“...in Damned if things are happening then it’s because whomever is in control of the monster is right there in the room...That’s a really smart idea...” -RockPaperShotgun.com 

“What sounds really cool...is the stuff you can do while playing the monster.” -Kotaku.com 

“...Damned has a unique premise...” -Eurogamer.com 

“...team up as the hunted or become the hunter...” -Polygon.com 

“...una versión extrema de Pac-Man...” -LevelUp.com

Damned is a randomized online horror game for up to 5 players (4 survivors and 1 monster).

You’ll be able to play as one of the four people that got trapped inside this haunted hotel.

As a survivor your main objective will be finding your way out, as well as helping your fellows get out too. You’ll often find yourself on the edge, hearing and seeing ghostly things, trying to find keys and items to help in your escape. And sometimes you’ll find yourself running desperately from a monster, who’s there only to hunt down and kill you and your friends.

You’ll also be able to play as the monster. You’ll assume an ethereal form, which you’ll use to haunt the survivors, triggering eerie noises and events. You’ll also assume a physical form, which will allow you to hunt and kill the survivors trapped in the hotel. It’ll be your killing spree.

Our initial idea is to develop:

• 4 different survivors (the players will be able to choose which one they want to play with);
• 1 monster, with a very unique set of skills, abilities and mechanics;
• The entire first floor;
• 1 game mode (4 survivors x monster).

But if we reach certain amounts of money, we'll be able to keep working on Damned, in order to deliver an even better game. In this case we plan on adding new survivors, new monsters (each one carefuly designed to keep the gaming experience really scary), entire new floors (cellars, upper floors, etc) and new game modes.

Damned explores the sense of being defenseless against a powerful supernatural force. The survivors can’t directly affect the monster in any way. When it’s there to get you, your only chance is to run and hide.

This perception of being defenseless is very strong, primal and terrifying, it builds up anxiety and makes you really scared, fearing any unexplained noise or movement.

This is how Damned creates horror in a multiplayer game, and we believe it to be super effective! (tested and approved!)

Damned takes place in a haunted hotel, abandoned in the 1920’s. This hotel was home to some gruesome murders in the past, which led people to abandon it, leaving this eerie building open to those who want to prove that ghosts doesn't exist (or that they do exist).

We plan on releasing a quarter of the first floor, fully playable, in the alpha version. And then, keep working to add the remaining parts, in order to feature an entire floor in our first non-alpha release. After that, and depending on the stretch goals we reach, we plan on creating more playable floors, adding new stages to the game. 

Every stage in Damned is randomized:

• Almost all the objects in a stage may or may not appear;
• The item system is fully random too, randomizing which item will appear in the game, and where it'll be;
• The final objective as a survivor is also randomized, so in one gameplay you may have to power up the elevator and take it, in another gameplay (at the same stage), you may have to unlock the door leading to the upper floors, in a third gameplay your only way out may be going downstairs into the basement;
• The haunted hotel may also trigger a lot of random events to scare the survivors inside, like doors slamming, sounds of ghosts and ghostly objects.

In another words, Damned is a randomized game because its stages, events, items and objects are randomized.

Because in a full game, with 4 survivors and 1 monster, there’ll be a survivor “team” cooperating to try and escape together, and at the same time they’ll be competing against a monster, trying to avoid its traps and trying to flee from him and deny each one of its attempt to hunt and kill a survivor.

As a survivor you’ll be cooperating with your friends (up to 4 survivors in a single game session):

• You and your friends will be searching the hotel for keys and items to help in your escape;
• Each survivor will have a flashlight that can be turned on and off, helping you see your surroundings, but at the same time letting the monster know where you are;
• The survivors will be able to manipulate objects throughout the hotel, like drawers, doors, safes, cabinets, wardrobes;
• When the monster is in its ethereal form, a survivor isn’t capable of viewing or noticing it, but the monster can still haunt them. So when I survivor hears a haunting sound coming from, let’s say, the kitchen, it’s better to avoid and try to go around it, because the monster is probably there;
• When a survivor sees the monster, it means that the monster can probably see you, and that it can kill you. Your only choice is to turn around and run like hell.

As the monster, your game will be all about competing alone against the survivors team.

You’ll start in your ethereal form, where you can pass through doors and see clearly the environment around. While in the ethereal form, you won’t be able to see the survivors (you’re in another plane of existence), but you’ll still be able to trigger events to haunt them, like making the piano play by itself, creating random haunting noises like footsteps, or making the clock strike the twelve beats really loud.

Then, after regaining your powers, you’ll be able to assume your physical form. This makes you able to use supernatural powers, see the survivors, their flashlights, and the mess they left when they passed by, hear their footsteps and noises, and most importantly, kill them to satisfy your need for blood. But you gotta be quick about it, because your physical form is tiresome and consumes your power quickly, forcing you into the ethereal state when it depletes.

As soon as we release the alpha version on Desura we’ll send you your game key and you’ll be able to play it.

We don’t have a date yet, but it’ll probably be available in 2 months (about June, 2013).

When we started 9heads Game Studios (our company), we had this idea of making a pilot project, that would put our team to the test. This project ultimately delivered Vitrum, a 3D puzzler we released last year. Vitrum was mainly developed in our free time. Including bundles participations, it sold more than 3500 copies. But in the end of the day, it gave us no money at all.

But even so, we decided to quit our jobs and work full time on the development of a more ambicious game, focused on a specific target audience and featuring a lot of modern technologies. Since August, 2012, we are living out of our personal savings, working full time, and we’re almost getting to a point where we'll be able to release an alpha version.

Everything we used so far was absolutely free, every programming library, every content, sound effects, sound tracks, etc. And we already achieved an impressive quality. So, imagine what we'd do if we had enough money to actually invest in the game... We’d do everything!

With money, we'd be able to hire people, like composers, 3d artists, programmers. We’d put some money into digital content, like 3d models, textures, sounds. We’d properly publicize the game. And depending on the amount of money raised, we’d be able to stretch our goals, making Damned even bigger and better, adding monsters with different characteristics, powers, hunting techniques and mechanics; adding characters and stages; building more random events and adding more objects for the survivors and the monster to interact with.

Most importantly, we’d be able to deliver an excellent horror game. 

So, the answer to this question is: We need funding because we really need the money to keep working on Damned. The money we had from our previous jobs is ending and we got to pay our bills too. So, if you like our project, your help is REALLY (i can't stress this enough) important to make it happen.

Because it’s fun!

It’s really scary, you’ll find yourself on the edge a lot of times, trying to evade the monster or trying to pay closer attention because you don’t know if the sound you just heard is some random noise or if it is the monster haunting you.

It’s a real horror game, it explores deeply the feeling of being completely defenseless against a powerful force that can finish you easily. Your only choice is to run and hide!

And also because it’s really fun to play as the monster as well. You’ll keep haunting and building up anxiety in people, making them terribly scared of you. Then you’ll assume your physical form and hunt them down. We really put you in the skin of a classical horror movie monster.

We are using only free content (mainly licensed by creative commons), and things we built upon other free stuff, like our own game engine, called 9gears.

9gears is our proprietary game engine. It allows us to create a game with extremely low budget, since we only need to pay our own work (and even this we aren’t paying at the moment), and in the future, expenses regarding an office rental, etc. 

A really small team:

• Aymar Pescador Jr - Programmer.
• Daniel Ernesto - Lead 3D Artist/Animator;
• Henrique Elias - Game Designer;
• Henrique Kluch - 3D Artist.

We’ll make a truly scary game, the way it must be done!

We’ll allow access for players to test, play, and give us feedbacks, the earliest we can. This way we’ll keep things going the right way. Every thing we do will be done to make (and keep) Damned a true horror game.

We’re completely open to suggestions, feedbacks and ideas, our goal is to make Damned the scariest game ever. 

Sure, there are always other ways to help!

You can spread the news, tell your friends about how cool is Damned, share our campaign on Facebook, Twitter and so on, tell people their help is really important to us.

And you can also help us by upvoting Damned on Steam Greenlight:

Any questions and/or suggestions?

We want to hear your opinion, please contact us: contact@9heads.com

Damned: www.damned-game.com
9heads Game Studios: www.9heads.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/9heads
Twitter: www.twitter.com/9headsGames

All the supporters will be thanked in the game credits, regardless of the amount of money given for this campaign.

Some perks include pure game keys (without tags). This key will give you access to the game as soon as we release the alpha on Desura. Having a game key (regarless of the tag), means you'll be able to play Damned since the alpha version, giving you the opportunity to send us feedbacks and suggestions very early in the development process. All game keys will grant access to the game even when the full version gets released.

Some perks include a game key with a tag. A tag is an ingame marker, everytime someone sees your name in the game (being it in the chat, or floating above your character to mark it, or in any other place) they'll see your tag too.

We're offering some cool tags, you'll not only be marked with an awesome one (like Architect, Summoner or True Survivor) but you'll be recognized as one of our supporters, who saw the potential in this game and decided to lend us a hand.

For $5 you get the satisfaction of helping us.

For $20 you get a game key and the opportunity to help us with your feedbacks as soon as we release the alpha. All game keys are for the full version, but you'll be able to play since the alpha.

For $35 you get a game key with the ingame tag [Supporter]. Everyone will see you as one of the visionaries who decided to fund our project.

For $53 you get a game key with the tag [Supporter] and an extra game key to give to a friend. Because two brains are better than one.

For $89 you get a game key with the tag [Supporter] and 3 extra game keys to give to your friends. This is the classic 4 Pack, you'll be playing with those 3 best friends that are always there to join you in your games.

For $108 you get a game key with the tag [Supporter] and 4 extra game keys to give to your friends. Fill the game with your friends. You'll have enough keys to fill an entire game session (4 survivors and 1 monster).

For $120 you get a game key with the special tag [Painter]. Also, you get to choose or create an image* which you'll send us. We'll work with it and add as a painting throughout the hotel.

* The image is subject to evaluation. It can't be offensive, display sexual content or not be free to use in commercial projects.

For $400 you get a game key with the very special tag [Architect], and you get to name us one object* you want to see in the game (let's say, an ouija table stained with blood or family photo album with the following picture on the cover, etc). As long as this object fits in the game concept, we'll add this object throughout the hotel.

* The object will be evaluated. It must fit in the game's general concept and idea.

For $1200 you get a game key with the awesome tag [True Survivor] and you also become one of the survivors. You'll send us some pictures of you and we'll add you as a character to the game. Everyone else will be able to play as you.

For $3000 you get a game key with the rare tag [Summoner] and you'll also send us your idea of a terrifying monster, explaining its powers, mechanics, appearance (maybe send us a drawing or image too). We'll work around your specifications to add a brand new monster to the game.

For $4000 you get a game key with the unique tag [The Chosen One]. You'll also become a survivor (description in the The True Survivor perk) and help us create a new monster(description in the Summoner perk).