FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: What is Cold and Afraid?
A: Cold and Afraid is a crime/mystery game where you control a state detective who, along with a few contemporaries, chases after an unknown killer who has begun murdering people in a metro borough.
Q: Which titles have influenced the game?
A: Mizzurna Falls, Parasite Eve, Clock Tower and Persona are all influences I've internalized, in one or another, through out the development of the game.
Q: So it's an RPG like Parasite Eve? And you can summon demons like in Persona?
A: Ha, no. Having influences doesn't necessarily mean that Cold and Afraid will share the exact same mechanics from those titles. For example, it will not have RPG elements like Parasite Eve, but the architecture of the story (heroes chasing a villain through out the city), and the main character (her attitude and disposition), can find roots in Parasite Eve.
From Persona, it borrows the time event mechanic where certain things happen on certain days.
From Mizzurna Falls, it borrows a strong investigatory plotline, where questioning people and putting together suspects are prominent gameplay elements.
Q: Which platforms will it be released on?
A: As of right now, Cold and Afraid is planned to be released on PC, via Steam, and on www.coldandafraid.com
Q: Which game engine is being used to develop it?
A: Range Engine 1.4
Q: When is the release date?
A: There is no official release date as of yet. However, the tentative plan is to release no later than 2024.
Q: Where can I preorder or Wishlist the game?
A: Email subscribers will receive an email when Cold and Afraid is officially listed on Steam. Discord members and twitter followers will likewise receive notification. Follow any of the social media accounts to keep up with any updates.
Q: What is the status of the Kickstarter?
A: The Kickstarter is currently in pre-launch status. To help ensures its success, please follow the project page here
Q: Who is the developer?
A: My name is Brent, a retro-gaming acolyte. I've been creating videogames all my life. I would use anything I could get my hands on to create a world and characters. I used to make flipbook games in my school notebooks all the time, used to cut out the shape of a Gameboy, cut two slits on the screen ends and create a scrolling effect to mimic a Mario sidescroller. My brother and I used to make "consoles" out of shoeboxes. We would also draw rival game magazines, and compete against each other in school, seeing which magazine could attract the most students. Becoming a game developer seemed as natural as breathing to me. It's what I was born to do.
I'm a sole proprietor, or in other words, an indie developer. There are a ton of hardships that come with creating a videogame by oneself, that's why I'm grateful for any support I receive.
Q: Where did the idea of Cold and Afraid come from?
A: I'll never forget the Christmas morning of '99. When my brothers and I ripped open the giftwrap on the PlayStation 1. My life had changed forever. I would never be the same after that. The original PlayStation holds a revered and unrivaled place in my heart, introducing me to 3D Graphics for the very first time. That, in combination with complex storytelling, supercharged my creativity. There is nothing that will rival the golden age of 90s videogames.
Cold and Afraid harbors all of those intricacies; back then, developers --in my humble opinion-- worked a little harder to make their game stand out. 3D was really just taking off on a massive scale, and players were being bombarded with all these new, emergent options. That's why PlayStation 1 had such a diverse range of games. Devs were trying anything, seeing what stuck to the wall. The possibilities were endless. I saw somewhere that Parasite Eve came about this way. Infusing RPG elements into an otherwise Action Shooter had never been done like that before, and SquareSoft probably wouldn't have taken that risk if it weren't for the success of FFVII (which gave them a lot of money to play with).
In any case, I just wanted to make Cold and Afraid as if it were a PS1 game created in 2023. Imagine you were suddenly transported to an alternate reality where games are still being released on the original PlayStation, and you found this gem on the shelf at FuncoLand.
Lastly, I didn't want to do the typical PS1 survival horror/VHS trope that has plagued the genre for the last 2 years. Everyone was doing the Puppet Combo thing, and I didn't want to go down that same route.