What motivated us to make this game was our concern about the state of the world. Games are our way of expressing that. The concerns have only grown. Nevertheless, we want to celebrate today: Happy birthday Through the Darkest of Times and love and strength to all who try to stop fascism - keep it up! 🧡✊
PaintBucket Games
Equally unforgettable are all the great people we met while working on the game. For example, the great Nora Hespers, who wrote a book and made a podcast about her grandfather who was a resistance fighter. Nora lent her voice for the trailer and game.
https://www.die-anachronistin.de/
partnering with HandyGames brought the game to many more players than we had ever dreamed of - and an unforgettable appearance in the main hall of Gamescom (thank you Florian Emmerich and everyone else who supported us on that end)
when publisher HandyGames agreed to publish the game Vivi, JD and later Jona joined them - Almut is responsible for the soundtrack - the swing music and historical resistance songs came from Berlin based Rufus Temple Orchestra
But enough about swastikas - the game started as a small side project for Jörg and Sebastian alongside their day jobs.
When Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg funded the game, they quit their jobs and worked on it full-time.
@freejsf
context is key: showing a swastika in a game about resisting the Nazis is appropriate context and legal - giving a Hitler salute at a political rally would be considered inappropriate and still illegal in Germany (just in case you were wondering).
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/arts/germany-nazi-video-game.html
When we announced the game in 2018, it made a big fuzz, because it was the first game that was legally allowed to show Swastikas and other „anti-constitutional“ symbols in a video game (in Germany) depending on context.
5 years ago today, we released our historical game ‘Through the Darkest of Times’ about a civilian resistance group trying to stand up to the Nazis.
Even though we wish the game’s story wasn’t still so damn relevant, we want to celebrate this day with you today.
🧵
Win a merchandise package in our
#TheDarkestFiles
Fanart Contest! The theme is “What would Esther do?” 🕵️♀️
All mediums are allowed, you can draw, craft, crochet, or whatever you want! Post your entries in the #atelier on our Discord server and vote there
discord.gg/U5zXuJqpz4
🧡
🎁DOOR 24: Why this game? Because Fritz Bauer's story is worth telling: because it shows that even in the face of greatest evil, democracy, freedom and rule of law are worth defending - worth fighting for.
In this spirit: Merry Christmas! Frohe Weihnachten! Feliz Navidad! 🎄
🎁DOOR 23: Meet Paula Fischer!
Whether you need support with your research or comfort when the public hates you: Paula is here for you!
Clever, courageous and not one to mince her words, you can always rely on her.
🎁DOOR 22: Meet Simon Peters, your co-prosecutor!
The team might say that he can be a bit of a challenge to work with. However, his contribution to the office's efforts to investigate cold cases from the Nazi era is undeniable.
PaintBucket Games boosted:
🎁DOOR 21: One day, Paula brought her cat Marlene into the office - ‘only temporarily’ - and Marlene has been a permanent member of the legal team ever since.
You can talk to her about anything and who knows - maybe she'll help you solve the case?
🎁DOOR 21: One day, Paula brought her cat Marlene into the office - ‘only temporarily’ - and Marlene has been a permanent member of the legal team ever since.
You can talk to her about anything and who knows - maybe she'll help you solve the case?
🎁 DOOR 20: 2018, Paintbucket founders Sebastian & Jörg participated in a 48h game jam about fake news and created a little game called FUX NEWS.
Feels still pretty relevant. Unfortunately.
#FreeGameFriday
The game takes only 5 minutes and can be played in browser
https://paintbucketgames.itch.io/fux-news
🎁 DOOR 19: -Behind the Indie Scenes-
"Through the Darkest of Times" was the first game that legally showed Swastikas in Germany. We talked to many politicians to convince them it was the right decision.
Something we had to censor though to get a lower age rating internationally was smoking.
LIterally Thousands of cigarettes had to be removed before release.
🎁 DOOR 18: Meet Herbert Frahm - better known by his battle name Willy Brandt. He fled Nazi Germany and organised the resistance from Denmark, where he worked together with Fritz Bauer. After the war, he became Mayor of Berlin and later Federal Chancellor - he is also famous for the Kniefall of Warschau.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kniefall_von_Warschau
He would turn 111 today! Happy birthday! 🎉
@matthiasdrexel thank you! it's not out yet though 😅
After more than three years of hard work, it is finally happening - our indie game has a release date.
It is about the historic prosecutor Fritz Bauer, who used the rule of law to bring Nazi perpetrators to justice in a society that wanted to forget their crimes.
The countdown started! ⏰ Get ready for our new gameplay trailer, with unseen material from the second case and ... the release date for The Darkest Files! 🧡🕵️♀️
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