In 2010, a group of DePaul students in the College of Computing and Digital Media developed a computer game based on the daily challenges of being a dad. But the protagonist isn’t an ordinary dad – he’s an octopus disguised as a human. The absurdity of the character combined with the ordinary tasks and challenges made the game, called “Octodad,” a big success.
Now alumni, the group has since formed a game design company and will release the sequel to their first game Jan. 30. In the new game, titled “Octodad: Dadliest Catch,” players will navigate the clumsy cephalopod through the daily challenges of shopping for groceries, making coffee and mowing the lawn. Octodad will also venture to the aquarium at the request of his unsuspecting wife and will have to fight the evil sushi chef, who wants to reveal his secret identity to his family.
“It started out as a silly game, but then as it progressed it became more about exploring the themes of family and trust and keeping secrets from people you love,” Nick Esparza, one of the game’s developers, said.
The combination of silliness and deeper family themes caused Phil Tibitoski, another developer, to liken it to a Pixar or Disney film. And like many of the popular animated films today, the humor in the game is intended to satisfy a range of ages.
In a review of the “Octodad” for the video game website 1UP, associate editor Marty Sliva said “Octodad” may be “gaming’s first slapstick comedy.” While not unusual in the world of animated film, comedy is a relatively new genre in the gaming world. Esparza said the humor is different in “Octodad” because it does not come from the dialogue alone. It’s funny because of the clumsy way the octopus moves around and fails to grasp objects the way a human would.
The “Octodad” games are not traditional in the game world, but that might be a cause for its success.
“It’s basically the same thing as indie music to Top 40,” Tibitoski said. “We’re just trying to do something different. Now there’s finally an audience for that, and that audience is finally realizing we exist.”
While the “Octodad” sequel is more or less an extension of the original game, a lot has changed for the former students who designed the first game for a school competition. The biggest change happened when most of them decided to form their own game development company, Young Horses, which is made up of nine members.
“Starting our company has been a very weird, different thing because none of us are business majors, none of us took business classes,” Tibitoski said. “It was just like starting from scratch.”
The team had some help from their advisors for the first game, CDM professor Scott Roberts and former professor Patrick Curry, but most of the work they did this time was on their own.
They held a Kickstarter campaign in July 2011 and raised $24,000, which covered the costs of starting up the business. They funded the rest of their efforts with outside jobs. Some worked part-time, others full-time.
None of the creators of the game are more than 30 years old, and many completed their undergraduate degrees just a few years ago. Despite their young age, however, Roberts has confidence in their ability to succeed.
“It’s one thing to have a game be liked and be popular, but they really took a risk … they really took a gamble on the success of the game because they believed in it,” Roberts said.
The success of the first game has inspired confidence in the team as well. The original game was free, but it has had been downloaded more than 750,000 times.
In addition, they’ve received critical acclaim from inside the game industry. Last spring, Sony sought out the team and offered to release “Octodad: Dadliest Catch” on the PlayStation 4. They accepted the offer, and the game will be released on the new platform in March.
The majority of the Young Horses members plan to stay with their fledgling company if the new game takes off. Tibitoski defined success as making enough money off of the new game, which will come with a price tag, to be able to keep the company going and put out another game.
Others, like Esparza, may not stick with the company, but he said the experience he’s gained from it has been invaluable.
“I still kind of want to try my hand at big games and big movies,” Esparza said. “It’s been my dream since I was a kid, but this is definitely going to inform how I approach any sort of job or anything that I do for the future. It’s been incredibly interesting. It’s really valuable.”
“Octodad: Dadliest Catch” will be available Jan. 30. It can be downloaded from game’s website or from the game distributing websites Steam and GOG.