Origins & Evolution
Lights Out was first presented at Gamecraft 2011 as a cops & robbers tag game in the dark for two players. Originally, the premise centered on a thief who invaded a museum/bank and needed to evade the security guard searching for him after the lights went out. A randomly chosen exit manhole opened after one minute, providing an escape route while both characters managed limited light sources.
We subsequently submitted the game to the SBGames 2011 Independent Games Festival, transitioning Lights Out into an evocative art game. The narrative shifted away from cops and robbers toward archetypal predator and prey dynamics set inside a Belle Époque Parisian manor, with the chase repeating across different historical eras.
The game was later curated and accepted at FILE Games 2012 (Electronic Language International Festival, São Paulo).
"Will you hide in darkness or reveal yourself in light? Why is the predator hunting the prey? Is the prey truly the victim? And most importantly: does the player really want to 'win' without knowing the consequences?"