September 3, 2020
"REPTRAILS - Save the FRD" - Interview with developer Torsten Fock-Herde
"REPTRAILS - Save the Federal Republic of Germany" is a single-player simulation game, a project of the Hamburg-based Indie game studio kabuff.co.
The player enters the role of an agent of the "New World Order" or reptiloids, who controls the world population with the help of chemtrails, cell phone masts, media manipulation, and other logics of known conspiracy theories. These well-known conspiracy theories are intended to be playfully analyzed and debunked.
Three questions for kabuff.co founder Torsten Fock-Herde
REPTRAILS-Team: Torsten Fock-Herde and Jasmin
1. How did you get the idea for REPTRAILS?
REPTRAILS was originally just a fixed idea that came to my mind in June 2017 in a mixture of despair and anger. Even then, there were many groups spreading conspiracy ideologies and their opponents. Since it is very exhausting to deal with these myths, many people try to compensate for this with some sense of humor. Out of this motivation the prototype was created, in which you could send airplanes around and had to cover a certain area with chemtrails to fulfill the mission. Then the idea disappeared in the drawer again due to lack of concept and time. The corona crisis and the budding conspiracy myths led me to go about it the right way and bring my daughter on board.
2. Which game mechanisms do you use and what is your motivation for the player behind it?
The game mechanics follow the classic RTS principle, the Rock / Paper / Scissors approach. The motivation of the player is enhanced by the impression of being in control and spreading out on the world map. In different territories, different strategies lead to success, and the player should have fun exploring these strategies. At the same time, the game should not become too fragmented, so that it remains easy to access - after all, we also want to open up new target groups for fact-checkers.
3. You have decided to finance the game through crowdfunding - what are your goals?
The decision to use crowdfunding was easy for us because our crowd anticipated this decision. After we were unable to achieve prototype funding due to the short preparation time, the community quickly signaled to us that they would support us in crowdfunding with all possible means. We took them at their word and were not disappointed. The goal is of course clear: we want world domination. And release the game in May (2021) in the Early Access Model on Steam.
It is planned to release the game for PC and Android.
The Crowdfunding for REPTRAILS will run until September 14 on Startnext: https://www.startnext.com/reptrails
Find out more about REPTRAILS in this video:
