To spice things up a bit for October’s sake, The Party has decided to pay its respects to Halloweeners by efficiently preparing some pumpkins for export.

However, it seems that not everyone is on board with the decision and a sabotage is being planned among the workers. Destroying the pumpkins would act as an SOS message sent to the other countries, that things are not as happy and bright as presented by the Party to the outside world.

Will you join the movement and help destroy some Halloween pumpkins?

If you already own Black The Fall, just check the game menu for the Halloween mini-game. If you don’t own it, you might reconsider that, given the 34% discount.  

And, you know, if you’re happy with Black The Fall, it would help us tremendously if you’d leave a review on Steam.

Have a Black Halloween, comrades!

To wrap up the melancholic journey we started with in the FAQ section and continued with the Communism related blog posts. shaping the context of the real life events that inspired some game scenes, characters and mechanisms, we thought of sharing with you a couple of real life photos, that served as inspiration for some game scenes.

Communism intended to be the religion of efficiency, pragmatism and equality through hard work and community values; the ideal sharing economy. Within this paradigm, the individual, the soul, the mind, the spiritual, were all considered distractions from the path they drafted for humanity: progress through physical work and equality for everyone. Sounds awesome? Well, perspectives: consider being equal to the ones on top for a few seconds. Lovely right? How about being equal to the less fortunate? This is a question we usually forget to ask ourselves when we think of equality, thanks to our illusory superiority & friends.

The Church

With this purpose in mind, progress through hard work, factories were built in the urban areas and farmers were brought to the cities. Old houses and churches were wiped out and blocks of flats were built instead. And this is pretty much where the Romanian story breaks apart from how religion and the regime got together in the Communist bloc. Although the Roman-Catholic church was severely persecuted by the regime (churches demolished, priests thrown in prisons and tortured), the Orthodox Church was quite a strong ally of The State (lots of priests were agents of The Securitate). It was a win-win deal: the submissive Church would continue to keep their lands and exert power, while also supporting the Communist doctrine, like a bad-ass marketing agency that has the best influencers, and an audience reach the size of internet access  market in developed countries.

[WARNING: spoilers ahead! If you’re the type who likes to be surprised, you’d better stop reading.]

There’s still a romanticized view of how Communism persecuted the Church in Romania, but there's also the harsh reality of the snitches. Some confessions went directly to the files of The Securitate acting like an ancestor of web cookies. For such a a sneaky maneuver we just had to allocate a secret room and an achievement in Black The Fall.

The Queues

The State had monopoly over any type of production and distribution, that was the rule and it was ok-ish for a while, but in the ‘80s the sugar hit the fan. Rationing made everyone’s life about survival. The rations for one portion were: half a bread a day, one kg of sugar/flour/rice and oil a month. On Christmas each person could have one kg of oranges and half a kg of chocolates. Store clerks had real power through their direct access to food, so the exchange network grew very strong among them. In the 80's offering bread to get some darn eggs was a victory for you and your family.

Besides the lack in food variety; electricity, hot water and heating were also scarce. Moreover, each family could have the gas tank refilled once a month. You’d have to wake up at 2-3 am and queue for that as well. Queue can sometimes be fun. Look at Gamescom queues: fun! However, the ones I’m talking about didn't involve weather chit-chat, nor celebrity gossiping, but lots of quarrels, especially around Christmas when the pressure bringing your family together for a warm meal in a heated room was so high.

Public transportation was not breezy either. In this frenzy of saving money through resources scarcity, people had to hang on the trams or buses on their way to work. Just like modern Japan, without the fancy people pushing you inside the train.

The Romanian Revolution is a mystery not yet entirely solved in terms of who was shooting who and why. It’s maybe an event too recent and to hurtful to be openly discussed. I mean not out of shyness, but for safety reasons for those involved.

Anyway, there are a few undeniable facts: the high number of injured and killed, the burning of the National Library and consequent loss of thousands of books and manuscripts, the confusion, the hasty trial and shooting of the Ceausescu couple and the high hopes of the Romanian people for a normal life: abuse free and independent.

And just like any high quality set of expectations, this one was filled with all the positive aspects of the new happy life to come. Some people were ready to take on the responsibilities that come with the power of choice. While others became melancholic for the times when the state used to provide some food, a job and shelter, like a conscientious authoritative parental figure that always knows what's best for you.

#FreedomIsControl

Gamescom 2017 is part of our glorious past now and we survived to tell the story.

First things first: not sure if this is just me, but Indie Arena was even more fun and better organized than last year (get the pics and vibe here). I mentioned in an events dedicated article before that, when it comes to Gamescom, Indie Arena Booth is the best place to showcase at and I stand my ground. There is a good mix of professional commitment and indie rules bending, that simply gets sugar done.

A big thank you goes to Florian, who included Black The Fall in the game tour that he gave to the prominent German politicians that visited the Indie Arena Booth, like Cem Özdemir, who was really impressed by the story of the game and noticed how this concern goes way beyond our country. Haven't figured out up until that moment how much pressure to be sharp and shiny is on a political figure with the tens of photographers, bodyguards and reporters all around.

Speaking of fame, congrats to Rite of Ilk, the winner of the Indie Arena Booth awards, for their amazing game and booth.

Besides laughing and drinking with our old friends (mentioned here ) we were happy to befriend the guys at Chasing Carrots who have  recently launched the fun Pressure Overdrive and the guys at Goodwolf Studio who even more recently launched the award winning game Code 7. Keep on shining guys!

As a bonus, let me share with you what happens behind the stage, here is a synchronous table arrangement powered by Cristi and Adi.

The best part of the event is meeting our players as well as seeing how more 1600+ people get so hooked on solving puzzles. Some bring their friends over the next they and others need their dads' help to get by, but that's okay. We've seen more than once how Black The Fall brings families, couples and friends working together to escape oppression.

And then there are the old friends, the new ones, the collaborators... each time it feels like a family reunion and the fun memories are stripped off of any fatigue, leaving us with a let's-do-this-again aftertaste.

So, have you ever been at Gamescom? How was it? Really curious to hear out the different experiences.

We're happy to let you know that we're bringing Black The Fall again at Gamescom 2017, which this year takes place on 22-26 August, in Cologne. We'll showcase the game as part of the amazing Indie Arena Booth (Hall 10.1, Booth A-030),  the world’s largest shared game developer showcase. We'll be close to our friends, the creators of Oh My God Heads, FAR: Lone Sails, Orwell or Frost Punk. But there will be so many more fun, quirky, artsy games worth checking out (full list here).

If you plan to be at Gamescom this year, we'd really love to see you, so do stop by our booth to say hi or try the demo we prepare especially for Gamescom, together with a little surprise.

PS: If you're into Romanian games or you just want to see what we've got, do check out the Romanian Game Developers Association booth (Hall 10.1, Booth D-061) where you can meet Killhouse Games, Rikodu, Angry Mob, White Pond, Carbon Incubator and Holotech.

See you there!

Since Black The Fall was launched, there were strong opinions issued. Debates and guesses flew around on various channels. But all in all, with all the secret or obvious portraits and scenes, the big source of inspiration behind the game was undeniable: Romanian Communism. So we figured we could run a little contest, where every one who has the right answer has an equal chance to win the final price.

CONTEST
1. For non-Romanians: Who’s That Guy?
Almost everyone can recognize Marx and the other two handsome dudes, but who’s the first guy?

2.  For Romanians: What’s this place?
As you can’t not know who that guy is, we have another question for you. What is this place?

RULES

• Leave your answer as a comment here, on the Facebook post, on Twitter tweet, in the Steam discussion thread or on the Kickstarter post.
• There will be a raffle for all the right answers and there will be only one winner from Romania and one outside Romania.
• The contest runs for 24h, so any answer received after 5 PM BST, Aug 3rd, will be invalid.

PRIZES
The two winners can choose one of the following: the digital Artbook or the OST.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

REVIEW

If you enjoyed playing Black The Fall, do leave a review on Steam. It will help fellow gamers spot the game easier and enjoy it as well.

SHOUTOUT
Check out Sacred Fire: Psychological RPG about revenge and loyalty, from our comrades at Poetic Studio, based in Slovakia, Eastern Europe.

Sacred Fire looks very intriguing! We love its storytelling and intricate characters. It’s a tactical choice-driven RPG where your succeed by understanding the psychology of the characters.

You must earn your right to lead through self-control, willpower, and influence. The choice is yours: you can embrace revenge or fight for a better world.

After a successful Kickstarter in April, Poetic Studio have launched an ongoing follow-up Indiegogo campaign. Learn more about Sacred Fire on Indiegogo.