Bokor

Come preview Bokor at the OneZero Thesis Symposium!

This weekend is OneZero, the 2010 MFADT Thesis Symposium at Parsons the New School for Design. Attendees will get a chance to play a preview version of Bokor, which will be shown alongside other master’s thesis work in this four-day exhibition at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, 66 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.

The show opens with a reception on Thursday, April 29th, at 7:00. We’ll be there to show off Bokor, so come and say hi!

Works in the symposium will also be on view from Friday, April 30 to Sunday, May 2.

For more information, including a complete schedule of events, please visit http://onezero.parsons.edu/.

The Texture of Voodoo

A major influence on Bokor’s visual style was the book Voodoo: Mounted by the Gods by photojournalist Alberto Venzago.

We were blown away by the darkness, the richness, and the intensity of his photographs, and more than anything else, they suggested a mood and a texture that we very much wanted to have in our game.

The Game Writer’s Spellbook

One of the sources we used when researching this game was Voodoo and Hoodoo: The Craft as Revealed by Traditional Practitioners, by Jim Haskins (also no relation!). Baxter came across a beat-up copy in a thrift store several months into the development of the project. What a find!

The first part of the book is a short overview of the history of magical practices in the voodoo religion, tracing them from Old World origins to the present day; the second part is essentially a spellbook of hoodoo charms Haskins collected from various sources while researching contemporary practices (the book was published in 1978). I relied heavily on the examples given in this book when inventing Marcel’s magical rituals for the game — but not too strictly, improvisation being an essential element of the voodoo art!

My First Zombie Recipe Book

We were a little amazed to discover the existence of Zombies on the Loose (part of a series including such titles as Alien Abduction and Vampire Castle), a children’s book that explains all about zombies and where they come from. We’re particularly fond of the detailed sections describing how to make one.

(The especially keen-eyed may notice that the books are published by “Crabtree Contact.” No relation! Weird, huh?)

Via Kotaku.

A Look Inside Justin’s Lair

The first thing I did when I was gearing up to make Bokor’s audio was to put together a kind of zombie toolkit. I got together some rope, wood, shakers, and other little things to try and see what textures I could get. I ended up just experimenting with lots of stuff I already had. (more…)

The Republic of Zombies

Last year, Men’s Journal ran a fascinating article entitled “Into the Zombie Underworld”, an investigation of the case of a Haitian woman named Nadathe. In 2006 Nadathe was turned into a zombie and spirited away, but rather than disappearing into the shadows, she was brought into the spotlight when the grieving mother organized a mob to hunt down the men responsible, bring them to justice, and locate her daughter.

The author of the article, an American expat, is intrigued by the rumors he hears of loose zombie sightings, and asks a local contact, “Are there really, truly zombies in Haiti?” The response: “Haiti is the republic of zombies.”

This real-life zombie drama crosses some interesting territory. We hear about the trial of Mano, the bokor who “killed” the woman; his account of how he used a “storm powder” to attack his victim; and the search to discover the whereabouts of the zombie herself, complicated by a tangled system of laws and secret society customs regarding the creation and trafficking of zombies:

[W]e held a meeting of our band of sorcerers.… We decided to take the zombie to Chardonette, passing by the village of Carrefour Charles. But we were held back there and forbidden passage by the chief sorcerer of Carrefour Charles. According to the rules governing occult societies, we needed to have a laissez-passer signed by the departmental chief, allowing us to transport the zombie. As a result, the zombie of Nadathe was seized. Not having the appropriate papers, we went back home, empty-handed — for this was an act we had performed without the approval of our chief. We had thought we could take the zombie as contraband, without papers! But this, unfortunately, did not bear fruit.…

It’s an incredible read and a tantalizing glimpse into a world where zombies have not only crossed the border from the fantastic into the ordinary, taken for granted as part of everyday life, but have descended into the truly mundane realms of legalese and paperwork.

Welcome!

Welcome to the development blog for Bokor, a new adventure game by Zombie Republic. Created as a master’s thesis for the Design & Technology program at Parsons the New School for design, Bokor is a point-and click adventure inspired by voodoo practice and Haitian folklore exploring issues of power, identity…and zombies.

Bokor is a free Flash game, playable in a browser, and is slated to be released on this site in early June. Until then, check out the About page to learn more, or visit the Team page to meet the talented people behind the game. And while you wait, we’ll be updating this blog with teasers, production updates, and inspiration, so stay tuned!

To get notifications about the game’s release and other important news, why not become a fan of Bokor on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter (@zombierepublic)?