Manfeld Farm

By: Patrick "TheLaw" Morris

Over the past decade or so the accessibility to development tools for people to make their own small scale indie games has completely exploded. Where building a video game used to require an out of this world expensive development PC, a pricey software license, and a devkit to test on now it seems as though the biggest barrier to entry is the will. As the horsepower of consumer grade electronics has closed the gap between themselves and their "Pro" grade counterparts, devs have revamped their business models, and the audience has become larger allowing for more product to flourish in the market the indie development scene has grown. But we have finally reached what many see as a critical mass and game development itself has been gamified. Manfeld farm is an outstanding atmospheric horror experience that was even able to scare a horror veteral like myself, but whats even more impressive is the community of fledgling developers being cultivated by Dreams, from which the next Amy Hennig, Shigeru Miyamoto, or even Hideo Kojima could emerge.

Welcome welcome welcome everyone welcome back to LegalSpeak a ColdNorth Production. I'm TheLawMorris and this is the video essay series in which I get to talk about the games I've been playing and what I think of the medium as a whole. Don’t forget to check out our website ColdNorthPro.com to see everything we do all in one spot. I played an indie game this week that both scared and impressed me in what can be created in just a matter of days. It was a new breed of indie game, one that I expect we will be seeing quite a bit of next generation. It was a game made entirely in Dreams. Lets talk about Manfeld Farm.

Full disclosure: Manfeld Farm was made by a friend of mine named Nathan Crumrine who is incredibly talented in so many ways. The game is a work in progress so if you decide to play it yourself your experience may differ from mine. I haven't been paid to make this video (believe me I tried) and all the thoughts and opinions I express are my own.

Manfeld Farm is an atmospheric thriller game with some jump scares peppered in. The story sees the player character Max arrive at his grandparents farmhouse late one night only to discover that they are no where to be found and he is to let himself inside as he will be spending the night here alone. The game's premise is explained almost immediately and all subsequent events and queues are explained via notes left around the farm by Max's grandfather for either himself or Max. While story telling and sheparding the player down the golden path is simple the rate at which vital information is doled out to the player shows to be an excellent tool in maintaining a sense of tension throughout the games 45 minute run time. As Max gets more and more information it seems as though the farm comes alive. Max's grandmother has made a hobby out of collecting dolls in her retirement and in his infinite wisdom Max's grandfather bought her six mannequins for a birthday present. As the player progresses through the game the mannequins come alive and begin to stalk Max in the horrifyingly empty way that only a mannequin possibly could. Story is simple and vague but that feels intentional as it contributes in an excellent way to the feeling of fear and loneliness the player is meant to experience.

Gameplay is equally simple but intentionally so. Movement feels like a very basic variation on how we have come to expect to move throughout a three dimensional space in a game over the last few decades  and in no way looks to be reinventing the wheel. Mechanically the game revolves around using context clues left around the farm and some that appear as the player progresses. A note left on the fridge directs the player to a drawer in the kitchen where they can find the garage door opener allowing them to unlock new areas within the map to furhter unravel what is happening on the farm. Simple but effective. When the mannequins come alive they move at a rate at which they can easily be outrun allowing the player to ease into a false sense of security that is quickly shattered by some careful placement of mannequins as well as a limiting and disorienting field of view making traveling through certain parts of the farm feel claustrophobic and almost never ending. The developers choice to not give the player any means of fighting back adds to the sense of helplessness and desperation making the game feel more urgent and foreboding.

One of the stand out features of Manfeld Farm is the farm itself. Not only does it make logical sense being a farm and actually showing the player what is farmed there but it also plays into the story by being an interesting setting with a wide variety of opportunity to weave the story in and out of. While it may have felt a bit baron and empty the fact that there were separate buildings for the house, garage, shed, and barn did a lot to counteract the more styleized graphics dilluting the sense of fear. And the limited draw distance never letting the player see to far ahead of themselves expertly emulates the feeling of being outside in the country completely removed from the light pollution of any city and how horrifying that situation can be.

But just like anything else Manfeld farm is in no way perfect. While the setting was expertly crafted and everything made logical sense the antagonists did not. A group of mannequins are simply out of their element on a farm. As soon as I read the word mannequins on a note Max's grandfather left him I knew that those mannequins would be what would be scaring me throughout the game. As excellent as the setting was it would have better served a sequel in which the mannequins had already been established as the "villains" and this first outing would have played out better in a department store or something of the sort. While there were undoubtedly clues moving the player along from one step to the next there were multiple times when those clues simply didn’t make any sense. To be a bit more on the nose with pushing the player along would run the risk of breaking immersion but would, in my opinion, lead to significantly less frustrated walking around not knowing what to do next. And finally the controls. Like I had mentioned before the controls are so incredibly standard that when I wound up in the pond I didn’t even think to press a button to submerge and assumed that I couldn’t. A very simple on screen prompt to notify the player that they can swim underwater would help a lot in that part of the game. All of these changes are fairly simple to make and I hope could be incorporated into a sequel that I would be very interested to play…Manfeld Mall perhaps?

But this is all a part of a larger narrative revolving around Dreams as a whole right now. Before Dreams Nathan had absolutely zero experience in game development and now he has made a whole game and helped to collaborate on another. As we approach the next generation of consoles there needs to be a larger push from both Sony and Media Molecule to secure the future of Dreams as a development tool. The game needs to get a PS5 release with additional features and tools and it also needs a mac and PC release for those Dreamers that are wanting to take their creating to the next level. Ultimately Dreams is a gateway drug into larger and more respected development tools and it makes game development more accessible to the masses. Manfeld Farm is one of dozens if not hundreds of games from developers that show real promise whom we would have never heard of if it weren't for dreams.

So what are your thoughts on Dreams and where do you think Media Molecule will take it after the february 2020 release? Let me know in the comments down below. Don’t forget to check out our website ColdNorthPro.com to see everything we do all in one spot. And if you want to play Manfeld Farm or the other game Nathan has made you can find links to those in the description down below. I will be back next week talking about something else entirely so until then just go play some games.