OK COOL · Dom Schott

Auf den Spuren von Resident Evil 1: Interview mit Indie-Dev Markus Neuert

·38 min·3 clips

The indie developer hired a heavy metal shirt designer from Fiverr to create monster concept art for his game.

1. OK COOL host Tom Schott interviews Markus Neuert, solo developer of a Resident Evil 1-inspired 2D pixel art survival horror game, published as part of the OK COOL newsletter of 1 March. 2. Markus Neuert is the sole developer of the game, described as having worked on it in his free time over several years; no co-developer or publisher is mentioned. 3. The episode's core proposition is an inside account of how a solo bedroom developer built a critically successful indie horror game with a minimal budget by finding collaborators at early-career stages. 4. Neuert describes the game's origin: he wanted to revisit the feeling of the original Resident Evil's mansion structure — rooms that don't quite make logical sense, item management, backtracking — which he felt had largely disappeared from modern games. 5. He distinguishes his game's atmosphere from Resident Evil 1 by citing John Carpenter's The Fog as the key narrative inspiration: a film with significant gaps in the action that the audience must fill themselves, creating surreal unease. 6. Neuert is a self-described horror movie fan and attributes the game's body horror and gore elements to his film background rather than a deliberate genre choice. 7. The game was released at the end of January, costs 15.49 euros on Steam, and had accumulated over 120 reviews at the time of the interview, approximately one month post-release. 8. Press reception included scores of nine out of ten, which Neuert describes as surprising given the unconventional development path; he says he 'was already buff' when those scores arrived. 9. The game is projected to break even within two to three weeks of release. 10. Neuert found his concept artist on Fiverr — someone who previously made heavy metal band shirt art — by identifying a compatible visual style and proposing a trial collaboration. 11. The game's composer was found via a Reddit post where someone asked if any developer had a survival horror game needing a soundtrack; Neuert responded and built a working relationship from that exchange. 12. Neuert reflects on two things he would do differently: the density of documents in the later game (too many collectible text items clustered together) and some boss fight designs that had to be simplified due to sprite artist costs. 13. Console ports for PlayStation and Nintendo Switch are anticipated; Steam comments frequently ask about release dates for those platforms, and Neuert says early trailers generated strong console interest. 14. Neuert intends to continue the story in a sequel, with the game's ending implying events both before and after the main plot; the realistic budget for the sequel will depend on total sales including console versions. 15. When asked whether he would consider going full-time as a developer, Neuert describes it as a dream scenario but says it would currently require living in a one-room apartment and eating instant noodles. 16. Tom praises the game's content warning for being genuinely protective rather than promotional, contrasting it with horror games that use content warnings as marketing copy. 17. Neuert confirms the content warning was entirely his own idea, not requested by a publisher, and was motivated by story themes (sexual content, topics involving children) that players would not typically expect in a 2D survival horror game. 18. The tone is conversational and warm, with both host and guest sharing personal creative anxieties and practical production details at an industry-insider level. 19. The episode suits listeners interested in indie game development, solo developer economics, survival horror genre history, or the process of building a game with minimal resources. 20. Listeners who dislike German-language content or are uninterested in game development process will not find value in this episode.

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