Game : Black Lung
Company : Scar Games
Platform : PC (16 : 9 Aspect Ratio only. (Preferably 1920 x 1080 Screen Resolution))
Price : Free (Student Work) / Donationware
Distribution: Itch.io, Black Lung Website
Contact Info:
Andrew Kiefer, 0433829668
[email protected]
Company : Scar Games
Platform : PC (16 : 9 Aspect Ratio only. (Preferably 1920 x 1080 Screen Resolution))
Price : Free (Student Work) / Donationware
Distribution: Itch.io, Black Lung Website
Contact Info:
Andrew Kiefer, 0433829668
[email protected]
Game Description:
The game is a narrative adventure which includes some puzzle and management mechanics.
The game puts the player into the role of John Childs, who becomes a coal miner who is sent
to work alone in an abandoned coal mine. The game focuses on the struggle of a miners life,
with the player having to carefully and successfully manage the balance of keeping themself
alive and their family back at home alive with all the money he can make from the mines.
The game is split into two different styles of play, first being the mining phase. This phase
is where the player must explore the mines and mine out any coal veins they come across.
Mining the coal veins requires the player to chip away at the veins, seeing the visual feedback
of the zone they hit to determine if and where the best zone is to give the most coal. Whilst
in the mines, the player also has to find their way to the lifts to go in deeper, which contains
higher valued coal. In order to explore the mines completely, the player will need to find and
purchase items to help them get through. After running out of time or stamina, the player then
goes into the next style of play.
The Cabin phase. This is the phase where the player gets paid for the amount of coal they
mined, and then has to manage what they do with it. The player will be greeted with a letter
from their family informing him/her of their family status; if they are happy or sad. The player
now has the choice to convert their hard earned scrip (what they get paid for with their coal)
into cash to send back to the family, or instead go to the company store and purchase
essentials needed to keep yourself alive, not to forget any items that will help you get
through the mines. Once the cabin phase is over, the next day starts and the player returns
to the mines to start the process over again.
The goal of the game is to get through the 30 days whilst keeping themself and the family
alive. If everyone dies, or the player dies before the 30 days, a game over is triggered. Two
different endings can play out if the player manages to reach the 31st day depending on
how many family members are still alive.
The game is a narrative adventure which includes some puzzle and management mechanics.
The game puts the player into the role of John Childs, who becomes a coal miner who is sent
to work alone in an abandoned coal mine. The game focuses on the struggle of a miners life,
with the player having to carefully and successfully manage the balance of keeping themself
alive and their family back at home alive with all the money he can make from the mines.
The game is split into two different styles of play, first being the mining phase. This phase
is where the player must explore the mines and mine out any coal veins they come across.
Mining the coal veins requires the player to chip away at the veins, seeing the visual feedback
of the zone they hit to determine if and where the best zone is to give the most coal. Whilst
in the mines, the player also has to find their way to the lifts to go in deeper, which contains
higher valued coal. In order to explore the mines completely, the player will need to find and
purchase items to help them get through. After running out of time or stamina, the player then
goes into the next style of play.
The Cabin phase. This is the phase where the player gets paid for the amount of coal they
mined, and then has to manage what they do with it. The player will be greeted with a letter
from their family informing him/her of their family status; if they are happy or sad. The player
now has the choice to convert their hard earned scrip (what they get paid for with their coal)
into cash to send back to the family, or instead go to the company store and purchase
essentials needed to keep yourself alive, not to forget any items that will help you get
through the mines. Once the cabin phase is over, the next day starts and the player returns
to the mines to start the process over again.
The goal of the game is to get through the 30 days whilst keeping themself and the family
alive. If everyone dies, or the player dies before the 30 days, a game over is triggered. Two
different endings can play out if the player manages to reach the 31st day depending on
how many family members are still alive.
Key Features:
- Manage yourself and your funds, all based on how successful you are in the mines.
- Explore 6 different floors in the mines.
- Mine coal veins in a strategic way to maximise your earnings.
- Purchase new items for yourself to aid you in your adventure.
- Send your family money back to see how healthy they can stay, based on what you give them.
- Manage yourself and your funds, all based on how successful you are in the mines.
- Explore 6 different floors in the mines.
- Mine coal veins in a strategic way to maximise your earnings.
- Purchase new items for yourself to aid you in your adventure.
- Send your family money back to see how healthy they can stay, based on what you give them.
Company Biography:
Scar Games was formed by four students who attended JMC Academy Brisbane, Australia.
The team members are Andrew Kiefer, Connor Simpson, Rhianwen O'Grady and Stephan Herholdt.
Scar Games was formed by four students who attended JMC Academy Brisbane, Australia.
The team members are Andrew Kiefer, Connor Simpson, Rhianwen O'Grady and Stephan Herholdt.
Black Lung Development:
The game was originally pitched to the team and lecturer as a mining game where you go through
a cave searching for different minerals and ores to which you use to keep your family alive. The
game originally intended you to mine rocks and find their best spot to maximise your earnings. After
this idea was chosen, we decided that the mood we wanted to get for the game was dark and
challenging, showing the struggles of a miner. To do this, the game was scrapped from walking
around a cave searching for ores and minerals to mine and instead changed into a game where
you play as a coal miner during the great depression, in search of higher quality coal. Once this
idea was set, the concept document was created and pitched for feedback.
We also all came up with our own paper prototypes to test the mechanics to see what worked
well and what didn't. We all had a slightly different idea of how the game worked, and in the end
we combined all the ideas together to create something.
Moving forward from here, it became a Design Document and an Art Style guide was created to
help others visualise the game.
After this we created a prototype of the game. It was very blocky and messy, but it was functional
to a certain extent. It included the mining phase and the cabin phase as well as the letters. When
storing the data to the rocks started becoming a challenge, the game was completely revamped
and changed to mining coal veins instead of rocks (which worked out for the better as it looked
nicer and made much more sense) From there we all had our own tasks, I (Andrew) put out an
audio request to get some audio people to help us, made the game functional using Playmaker,
designed the Modular Art and did Level Design. Connor focused on all 3D art and 2D art for the GUI.
Stephan worked on level design, set dressing and compiling the animatics whilst Rhianwen focused
on the character art as well as the animatic art.
The game was originally pitched to the team and lecturer as a mining game where you go through
a cave searching for different minerals and ores to which you use to keep your family alive. The
game originally intended you to mine rocks and find their best spot to maximise your earnings. After
this idea was chosen, we decided that the mood we wanted to get for the game was dark and
challenging, showing the struggles of a miner. To do this, the game was scrapped from walking
around a cave searching for ores and minerals to mine and instead changed into a game where
you play as a coal miner during the great depression, in search of higher quality coal. Once this
idea was set, the concept document was created and pitched for feedback.
We also all came up with our own paper prototypes to test the mechanics to see what worked
well and what didn't. We all had a slightly different idea of how the game worked, and in the end
we combined all the ideas together to create something.
Moving forward from here, it became a Design Document and an Art Style guide was created to
help others visualise the game.
After this we created a prototype of the game. It was very blocky and messy, but it was functional
to a certain extent. It included the mining phase and the cabin phase as well as the letters. When
storing the data to the rocks started becoming a challenge, the game was completely revamped
and changed to mining coal veins instead of rocks (which worked out for the better as it looked
nicer and made much more sense) From there we all had our own tasks, I (Andrew) put out an
audio request to get some audio people to help us, made the game functional using Playmaker,
designed the Modular Art and did Level Design. Connor focused on all 3D art and 2D art for the GUI.
Stephan worked on level design, set dressing and compiling the animatics whilst Rhianwen focused
on the character art as well as the animatic art.