Dear Reader:
Game Design Deep Dive: Darkest Dungeon's Affliction System
The following feature was written by Chris Bourassa, creative director and artist, and Tyler Sigman, game designer and executive producer on Darkest Dungeon...
We had been circling around the idea of doing a game together for years, but we were busy with other studios and start-ups. We’d get together and brainstorm various ideas, but the one we were most captivated by was Darkest Dungeon.
Both of us freed up in the spring of 2013, and we decided it was now or never, so Red Hook Studios was born. We were excited by the chance to work on a game that had no external compromises--something purely made by us, for us, the way we wanted it to be. We were willing to bet that if we did that, there would be a decently sized niche audience that would also like it and thereby support the business.
Over the course of the game’s development, we built up a team of experienced collaborators to help make the game a reality. Right now we have six full-time people working on the game, plus our sound (Power Up Audio), music (Stuart Chatwood), and narration (Wayne June) contractors. Both of us have enjoyed the small-scale production, where limited resources breed creativity and force hard decisions.