Tale of Tales announces release data and opens new websiteThe Path will be released to the public on March 18th 2009, one year after its nomination for Excellence in Visual Art in the Independent Games Festival. In keeping with the roots and philosophy of its designers, Auriea Harvey & Michael Samyn, the launch will be exclusively digital.
Watch the video on my YouTube channel here... please subscribe The PC game will be available for purchase and download from Tale of Tales' own website, from Direct2Drive and from Steam. Pricing will be announced at a later date.
At the occasion of the release date announcement, Tale of Tales opens the doors of a brand new website for The Path here.
The website contains new screenshots, gameplay videos and downloadable materials. Not in a classic menu-based layout but presented through the eyes of the main characters in the game. Robin, Rose, Ginger, Ruby, Carmen and Scarlet each have their own page where they give you a peak into their lives. Their beautiful, brief, lives.
"The Red Girls feel a bit like they are our children," say creators Auriea Harvey (US) and Michael Samyn (BE), as always in duet. "We've been raising them for over two years now and perhaps they're old enough to leave the nest. Or at least to go outside on their own. The girls feel very real to us, they're a part of our lives and they will be taking that part with them on their journey. This is why we chose a date very dear to our hearts for the release of The Path. On 18 March 1999, we met in person for the first time, in a hotel in San Francisco where we launched our first collaborative project. We are planning to repeat this event, exactly 10 years later, from a room in the exact same hotel, with The Path. There will be no witnesses."
The Path is a short horror game inspired by old versions of Little Red Ridinghood, set in modern day. The player controls not one, but six incarnations of the red protagonist. A story about growing, choosing and losing, The Path does not offer the player challenge through complicated game rules or grand goals. There is one rule in the game, and it must be broken. There is one goal, and when you attain it, you die. The Path is a psychological trip which will be highly unsettling to some and gloriously revealing to others. Will you choose the path of needles or the path of pins?
Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn started their collaboration as "Entropy8Zuper!", simultaneously a web design company and an net.art collective. In 2003 they founded the independent games development studio Tale of Tales. They run multiplayer screensaver The Endless Forest and their interactive vignette The Graveyard is an Innovation finalist in this year's Independent Games Festival. Their first project was entitled "8" and remains sadly unfinished. 8 Was a dreamy exploration game inspired by the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. Now, the protagonist from 8, a young girl in a pretty white dress, makes a come-back to play a mysterious role in what could be seen as 8's spiritual successor: The Path, available, as mentioned above, as of 18 March 2009.
The Path was designed and directed by Auriea Harvey & Michaël Samyn. The music was composed by Jarboe. The sound designed by Kris Force. The characters were rigged by Hans Zantman and animated by Laura Raines Smith. The logo and letters were drawn by Marian Bantjes.
Production of The Path is supported by Creative Capital, the Flemish Authorities, Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Design Flanders, CultuurInvest and Villanella.