*Photo Courtesy of ThePitied.wixsite.com and @yo.jasoon
Many college alumni go on to do great things, including game development. Jason Jett, a 2023 Dean College graduate, recently released his free-to-play RPG game “The Pitied”, which was made entirely on his own.
T (Tyler): For people who don’t know about “The Pitied”, what’s a general rundown of the game and its story?
JJ (Jason Jett): “’The Pitied’ is a sci-fi/narrative about the main character, Jace, as he travels through the various areas that he lives on. Through an adventure, they learn about their clouded past and fight to regain control of a corrupt, underground city”.
T: What makes “The Pitied” stand out from other grassroots RPG games?
JJ: For me, I think it’s just the style of it all. I haven’t seen many RPGs that tackle something modern and futuristic at the same time. I’m trying to think off the top of my head, but I can’t think of anything [RPG games] that are sci-fi heavy.
T: How long did it take you to develop “The Pitied”, and what was the biggest challenge you had to face while developing the game?
JJ: I made the game using ‘RPG Maker’ and C, which is a very useful tool if you want to get into game design. It has still taken me a little past three-hundred hours to create this, and that was just for the application itself! I can’t even think about the amount of time I’ve put into making artwork for certain parts of battles, as well as story beats and all the songs I’ve created.
T: Were there any peers or mentors that helped you along the way of making your own RPG game? If so, who would that be?
JJ: For the majority of it, I’ve made this game solo. I had some people just give me ideas and playtest stuff, as well as check grammar. But in terms of artwork, it’s all me. In terms of music, it’s all me. Backgrounds, I made them myself using assets I found on the web, searching for free patterns and stuff like that. It would be fun to have more people on board, but just trying to figure that out is already rough.
T: What future plans do you have for your RPG and The Pitied Project as a whole?
JJ: For the RPG itself, I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do with it just yet. I could possibly make an extension of the game, or I could try something new and just have fun. I try to keep ‘The Pitied’ to a solid balance between combat and exploring the world.
To check out “The Pitied” RPG for yourself, you can download the game for free by visiting Jason Jett’s official itch.io website. You can also check out Jason’s other side projects by visiting his personal website.