New video game set on Cooley peninsula

Carlingford and Omeath can now be visited in the virtual world as well as reality following the release of a new video game called Scéal, which has been launched by independent game developer Joint Custody.

Company founder and game designer Sandro Magliocco says explains that: ‘ the game is actually set on the Cooley peninsula, and includes the village of Omeath and the mountain of Slieve Foy. Growing up in Dundalk, this is an area I used to spent a lot of time exploring when I was younger. When I had the idea of creating this game and decided to focus on an Irish setting, the Cooley peninsula seemed like an obvious choice. It’s great when you have a setting that supports a variety of landscapes or themes and between Carlingford Lough, Slieve Foy and the forested hills between the two villages, there was plenty to draw inspiration from.’ Described as a supernatural Irish mystery game, Scéal is now available on Steam. Rooted in Irish folklore, it tells tale of a young girl’s spirit that’s trapped on earth. A first person game, players must unravel the truth about her past to secure her passage to the afterlife. The world of Scéal is like a ‘ living storybook’, with rich watercolor-style graphics that popup and animate as you travel through it.

Sandro says that while they had originally we wanted to have exact replicas of the villages, and had mapped out all the main streets, alleys and mountain paths, but found as they developed the game, made things unnecessarily.’

‘In the end we opted for using some key landmarks such as King John’s Castle, the Thosel Gate and the Mint, along with the piers in Carlingford and Omeath to give it a recognisable feel and atmosphere while the simple layout is more suited to the nature of the game. And of course, we have Slieve Foy looming in the background over Carlingford.

Joint Custody CEO Tomas Pelax says that it took the company just over a year and a half to develop the game.‘We had plans to launch the game during the summer, however we wanted to give ourselves more time to polish and refine the game, so we launched on PC earlier this month. We also have a mobile version that’s due to be released by the end of 2016, so we’re very excited about that too.’

The company engaged renowned Irish folk singers Lorcan Mac Mathuna and Aislinn Duffy to compose the game and it is available on Soundcloud.