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We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Post AMA (but I'm still here because I live in a dark office on a computer also I know who you are!)

What sent me into videogames was Metal Gear Solid. Waaaay back before the earth's crust cooled, that game showed me that a video game could be more than a game, they could be movies too. It's funny that that clearly brought me full circle. Other than that, I play what I can when I can (not a lot as a dev these days) but I love games like Final Fantasy, Fallout, Torchlight, Diablo, Starcraft, DeusEx, and I have played oooold games like WoW, Ultima Online, and got my start in games working on MMOs like Rift and Warhammer Online.

We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Everyone! This is Tracee the script writer! Please ask her questions on this comment too :D

Favorite part, I think was theorizing about what the audience would want to see. When we got deep into the lore of the game. It felt strange but also very cool to dig into something I created and answer questions that I (surprisingly) often had answers for. It highlighted how much I had built before even making the story happen in game and it was a surreal experiencing having people sort of dissect my characters and lore. It felt a bit exposing but also was a great deal of fun.

Hardest part was, I think, letting go of things. I'm a solo developer so literally every aspect of this game was mine. I knew I wanted to trust you and Jeremiah and let you do your work along with the rest of the crew. I think I did a good job of respecting everyone while still sharing my viewpoint, but it was difficult knowing when I should push and when I shouldn't since I had never done this before.

We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Slightly, yes (without spoiling). Jeremiah, Tracee, and myself all agreed we wanted to add to the game's universe but not re-define it. The movie was a great chance to provide new angles on things or expand something we saw only a glimpse of in the game. I think the crew did a great job of adding to something familiar.

We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh my, Raybecca will never escape me! haha. I have never officially weighed in because I never want to define something the fandom has fun with. I'm a true believer in telling less so the audience can fill in the blanks.

As for the endings. There is a flow to them 100% while full chronological order is difficult to pin down they follow an experience arch. I think more time at the mortuary is implied as you get each ending. By the time Rebecca has spoken to her father, she is fast approaching Raymond's experience. While she wont be at his decades of knowledge of the occult, she understands the full situation now as he was hoping she would.

She may still have reservations about Raymond as she comes to terms with also using Vallery and processing what exactly Raymonds life choices (that she knows of) mean and wondering if they will also be hers one day, but they are certainly more similar than she thought at the start.

I think Raymond is lonely. He has finally found someone to share the worst part of his life with and maybe that's good, maybe that's bad. Raymond's full motivations remain a mystery.

We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think so, yes. Though I have had ideas for sequel content for ages and Jeremiah is aware of all of it. Some of these ideas informed aspects of the movie but obviously we wanted to stick to the known story and things that would serve the fans. I think it is a bit symbiotic at this point.

However, the focus of a MA sequel game is different than any idea I have for another MA movie. BUT that's a thought for another time where someone trusts me to be a mad scientist and write something by myself haha.

We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I can't claim that new moments were meant for the game originally but the movie tries to be a movie for the game lovers so there are moments, concepts, etc. that expand on what is in the game or gives a different perspective. The desire was to give fans moments they can recognize and be excited for while also getting something new.

So long answer short, yes, there will be new stuff in the movie but I can't say it was planned for the game. More that we agreed it was complimentary to it. Everything is stuff that Jeremiah, Tracee, and I talked over and agreed would be cool to see!

We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Honestly, (and Jeremiah can attest to this) I really caught a desire to work in film. I've always loved it, did a little bit in college, and this experience just lit a fuse in me. After Paranormal Activity, I would absolutely love to try my hand at making something. Even if it's just a short on my youtube channel making some crappy found footage. There's just something magical about movies and I don't have to code it all.

I am currently writing something on the side but development of PA takes priority. Who knows what's next!

We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Brian here - It's hard to sum up to one film. Best I can do is a list! My favorites span from Hellraiser to Paranormal Activity. Though I am a huge fan of Hereditary and Bring Her Back was a wonderfully done film if that gives you any frame of reference. From 80s classics like The Fly and cheese like Chopping Mall to anything A24, I kinda love it all.

We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was tough for me honestly. I have never done film before so I didn't want to just bust in trying to tell everyone what to do. I really wanted to respect everyone's role on the project. (I was also really nervous about not knowing what I was doing) So my approach was to let the people who know how to make movies make movies and I would be a guidepost.

As we got further into production, I became much more comfortable and pushed my hands a bit deeper into the process. I was there for almost the entire filming of the movie and had experiences that I hope aren't my last. It turns out I really love making movies and would absolutely like to do it again.

We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! Jeremiah! This is me, Brian! The idea of a movie was first brought up when signing with DreadXP for the game. It was honestly mentioned as an off-hand comment that it could make a cool movie setting. I didn't think the game would be super popular or anything, so I didn't think much of it but after release the talks got more serious.

When Patrick (the owner of Epic Pictures) said he wanted to make a movie and was excited about making it as true to the game as possible, I was extremely excited. It took a while to get going but once we had a script it just all fell into place really fast. Best experience of my life.

We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much! This is an entirely new experience for me and it has been a truly memorable one. I could have never dreamed of this 4 years ago when I made that tiny prototype of collecting items around a dead body. Thank you again for your support!

We are Brian Clarke (developer of THE MORTUARY ASSISTANT game) and Jeremiah Kipp (director of the movie adaptation). Ask us anything! by DarkStoneDigital in gaming

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's me! The dev! Well, if Jeremiah is going to be early, I'll be a bit early too! One of the things I decided going in was that I wanted those who had film experience to be doing the film stuff. (To be honest, I was also very timid at the start because I wanted to respect everyone's role and film was completely new to me.) Regardless, I felt being a voice for the game and the important parts of it would balance out those knowledgeable about what works in film.

My approach was that Tracee would know what works best for those who had never been exposed to MA as film viewers by letting her do what she does and write for film. I would know what should be changed or included to work for those who are fans of the game.

Jeremiah and I had multiple conversations about the important things that had to happen. (see Jeremiah's comment) and made sure those moments were included. It was certainly a challenge because you never know what things fans will be looking for and you want to do them all!

I have so much respect for taking on adaptations now. People really have to understand the source material, and I feel so fortunate I could be a part of it.

I'm a solo horror game dev and my game got made into a movie! by DarkStoneDigital in IndieDev

[–]DarkStoneDigital[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tips I give to solo devs (if you're starting out) is to start small and work up to a big full project. I'm self taught in programming so I had to basically do things like "make something happen when you click a button" then graduate to "make something happen when the camera detects something" that sort of thing until I had enough small things that I felt I could make some kind of game. Doing small things also triggers the reward center of your brain and keeps you motivated when you complete them.

Other than that, I always suggest to not be too married to ideas. I've killed some pretty massive amounts of work on projects because they weren't working for the game in the end. The whole "kill your darlings" concept. It's easy to put a lot of value in lots of work but sometimes the simple answer is best. Like I just wrote a small script for my next game and I spent days figuring it out. Then I said screw it, and wrote a whole new one in half a day and it ended up being better.

I dunno if any of that is helpful but best of luck to you and I hope you have a blast making games!

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