In The Keep Podcast - #54 Nate Berens (Redact Games)
7Nate Berens is an independent game developer known for Sagebrush, a narrative driven walking sim about searching the remains of an evangelical suicide cult. He is currently working on a collaboration with Xalavier Nelson Jr. titled Cellular Harvest as well as the very promising Effigy which explores an open, interconnected world concept within the retro FPS genre. Here we discuss everything from the psychology of cults to Stone Cold Steve Austin’s views on mining lasers being used as weapons.
Artwork by Haducant/Spaced
Music by Immorpher:
https://immorpher.bandcamp.com/
Nate Berens/Redact Games:
http://redactgames.com/
https://twitter.com/ludodrome
https://store.steampowered.com/app/864100/Sagebrush/
https://redactgames.itch.io/effigy
https://inthekeep.com/effigy-pre-alpha-demo-gameplay-review/
The Keep:
http://inthekeep.com/
Timestamps:
0:00 Welcome to The Keep
0:45 ML's intro to this podcast
2:59 Nate Berens' background
9:59 Game making
13:59 Sagebrush/ Walking sims
22:36 Cults
27:37 Philosophical questioning
30:40 Tribalism
34:01 Story and exploration in Sagebrush
43:44 Designing the cult leader
47:37 Cult dynamics
50:21 Loyalty tests and public punishment
51:57 A story of closure
53:14 Voice acting
56:59 Development of Effigy
01:04:11 Movement through an area
01:08:18 Narrative of Effigy
01:12:01 Effigy's weapon design
01:19:30 Retro inspired shooter talk
01:27:27 Looking forward with Effigy
01:31:23 Thank you to our supporters!