KOTCL Dev Diaries - Inspirations

Announcement

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Source of Inspiration

We’ve had a suggestion to talk about the inspirations behind Knock on the Coffin Lid. I’m all for it, it’s an interesting topic.

And I’ll probably start with saying that a source of inspiration is an ephemera that can only be determined after the fact. Simply put, first you do something, then you contemplate the result of your work, and only at the end you realize what actually inspired you.

Midian

Our world-building principles are oriented toward Warhammer 40000. That universe attracts not only with its scale, but also with its scalability—it has room both for epic battles that change the fate of the galaxy and for tiny human stories that affect only the fate of the main character.

I tried to make Knock’s world just as elastic. Midian is a place of philosophical confrontation between the gods and the demons, the insiders and the outsiders, the strong and the weak—a place where the fates of whole nations and worlds are at stake. Meanwhile, Knock on the Coffin Lid is a particular episode weaved into a story of cosmic scale. The players examine something small and insignificant up close, but they can make out something big and magnificent in the distance.

The Gods and the Demons

My inspiration for creating the gods and the demons came from monotheism and Christianity. Don’t be misled by the fact that there are many Supreme Gods. They’re all perfect, and thus identical. I find a many-faced god to be less monotheistical than many gods with the same face.

As for the Elder Demons, they’re gods who consciously renounced perfection, corrupted themselves, they are the fallen. Well, don’t they sound like some sort of Lucifers to you?

The Primordial Spirits

My inspiration for creating the primordial spirits came from pantheism. The very idea of everything that exists being divine is extremely appealing. A tiny blade of grass is a god—that sounds pretty cool.

The Primordial Spirits split into small entities or merge into large ones. Spirits of rivers and seas merge into Spirits of Water. Spirits of Fire break down into the spirits of bonfires, hearths, and destructive flames. They’re like a big transformer assembling from smaller ones. All the spirits gathered together make up Midian.

I added a touch of paganism to this world because pantheism is represented quite weakly in modern culture, while all sorts of idols, druids, shamans, and other pagan paraphernalia are vivid and recognizable images.

The Divine Mite and the Star Spirits

Lovecraft is a niche author, though he has achieved cult status and had immensely influenced modern pop-culture.

H. P. Lovecraft’s books were my main inspiration when creating chthonic creatures—ancient, mysterious, indescribable and unimaginable. Their main feature is that they’re from the BEYOND. Their very nature is alien to our world and our minds. They are entities beyond the boundary.

Their very existence proves to us that there is something out there: alien, incomprehensible, horrible.

Our fear of the unknown is directed either downward, into the depths, or upward, into the vastness of space. I don’t know which is better, but why choose when you can imagine both?

Mortis and Millenis

They were inspired by all sorts of secret societies like freemasons or illuminati. You know, seekers of hidden knowledge, shadowy rulers of the world, and the like.

I was quite amused by Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum back in the day, and I really wanted to see something like that in our game. So when our game designers said that they’d like to add something along those lines, I already had drafts at hand.

Visual Design

As for the visuals, they’re eclectic through and through. For the basis we combined medieval Eastern Europe with Scandinavia, and things just took off from there.

The elves got Japanese aesthetics (because why not?). In the Crimson Steppes, desert nomads were merged with steppe ones and sprinkled with a bit of Ancient Egypt. The Rotten Bog was generously seasoned with the Witcher and Cthulhu, and the Northern Gate got the Western European flavor with its inquisition and witch hunt. We mixed, but didn’t shake, a touch of everything.

The Heroes and the Rest

All sentient characters were inspired by normal people that we can see around us every day. Some characters are more grotesque, others are more realistic; some are alike, some are different. Some characters are based on you, and some on me, but they were all created with love (well, maaaybe except for the eldest keeper of the Mite Cult—don’t quote me on that).

And this entry in our diary was inspired by you—stay with us!

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