Hello Competitors, In today's update, designer Tim Denee shares some insight into the sinister, clinical tone behind the Production side of Deathmatch Island. It's definitely one of the unique angles that drew us in so, without further ado, we'll turn it over to Tim:
The “voice” of Production is a cornerstone of Deathmatch Island. It is, in fact, one of the first things I jotted down when I first started brainstorming the game; when there was nothing more than a few bullets in an untitled google doc. I wrote the first draft of the Welcome Letter, the final version of that letter is very similar, and the game structure proposed in that improvised draft has survived dozens of iterations.
The game is called Deathmatch Island, so as soon as you pick it up you know what you’re in for. That clarity of focus meant I could be a bit playful with the dressing of the game and its tone of voice; I didn’t have to hammer home DEATHMATCH with every sentence, because it’s right there in the title. Instead the tone of voice could be clinically neutral, and all the more unsettling for it.
I’ve worked in corporate brand design for many years, and I find this tone very natural to slip into. If I had to define it I would describe it as performatively-rational and classic corporate, with a mild veneer of friendliness.
In short, I would describe it as “if Helvetica could talk.”
Despite giving myself the task of designing this game with no other typefaces but Helvetica, I’m not actually a huge fan of the font. I’m much more drawn to its cousin Futura, the typeface that’s on the moon (don’t get me started on Futura!). But Deathmatch Island started with a tone of voice, a vibe, and Helvetica was the only font that could convey that vibe properly.
Helvetica has a long history, and I won’t bore you with it here (the documentary Helvetica, by Gary Hustwit, is a great watch on the topic). The short version is that it was designed according to modernist principles to be an “objectively correct” typeface. Clean, neutral, readable. It then became overwhelmingly popular and ubiquitous, and synonymous with a whole slew of mid 20th century corporate communications. Eventually it somewhat fell out of favour (although never entirely) and I think these days it can feel a little dated. There’s a whiff of 20th century nostalgia about it.
Why is that the right fit for Deathmatch Island?
I knew from the start that I wanted there to be more to DMI than the pure battle royale, the straight lethal competition of it all. My favourite part of Squid Game was finding out about the conspiracy behind it, and the same goes for Battle Royale, and every other touchstone in this genre. Who’s doing all this, and why? Production was a big part of Deathmatch Island from the start, and so was its tone of voice and personality (or lack thereof).
That Welcome Letter draft was written without any particular touchstones in mind, but over the course of development it became clear to me that Production was an organization in the vein of the Dharma Initiative from LOST, or Lumon Industries from Severance, or any of the many other similar examples. The storied 20th century corporation, omnipresent yet distant, clinically terrifying, and always on the periphery rather than directly in your face. Often with a history of failed utopianism.
That is the written tone of Deathmatch Island, it’s the visual tone, and it’s the Voice of Production.
-Tim
As a postscript, it’s funny that I think of Lumon Industries and the Dharma Initiative as being very “Helvetica”, but in fact neither are.
This isn’t a criticism of course – the Deathmatch Island reward packaging owes much to the home-brand style of the Dharma Initiative (which was seared into my brain as a young graphic designer). Likewise, the typography and set design of Severance is absolutely impeccable.
But it just goes to show that much like a creepy utopian corporation, Helvetica is always in your peripheral vision; yet when you try to find a direct example, it melts away.
