Airdorf is the developer behind the hit series that would eventually become known as FAITH: The Unholy Trilogy. Hardcore Gamer’s Quin Callahan recently had the chance to speak about the developer’s design process, career and more.
[Hardcore Gamer] The Faith trilogy has multiple deeply religious yet still very human characters that are often praised as feeling very nuanced and real. What goes into writing Christian characters like John and Father Garcia so things avoid feeling tropey or stereotypical?
[Airdorf]I don’t know! I relied heavily on not giving away a lot of information or lore-dumping for my characters. John and Garcia are men of few words, mostly because of the hardware limitations I was trying to mimic with FAITH’s design. So players are free to interpret them in many ways. I think when artists are very attached to their original characters, they often come off as tropey/stereotypical because they have very specific context for those characters and they over-share information about the characters.
10 Terrifying Horror Games That Use Your Mic
Don’t let the monsters hear you!
You’ve mentioned in other interviews that the Faith trilogy was in part you carving out a niche you identified and could feasibly create, aiming for an older retro style that was and still is pretty rare in the modern market. If I’m not mistaken, all of your other games could also on some level be called “retro.” Clearly, this approach is working both artistically and financially, but do you have any interest or even specific ideas for games that would only work in a more modern 3D style? I know you’ve mentioned the idea of a third-person survival Faith spin-off.
I would love to do a 3D adventure game in the style of Dark Souls III, Bloodborne, or Elden Ring (primarily the boss fighting/combat, not the giant game worlds). I also really want to do a hyper-stylized first person shooter. I also have a few ideas for horror games with more “realistic” graphics.
What’s it like being what might be called pseudo-famous? The Faith series has been played by some of the biggest YouTubers in gaming, a Faith movie is being made that you’re involved with, and the trilogy seems to just overall be a big hit. What impact does success like that have on a game developer? Does that sort of name recognition change anything about how you make games?
I’m still in denial that FAITH has gotten as big as it has. It still has a long way to go when compared to real indie hits like Balatro, Iron Lung, Inscryption, etc.! But getting my games played by big-time YouTubers and streamers was part of my original marketing strategy, and so far I’ve gotten really lucky. If anything it has given me confidence that I have cool ideas, and it motivates me to take the time to work on them.
Review: Mouthwashing
Mouthwashing is a horror tale with a great story, but despite mouthwash being a key part of the narrative, there’s still an awkward taste here…
You’ve worked on a decent number of smaller games, in addition to what eventually became known as FAITH: The Unholy Trinity. Most of these games seem to be commissions. I’m curious – what specific traits of a project make you interested in taking up the commission?
Oh, I’m not very choosey, or at least I wasn’t when I hadn’t released FAITH yet. Most of them paid pretty well, and when there wasn’t much going on for me work-wise I had the mentality that, in addition to getting paid, those opportunities could help me form connections (for example, I got to do the Extra Ordinary game because the director of The Wind recommended me to the director of Extra Ordinary).
You’ve talked about being a perfectionist and sometimes struggling with comments from disgruntled fans and bad reviews, even when your games are overall reviewing quite well. Do you have any advice for developers on how to handle the sometimes intense criticism indie devs often face?
If you have a publisher, let them handle it! XD The biggest temptation for me is to respond to every bit of criticism, to fight back, to defend my work in every interaction, etc. I have to train myself to calm down and respond respectfully and in a friendly, helpful manner. People will usually be nicer to you if you’re nice to them. Also be aware of the sheer scale of the gamer population – 5 bad reviews doesn’t necessarily mean “everyone hates my game”.
Do you have any projects that you’re working on right now and want people to know about?
I have a few solo projects I am working on just for the joy of making games, they are all retro-themed.
Faith: The Unholy Trinity
10 Best Story-Driven Horror Games
Much like a great horror movie, there’s one thing that separates an excellent horror game from all the rest: a captivating story.
