Murkmeadow

Murkmeadow is a hybrid farming simulator and novel detailing the struggles of a rural town as it tries to fight back against a soul-crushing corporation.

GAME DESCRIPTION

The core mechanic of Murkmeadow is farming. Most of the game actions you take are related to planting, harvesting, and selling crops. Even if you turn a blind eye to your town’s struggle with PrairieGoods, the environmental impact will eventually reach your farm and you will have to deal with polluted water and soil contamination. The game is fun because you have many ways to fail. The numerous challenges (droughts, contamination, disease, village politics) are set up to prevent you from simply having a nice time farming, and thus push the player to try to juggle life events in the midst of chaos. Having to try again several times but not forcing the player to start over from the beginning will keep the player in the zone and keep them coming back as they try to get the best possible ending.

The game will address the social justice issue of solidarity by encouraging the player to act in unison with their community. One person can’t singlehandedly cast out a corporation from their hometown… It requires effort from everyone, and even then, it might not be enough. The player will need to ask the townspeople for help, and the townspeople will ask the player for help. It is a mutual relationship that benefits everyone.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Murkmeadow has been a joy for us to develop, both the digital and paper prototype, and it has had its success in both forms.

The goal for us is to have the player draw parallels between the events of Murkmeadow and their own lives (e.g. Amazon, Walmart, Tesla) and think about ways they can take action to protect their community from any abuses of power.

What we hope to take away from this project is a new mindset of seeing how we can tell powerful stories with simple mechanics. We hope to reinforce the idea that you don’t need a triple-A studio with cinematic cutscenes to promote a positive message for good, and that the actions that one takes in a game might make the player take a step back and look at the actions that they take in their life.

CREDITS

Programming: Bastion Toledo-Altamirano

Story & Q/A: Cristina Jimenez

Story & Characters: Jae Messersmith

Art: Christopher Smith

Translations: Cristina Jimenez (Spanish), Jae Messersmith (German)