Hacking for answers in tactical narrative game 'Midnight Protocol'

gamedeveloper.com:

This interview is part of our Road to the IGF series.

Midnight Protocol draws the player into the world of hacking, having them collect data and sneak their way into secret archives as they work to figure out why they were doxxed. As to how players get there—finding information to use for blackmail, helping agencies track rogue hackers, and more—they'll have many available roads to their goal, depending on the information they manage to pry out using their skills.

Game Developer spoke with Sam Agten of LuGus Studios, the developers of the IGF Excellence in Design-nominated title, to chat about how board games influenced the game's approach to hacking, using keyboard-only controls to immerse the player in the experience, and the challenges that came in creating a visual style that made things clear—while still conveying that feeling of doing complex hacking.

What's your background in making games?

Sam Agten (creator and lead developer of Midnight Protocol): I’ve been making games since college, although nothing that I was ever keen on releasing. I approach game development much in the same way as sketching: Most of the designs end up in the garbage bin. I taught indie game development at a local school on the side, which is how I got a job as a technical artist at LuGus Studios. 

At LuGus Studios, I worked on several games such as Liftoff. After a few years, I left LuGus Studios to work on my own project, Midnight Protocol, which conversely got picked up by LuGus and Iceberg Interactive. Life’s curveballs!

How did you come up with the concept for Midnight Protocol?

Agten: I play a lot of board games (they’re great!) and I fell in love with a card game called Android: Netrunner, which is the greatest card game ever made.