How an Indie Studio Created a Puzzle Game That Mixes Dark Humor & Horror

Introduction

Roberta Railaitė: Deividas and I have been friends for eight years now. About three years ago, we were sitting by a campfire on a warm summer night. We're both introverts, so we were just sitting there quietly, enjoying the fire, until we started talking about horror movies, which ones we liked and which ones we didn't. One thing led to another, and we just said, "We should make a game." It made perfect sense: he is a Senior Developer who has shipped many games in his career, and I was a Horror Book Illustrator looking for my next big project.

Days passed, and other responsibilities took up our time, but the thought stayed with us. A year later, we revisited the idea of making a "spooky yet cozy" game. In our free time, we quickly built a small prototype and sent it to an accelerator happening in our city that offered funding and tutoring for game prototypes. We got in! We couldn't believe it and were so excited that we started taking the project more seriously. I stopped taking freelance gigs, and Deividas eventually left his full-time job so production could take off at full speed.

Eventually, we hit a halt. While we have many skills at our disposal, music and writing were not among them. In fact, we struggled with those parts quite a bit! But I knew just the right people to join us. First, we contacted Shaun Glowa (GŁOWA), who creates atmospheric dark ambient electronic music. We knew he would be a perfect fit, and luckily, he believed in us and was excited to join.

We still needed one crucial member for our narrative game: a writer. I knew just the person: Indrė Bručkutė. I had worked with her at a previous office job and loved her work. I knew she was a brilliant writer who would fit the project perfectly. And with that, Hollow Beak Games was formed.

Vision for the Game

My vision for the game started long before I even had a "game" in mind. It began years ago when I started developing my own artistic style. I've been drawing since I was six, but things got serious in my 20s. I have always been drawn to darker themes. I love lying in bed and getting lost in the worlds, characters, and stories I create in my head. I still do this, though I probably should practice mindfulness more!

Because I had so many of these images in my head, I feel like a game was already forming over the years. Vale herself was born five years ago, and the world she ends up in is even older. I tend to lean toward darker themes, but because I'm a warm person at heart, there has always been a contrast within me. I wanted to show people that darkness doesn't have to be scary. It can be explored with excitement and curiosity.

I've had many inspirations over the years, specifically David Lynch, Lip Comarela, Katherine Lam, and Zdzisław Beksiński. But honestly, the more I get in tune with myself, the more I find inspiration in small things: a walk in the park, moody rain outside the window, or a creepy old tree that haunts me every time I walk past it.

What makes this project unique is how all four of us contribute to Vale's Echo with our own personalities. We are all "warm introverts" with a twisted sense of humor, and you can find all of us in this game. It's not just in the visuals, story, or music. It's in the soul of the project.

Story and Style of the Game

The game follows a girl who has died and wakes up on a train bound for the underworld, with no memories intact. That is the core premise, but the main appeal, and what we are working hardest on, is making the experience as immersive as possible through the little details we hope our players will appreciate.

I think our players are a lot like us: people who enjoy quiet, cozy spaces and appreciate a warm, soft-spoken, and kind atmosphere. It's for the creative souls who love getting lost in music, art, and complex stories. But, of course, it's also for those who love the dark side and aren't afraid to get their hands dirty with difficult themes and some psychological "weirdness."

What can players expect? They can expect to be slightly traumatized, to be lost (in the best way possible), to laugh, and, hopefully, to have an emotional experience that leaves them reflecting on all sorts of feelings.

I have loved art from the day I was born. I've tried to practice every day, watched countless tutorials, and failed miserably at learning anatomy. To be honest, I still can't draw accurate anatomy for the life of me! You could say I'm not a Traditional Artist. I don't draw in a conventional sense.

In my 20s, I earned a degree in Graphic Design, so from an early stage, I was drawn more to composition, shapes, and colors. I learned how to catch the viewer's attention using design principles, and when I was developing my own style, those were the fundamentals I leaned on.

My main tool for drawing is actually the Lasso Tool in Photoshop. People often think our game is made with vector art, but it's really just me "fooling around" with the lasso tool. That's why my art looks a bit stiff, sharp, and what some call "clean."

As someone with ADHD who can be quite impatient, this is the best method for me. I just take my trusty lasso tool and draw shapes. I rarely use an eraser because I don't have the patience for it! My art looks clean from afar, but if you zoom in, you can see the "horrible" details of misaligned shapes or weird choices. I'm pretty certain there are trees in Vale's Echo where the branches aren't even connected to the trunk. So... please don't zoom in on my work!

Cultural Influences

Living in a country recovering from Soviet occupation is a unique feeling. We live in Lithuania (except for our composer, who lives in the UK). The atmosphere can be somber and grey, with very little sun in the winter, and people can seem a bit more wary or cold at first. But I actually love it. It's not all grey and sad like some might think! I see the beauty in it.

People may seem cold on the surface, but you can see the warmth in their eyes. In the spring and summer, it's beautiful. We have so many rivers, lakes, and forests full of mushrooms and life. It's a quiet life, just the way I like it. Our culture is full of these contrasts, and that is exactly why I feel the need to combine horror with coziness. We are the results of our surroundings. People tend to think of horror only as jumpscares, stress, and tension.

But there's a secret about our team: we are actually kind of "scaredy cats." We love horror, but we dread the anxiety that often comes with it. It has become our mission to create a game that people like us can enjoy! We want players to be able to explore horrific situations and themes while sitting with a nice cup of tea and a warm blanket. I think the key to creating that feeling is knowing how to remove the unnecessary stress and tension.

Some might ask, "What's the point of horror without the fear?" To us, the point is curiosity and exploration. People are naturally drawn to the darkness, and many want to satisfy that curiosity without being terrified. We are doing our best to crack that code and deliver exactly that experience.

Creating the Characters

Oh boy, the characters! I absolutely love drawing the cast for Vale's Echo. It's one of the most enjoyable parts of the process for me. Since many of our characters are anthropomorphic, I have a lot of fun researching different animals and the professions they might have. I did have to research what a termite looks like once, though, I was definitely not a fan of that one!

In general, it's a very straightforward process: I search for references, make a rough sketch, and then bring out my trusty lasso tool. After that, I send the file to Deividas, who handles the rigging and animation in Unity. If we want a character to have a unique or specific movement, I'll create a frame-by-frame sprite sheet.

The real struggle, surprisingly, was Vale herself. At first, the sketches came naturally. I had a rough idea of how she should look, and it evolved into her current design. But somewhere in the middle, I started doubting myself. I got so inside my own head that I was over-analyzing everything, even her hair color. It took a while to get out of that funk, but I eventually did! We went back to her original dark pants and grey hoodie with the "X" outfit. We felt it just fit her perfectly, but it was definitely a journey to get there.

Current Development Process

Deividas Baumilas: The game is currently in active production. Following the demo phase, we've been busy expanding the world, adding new areas, intricate puzzles, more characters, and key story beats.

Key Design Pillars:

• Cozy Horror Theme: Our primary goal is maintaining an eerie atmosphere without ever leaning into gore or cheap jump scares. We want to build a sense of "strange comfort" by merging visuals, dialogue, and music.
• Bizarre but Relatable: We focus on creating characters that are visually surreal but emotionally readable, often using dark humor in their dialogue to bridge that gap.
• Player-Led Exploration: We want the player to set their own pace. There is no chasing, no rushing, and no artificial stress. The world is filled with small, interactive details, and the story is told entirely through interactions with characters and objects.
• Improvised Design: Many of our best puzzles and story moments are born "on the go." We play through the levels we've built and chat about what would be fun or interesting to encounter next.
• Visuals First: The game started with the art, and that remains our workflow. We create the art assets first, followed by animations, and then layer in the dialogue and music to fit that visual mood.

One of our biggest hurdles is managing frame-by-frame animations alongside a complex branching dialogue system. We have to ensure the game remembers player decisions so that the outcomes feel meaningful and rewarding.

Pacing is also a constant challenge, balancing how quickly we progress the story, introduce puzzles, and reveal Vale's background while timing the music cues perfectly. Finally, like any indie team, we constantly have to balance our ambition versus our timeline, making tough choices between what we want to build and what we have the time to polish to perfection.

I always recommend starting small. Build a few simple games first to find your workflow, learn the tools, and sharpen your skills. Your first project shouldn't necessarily be your "dream game", because you want to be fully prepared and skilled enough to do that big vision justice when the time comes.

Also, regardless of the outcome or success of your first project, make a second one! It is so important not to give up if your first game doesn't find its footing. Statistics show that something like 80% of Steam developers only ever release one game. I can say from personal experience that it's worth sticking with it: my previous solo game, No More Snow, had 1.7k wishlists at launch, while our new project already has nearly 10k.

Finally, don't be afraid to look for friends and build a team. Working in a group is much easier, and you simply can't do justice to every single aspect of a project alone. Bringing on a professional writer or a composer can make a massive difference and truly give your game a soul.

Roberta: I would say the most important thing is to just start doing it. It sounds simple, but I know it isn't. It is so much easier to stay inside your head, planning every detail and daydreaming about stories, but once you have to bring those ideas into reality, you can freeze. It becomes scary because you put so much pressure on yourself for everything to be perfect.

My advice is this: learn to let go of the need for perfection. That's where the magic happens! Once you are free of that weight, things start moving. Surprisingly, when you stop chasing perfection, your projects often go in more interesting directions, and you get so much more done in less time. As for themes, we explore death in Vale's Echo because it has always been such a scary yet fascinating topic to me. It is wild that we, as humans, live with this constant reminder of our own mortality.

I knew it was something I had to explore. You have to pick themes that are close to your heart. That is the only way to tell a story that is personal and authentic. If you pick something that doesn't truly interest you, what's the point? Search within yourself for the topics that drive you, let go of the perfectionism, and dive into it, like today!

Hollow Beak Games

Interview conducted by Stephanie Almogabar