Project Nightmares (Interview)

1. TELL US SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE HORROR GAMES THAT YOU'VE PLAYED GROWING UP?
That's a tough one! There are so many classics. Silent Hill 2 really stuck with me. The atmosphere and psychological horror were incredible. Also a big fan of the early Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark, FEAR, games for the suspense and horror.

2. HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAME DEVELOPMENT?
A few years ago, I left the corporate world to venture into mobile gaming. Over time, I transitioned to PC games. It was a bit trial and error. When I saw that I could sustain myself by making video games, I stopped working as a consulting programmer. On the other hand, Ignacio has much more experience in this world. He began creating art at a very young age and worked for some video game companies. He participated in creating objects for the environments in the game FEAR among many others.

3. WHEN PUTTING THIS STUDIO TOGETHER WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO HAVE A NAME LIKE THAT FOR YOUR STUDIO?
NCStudio is an acronym of the initials of our pseudonyms. N comes from Nacho for Ignacio Berge (the artist). C comes from Churi for Claudio Suriano (the programmer). I've been called Churi since I was 8 years old.

4. TELL US THE IDEA BEHIND THE NAME OF PROJECT NIGHTMARES.
The name Project Nightmares comes from the organization of a group of scientists dedicated to studying paranormal cases. They study paranormal cases through dreams that end up becoming nightmares induced by the objects under study. When an object is considered cursed, the scientists connect that object with a player, where the field to explore will be the dream world. The background story uses concepts like quantum entanglement to navigate through the memories of that object and recover its history. In this way, they aim to end the curse.

5. WHAT ENGINE ARE YOU USING FOR PROJECT NIGHTMARES AND WHY?
Initially, we used Unity5, and later it was published on Unity2017. It's published on Unity2020 for consoles. Since we are a team of two, where one is a programmer and the other is an artist, I believe Unity's versatility was one of the main factors we considered when choosing the engine.

6. GIVE US THE BACKSTORY BEHIND PROJECT NIGHTMARES AS FAR AS THE SETTING.
A group of scientists dedicated to studying paranormal cases have developed a machine that can induce a person, with psychic abilities, into a dream state, linking it to an evil object. The Project Nightmares team is in charge of investigating these objects, discovering the story behind them and putting an end to their curse. We will play the case of Henrietta Kedward. A toy with a dark past provides us with a connection to this evil old woman. Taking advantage of this connection, we will find ourselves in a nightmare set during her life, surrounded by terror and mystery.

7. WHO ARE THE MAIN PROTAGONIST IN THIS GAME?
The main protagonist is you. Essentially, you are a patient who entered Project Nightmares to connect with a doll and explore case 36, which has Henrietta Kedward as the antagonist.

8. ARE THERE WEAPONS IN THE GAME AND IF SO WHAT CAN YOU USE TO FIGHT OFF THE ZOMBIE-LOOKING MONSTERS?
To defend yourself, you'll have a handful of salt that you'll need to throw at Henrietta to escape. It's the only weapon within the story. Later, you'll have some quick time events to help you survive. At some particular moment, you'll be able to hide to avoid being caught.

9. TELL US ABOUT SOME OF THE GAMEPLAY ASPECTS OF PROJECT NIGHTMARES.
Project Nightmares is a horror game with psychological and procedural scares. It plays with the player's levels of tension and relaxation to keep them scared without being overwhelming. It's also not a game of jump scares that pop up on the screen for cheap scares.
You'll need to be careful, use your imagination to solve the puzzles presented, and at times, think quickly. You'll have different missions that will lead you to discover what lies behind case 36, and at some point, you'll have to make a decision on how to proceed in the story.

10. NOW YOU'RE WORKING ON THE MULTIPLAYER SIDE OF THIS GAME, SO TELL US ABOUT SOME OF THE MODES THAT WE CAN EXPECT TO PLAY.
Project Nightmares Multiplayer takes part of the case 36 story and turns it into a multiplayer experience, but this time the game is more dynamic. You'll have weapons to defend yourself and will need to cooperate with other players to complete missions. For now, it's a cooperative game with missions to fulfill, but this could change depending on what players want in Early Access.



11. WHY SHOULD PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY PROJECT NIGHTMARES?

Project Nightmares is one of the few legitimate horror games out there. It's a game that has many Easter eggs referencing cult horror films, especially from the 80s.
Any horror fan has a mandatory date with this title. There are many scenarios that take the aesthetic from movies like Evil Dead, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Shining, The Blair Witch, etc. In fact, the name Henrietta Kedward is a compound name, with Henrietta referencing Henrietta Knowby from Evil Dead, and Kedward referencing Elly Kedward from The Blair Witch. There are many more Easter eggs.

12. WHEN WILL THE MULTIPLAYER SIDE OF PROJECT NIGHTMARES BE RELEASED AND ON WHAT PLATFORMS?
In about a month, the game will be in playtesting. It's been delayed a bit because we wanted to migrate to the latest version of Photon Fusion 2 to make it work faster and manage networking resources better.

13. WHERE CAN THEY FIND YOU ON SOCIAL MEDIA?
You can find our social media profiles at this link: https://linktr.ee/projectnightmares