12, Memory Lane
Originally, 12, Memory Lane was a project called The Architect, with a similar atmosphere but a different theme. The player was meant to explore the manor from the point of view of a rather unusual burglar with the ability to travel through time. Thanks to his powers and infiltration skills, he could modify elements of the manor in the past to affect its future and change the appearance of rooms.
For example, by hiding a love letter found in the house’s past in the mailbox, he could fill the bedroom of the child who received it, who would never have been in a relationship and would never have left the house. The original idea came from our Vision Owner’s fondness for puzzle and investigation games such as Return of the Obra Dinn or Outer Wilds.
The original core team had never been able to work on this type of project and wanted to take advantage of this appreciation for such games to take on the challenge. The game evolved a great deal, notably because the constraints of creating a game involving time travel seemed too complex to overcome for a final-year student project.
While we had assembled an art team capable of handling a photorealistic game with demanding level design, the lack of an FX Artist or Character Designer meant we could not base production on overly fantastical elements or on characters. This is part of what makes the project unique for us, but we believe the biggest factor is that each of us made sure to put something personal into the project, which is what led to its success and, above all, its final quality.
From art to game design to storytelling, 12, Memory Lane evolved into a personal project addressing themes that truly matter to us, such as family and identity, and that is what makes the project unique in our eyes.
