A Quick Note: Everything on this page is from the pre-alpha version of the game. The screenshots have been taken over the course of a few months of development so some more look different to others. It may or may not change and the game may look graphically different as development continues.

What is Labyrinthine?

Labyrinthine is a horror game that can be played solo or co-operatively online that may just make you never want to enter a hedge maze again. As you navigate the dark corridors, you will be faced with puzzles, scares and Horrifying monsters with unique AI's designed to hunt you down.

Together with up to 4 players online (or even alone if you're feeling brave!) you must solve the mystery of the happisburg hedge maze while escaping the clutches of the denizens within.

As multiplayer fans and horror fanatics, we noticed a bitter lack of cooperative horror titles out there. Being fairly well versed in the market, it appears that a lot of the games that do allow for cooperative horror are gimicky and lack any real depth/immersion. Many are seemingly from indie studios that don't really focus on producing a creepy atmosphere and focus more on cheap jumpscares. We want to change that. We have made it our goal to build a worthy title to appease those longing for something new and exciting.

Labyrinthine is our answer to a severely lacking genre and we have done extensive research and learning into what makes people feel uneasy, scared and downright terrified. There's an emphasis on the emotion of terror over horror (see Horror vs Terror) as we feel it creates a more memorable fear. Teamplay is encouraged as we have built the game from the ground up as a co-op centric game.

Before We Continue, Make Sure To Visit These Links:

Joining our discord is a great way to watch development and interract with the developers directly. We post updates, answer questions and take suggestions. We would really appreciate you joining us, even if you mute the server and only check it now and then!

Make sure to wishlist us on steam! It costs you nothing, is only a single click and helps us out massively. Steam recommends unreleased games based on their wishlist count so every one matters!

Gameplay within Labyrinthine can be broken down into several smaller gameplay loops.

Searching

At certain sections of the game, you will be tasked with finding items to progress. This will involve good navigation skills as the item spawnpoints will often be randomised and the hedges can disorientate you. Having an organised party will help make these sections much easier to handle!

Puzzles

Puzzles play a large role in the game. You will be presented with various puzzles that hinder progress until completed. Don't worry if you're not a fantastic puzzle solver, while some will test your perception, none of them are too difficult to decipher for the average person. Again, teamplay is promoted as more minds on the puzzle will solve it quicker.

Fleeing

You are not alone in the maze. Various monstrosities are active within it's walls and they aren't going to take your presence positively. You will have to run, hide and use other tactics to escape from the horrors that pursue you.

Teamwork

 As mentioned, our game has been built from the ground up with teamplay in mind. We want to promote teamplay as much as possible while still maintaining a solo-available experience. You will have access to items that help teams organise themselves and find each other. These include Glowsticks, a Compass and more.

Story / Lorefinding

Labyrinthine has a full set of lore built behind the scenes that explains the who, what, why when and where. We aim to make this discoverable by piecing together various bits of in-game lore. From audio tapes to notes; The story hunter can find the truth behind the happisburg hedge maze!

The environment in Labyrinthine is key to creating a truly unnerving atmosphere. We have put a lot of effort into creating an atmospheric darkness which leaves you feeling disconnected and subdued. 

To keep everything feeling flush and immersive, nearly all of our major assets are created in-house. You may be surprised to hear that the environment in Labyrinthine isn't all just hedges either! We realise that too much of the same thing is unstimulating, so we have worked hard on changing things up within the maze. You will have the chance to visit various environments within the confines of the maze, including indoor locations, underground and a forest...

Environment scares will also play a large part in-game. We have a plethora of scares hidden around the maze which can often be chance-based so going down the same path twice can have very different results! Testing and our pre-alpha demo have shown the scare placements to be very effective and we intend to build upon them! 

The Hedge Maze at ol Jonny Honk’s Fair has been there as long as anyone  can remember, but it's never been open. The rumor is, a kid named  Charles got lost in it, went in and never came out. When a cop went in  after them they went missing as well. No one’s entirely sure, but the  locals tend to keep away from it claiming it to be a curse upon the land. The maze lives right on the edge of the Local Fairgrounds, and this year, they are hoping to open it up as an attraction.

Built on the land of Ethel Fir, a twice widowed woman who died in 1935 leaving no will and no heir. It's said the maze was a  crazed project she had worked away at for years before her death. She had fervently planted and shaped the trees muttering about looky loos and nosey brats as it grew bigger each year, surrounding her house and  grounds, and slowly growing taller and taller. After nearly 8 years without anyone seeing her, the local authorities assumed her dead, and  entered the maze. They found her home in a state of disrepair, food  clearly long rotten, and it appeared no one had lived in it for quite a  long time. They searched the home, and what they could of the maze  itself, but failed to find her body or any information regarding her  death. Without a will in place, her property was left to the state, and  turned into a local park, open to the fair when it visited town. It's  said that from time to time kids will wander in on a dare, or couples  will enter trying to find old Ethel's home as a quiet place to be together. Often they come out safe and sound, if a little excitable, but the town has always had a higher than normal rate of missing persons. No one has ever been found in the maze. In the light of day it's simply an overgrown hedge, and a dilapidated home from the late 1800s. This  year the maze has been designated as an attraction and the Fair needs some help setting up after previous employees have either quit or disappeared...

Valko Game Studios is an independent game development company formed in the UK. At the time of writing, we have a team of seven core people from all over the world plus a few additional helpers.

Zach Dankowycz [UK] - Zach is the lead developer and the one who handles most of the background stuff, like setting up kickstarter. He has been developing games from a young age and is credited on several large and successful games. The majority of the code for Labyrinthine has been done by him.

Lonnie Ralfs [Canada] - Lonnie is the Lead artist and the one who creates nearly all of the organic assets such as the characters and monsters. He is a professional 3D artist with a history of making games and art. He is a huge (HUGE) blender advocate.

Cindy Tanguay [Canada] - Cindy is a versatile artist who handles both organics and hard surface. She has done some of the bigger environment props such as the gate and cryptex foundation. She is currently finishing up her degree in 3D Art. She is a potential crazy cat lady...!

Dave Watts [UK] - Dave is our resident hard surface artist. He creates a lot of the small and medium size props in game. Dave is our most recent team member but has fit in well. He has worked on numerous indie titles in the past and is a fan of the PSX-style that has recently been revived.

Julian Shields [UK] - Julian is our composer and audio technician. He has worked alongside Zach on numerous projects and was around for the creation of Valko. Julian has created nearly all of the music in game and has also provided the majority of the sound effects. Aside from music composing, he is also an avid chemist and holds a degree in Chemistry.

Tim Webb [Canada] - Tim is our social manager, discord users will likely know him as Quack. Tim joined us to help manage requests and questions from the community. He is a streamer-turned-manager who has worked with a lot of stream groups and gaming communities to revamp their socials. He is quite fond of ducks!

 Jonny Ro [USA] - Jonny is our artist, voice actor and motivator. He is the youngest of the team and initially had only joined to help build his portfolio for university. Since then, he has become a valued team member and provides lots of laughs during meetings.

Additionals ------------------

Luke Dooley [Australia] - Luke joined to provide development of graphics and optimiziation when his time allowed. He is a former employee for a few large names in game development such as Procedural Worlds. He had previously worked with Zach on another project where they had become friends.

Geoff Gollmer [Canada] - Geoff is a long-term friend of Lonnie and a Software Engineer Manager for a well established game company. Geoff is more of a consultant and provides us with innovative ideas from story pieces to in-game systems.

The main reason to fund us, is of course, that you love the idea behind the project and game. By funding us, you are directly helping development of the game and it may only cost you the price of a big mac!

Labyrinthine has been in considerable development for a little over 12 months now. We are a very open, close-knit team. We have made a huge amount of progress from how it looked 12 months ago to now:

12 months ago~

~9 months ago

1 month ago:

While we have made significant progress, we know we can do so much more!

As this is our first project as a team, we are having to finance it ourselves. That also means that we unfortunately have to work around our day jobs. With a successful kickstarter, we will be able to work full time on the project and purchase additional assets where required. This will speed up development and allow us to add more features into the game!

We are developing into a neglected genre, one that provides tons of laughs, scares and countless hours of youtube content, yet rarely sees any worthy releases. We made it clear earlier in the post that we have come to release a game that will satiate the hunger for a cooperative horror title and help bring a fresh perspective to the genre.

Even if you yourself do not enjoy horror games, it can be a great chance to enjoy someone else's suffering. We discovered during closed-testing that watching people play the game is absolutely hilarious and we looked forward to each play test for this very reason!

We have listened to everyone's feedback during playtests and our steam festival demo and have consistently made changes to improve. We listen and we adapt to what our players want. 

We are a community-driven studio. We want to make games people will enjoy and we aim to build a positive image that resonates in our community. We have big plans for future titles and supporting us during our early days is the best way to help them come to light.

Our goals are based around getting the game out, we aren't asking for more than what we need!

Join our discord using the links at the top and come chat with us if you are still unsure of whether we are worth funding; You will quickly see we are all very down to earth people!

Where Will My Funding Go?

We have no publisher, no investors and company equity is held solely by us. What does that mean? It means all of the funding will go directly to the costs of developing the game. Whether that's covering time as a freelancer, implementing new features or purchasing assets, the funding is all directly linked to developing or promoting the game. We don't do shady business, we just make games!

What Do I Get From Funding?

As you know the rewards are on the right and most of them are pretty self-explanatory but we felt it would be worth talking about what you, as a funder, actually get. 

First off, let's be clear, the gratitude part is genuine. We appreciate every last person who helps fund in our project. For some people it may not mean much and they just want a copy of the game, for others it's a symbol of faith in us. We don't know who is who, so we must assume it's faith for everyone and do our best to deliver. By Funding us, you are telling us "I want this!" and we are replying "Say no more!".

The digital developer diary. This item will be an ebook (PDF) that contains snippets of development from the start all the way through to release. It will include random comments on the discord, screenshots of drawings, work in progress art etc and will be aimed at giving you a behind the scenes look into what we do in the private development.

The private dev stream. From time to time, we plan on hosting developer streams where backers of that level can pop in, watch production and chat with the devs there. The direct contact nature of these streams are why they are included at such a high level.