TVGB had this sit-down chat with the duo behind DEAD LETTER DEPT., you know, that freaky typing horror game that kinda messes with your head. So, Mike Monroe and Scott McKie from Belief Engine—yep, they’re up in the not-so-sunny Pacific Northwest, but they’re hanging out in Japan right now for some, uh, creative inspiration or something.
So here’s the deal: Belief Engine’s been kicking around for about, what, 12 years or something? Mike was like, “Yeah, 12 years. We dove in headfirst and somehow, by 2020, it was legit work.” He moved from Colorado to Washington in 2004 to give DigiPen a shot, which sounds fancy but hey, education, right?
Now, Scott—he’s this artsy type, went deep into Fine Arts in Boston before realizing he needed that tech fix too, so he juggled Fine Arts and Computer Science for like eight years in school. Then, he landed in Washington. Something about wanting more education but then “Woo, money’s short!” Isn’t that the usual college crisis?
Mike was all about crafting video games while getting his degree, dabbling in some wild 3D art. Eventually, they teamed up and thought, “Let’s make a game together.” Feels like it took forever, messing around with prototypes and testing stuff.
Fast forward to DEAD LETTER DEPT., a game that’s like, not even really about what you’d think. Mike was like, “The concept isn’t even in the game. We explored losing mail and, honestly, anxieties of moving places—maybe it’s about finding ‘home,’ whatever that means.”
Scott chips in: In college, he had this late-night gig, entering addresses in this sketchy warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Weird, right? But he liked it, said it was a mind-wander space. That experience was the bone structure—or spooky skeleton—of DEAD LETTER DEPT.
They talked about this “flow state” you hit while gaming, when you’re so into it your brain goes, “Ah yes, chill mode.” They wanted a horror game that messed with that state—something like a haunted codebase, honestly kinda scary, right? But intriguing.
Switching gears to Japan—a whole different adventure. Mike’s poking around creepy underground places, recording spooky sounds, getting whiffs of Silent Hill vibes. And Scott? Snapping photos of funky houses. They’re on a Japanese quest, exploring cultural stuff, trying to get around with, like, minimal Japanese.
So, they’ve got DEAD LETTER DEPT. on Steam, there’s buzz about a soundtrack—apparently, it’s good enough to show up on your autoplay randomly. Now they’re just figuring out where to go next creatively, maybe with cookies as currency. Anyway, it’s a wild ride with these two, always plotting the next big move.
