were being done there.
PS4B: What drew the team to work on an old-school infused survival horror game that pays homage to beloved classics such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil?
We grew up playing these games, and when we saw that remakes were going to happen, we thought how we would do a project in that genre… and we did it!
We have always dreamed of what we could do to improve certain mechanics of the games that we love. This is how Dawn of Fear arose, as when we began to picture the remake of RE: 2. We wanted to contribute with our grain of sand and achieve a balance between playability and graphics without losing the essence of the genre.
What advantages do new technologies give us, and how can we use them without changing the essence? What continues to add value, and what can we change to make the game more attractive in this day and age? These questions were the origin of Dawn of Fear, which exists to answer them. Nowadays, technology and the way we do things has changed a lot, and we thought it would be easy to adapt a game from 20 years ago… but this premise was a mistake. Our knowledge on the development tools was…. let’s say scarce. We have learned a lot, and we have had to hustle so that our dream ceases to be a fantasy and becomes a reality!
PS4B: How long did it take the team to develop Dawn of Fear? Were there any particular hurdles or challenges you had to overcome?
Game development takes some time, but it wasn’t until we entered PlayStation Talents that we made the big jump. In total, it took us about twelve months. We had to make many compromised decisions as far as the level of design and art. We have had very limited resources. We were not aware of the level of production for the number of things that are needed, as well as the number of profiles needed to successfully complete the development (laughs).
We had to overcome hundreds of obstacles. For example, the loading system of the game itself. We were clear that we didn’t want loading screens in the game, so it was a challenge to get a dynamic loading system.
Balancing the overall difficulty of the game was also difficult and required a lot of testing.
PS4B: And that’s all the time we have for today. Is there something else you’d like to add before we go?
We hope that people give it an opportunity!
Embark on this mysterious survival horror story, where the elements that created this genre have been polished and enhanced for the enjoyment of each and every player. You won’t want to miss it!
