Brand New Skin

Abstract

The duality between otherness and monstrosity forms the backbone of Brand New Skin, a conceptual computer role-playing game, or CRPG, centered on the experience of being a monster— a vampire. In its current form, this project is the beginning of a production bible for what will one day be a completed game. Vampires traditionally stand as symbols of power. Brand New Skin upends this trope— vampires are rewritten as symbols of intimacy; the game revolves around the process of engaging with humans and negotiating consent to feed, likening the act to real-world sexual encounters. It will follow the player’s journey of self discovery as they learn to navigate the monstrous nuances of a parallel society as a newly-turned vampire- a fledgling- named Marin, trapped within the confines of a sleepy seaside city shackled by superstition. Gothic conventions are dissected, scrutinized, presented to the player in the form of questions: internal monologues, character interactions, poking and prodding at the game’s environment. The player takes the reins to construct meaning, to understand, to forge an intimate, monstrous identity.