Killer Hot Potato
During my time as the Narrative Designer at Simple Machine, I worked on Killer Hot Potato, a party Survival Horror game for Apple Arcade.
The game involves players attempting to escape a killer by completing a series of objectives. Each player is on a timer to finish their part of the objective before passing the phone (hot potato) to the next player. The phone moves from player to player until the objectives are completed or the killer reaches them first.
My Role:
Create a backstory for a Slasher Villain, the game’s main antagonist/mascot.
Establish the setting and initiate early worldbuilding.
Direction for early character design concepts.
Develop all of the aforementioned elements based on a rudimentary gameplay prototype and a title.
Setting:
An 80s/90s B-horror, classic American summer camp, and sleepy town in the process of modernizing and emulating city life. Diners are as chilly and abandoned as the foggy forests, with big brands acting like parasites, eating up local storefronts.
Tone:
Cheesy, tongue-in-cheek silliness while still maintaining tension and urgency throughout the play experience, curating a vibe of hilarity mixed with near-panic attacks.
Comps:
Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, Dead by Daylight, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, and of course, classic Hot Potato.
Killer’s Backstory
