No one likes being in debt. That ticking time bomb is just waiting to explode and make a nasty mark on your bank account unless you’re really dealing with some shady businesses. Debtors’ Club brings you right into the action. You are tossed into the role where you’re the tax collector for a shady city. This gritty city is filled with people who need to pay up or else. How will you navigate through this system?
We recently had the chance to speak with Caio Paifer, a developer at mecagames who is bringing this management-style game into the marketplace. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait very long to get your hands on the title as it’s set to launch this month. We got to ask Caio a few questions about their upcoming title during our interview.
Gameranx: To kick things off, could you share some background on mecagames?
Caio Paifer: mecagames was founded in 2019 by me, a solo developer who didn’t want to sign his games with just his own name. Since then, especially after the release of Karma City Police (a JRPG set inside a police station, where you play as a 911 operator), our team has grown. Now, we have two full-time members (myself and Katia, the artist) and a team of freelancers who assist with more specific tasks. We enjoy working on games that emphasize narrative and moral dilemmas, approached with a humorous and creative touch.
Gameranx: Debtors’ Club is the latest release from your team. How would you describe the game to someone unfamiliar with it?
Caio Paifer: To quickly introduce the game, we joke that it’s a loan shark simulator, a game where you collect debts and send thugs to those who refuse to pay. With a bit more time, I usually explain that it’s a game that mixes narrative and resource management, where you work in the debt collection department of a shady city hall. There are also roguelite elements, where depending on your actions and playstyle, you will fall into one of the 10 narrative lines and see one of the 18 endings the game offers.
Gameranx: What are some inspirations behind Debtors’ Club and its visual style?
Caio Paifer: In terms of gameplay, we were inspired by “job simulators” that mix narrative with the proposed work environment, like Papers Please, Death and Taxes, Not Tonight, and similar games. As for the visual identity, we wanted to go with a colorful and slightly irreverent cartoon style. We’re big fans of 90s cartoons like Beavis and Butt-Head and shows from Cartoon Network, while also drawing inspiration from more current content like Adventure Time and Rick and Morty.
Gameranx: Choices play a role in this game. Could you give us some insight into how they will impact the gameplay experience?
Caio Paifer: There are situations where you’re given a choice between doing one thing or another, and this affects how some of the story scenes will unfold. But I believe the most impactful choices are tied to your playstyle. The game tracks and records all your actions: every time you’ve threatened someone or sent an inspector to an illegal business, for example. We tried to “map” the different approaches a player might take when embodying a tax collector: an aggressive approach, a peaceful one, an ethical one, a vigilante approach, and so on. We created a narrative line for each of these, reflecting the consequences that each approach could have in the story. Since the main gameplay cases also organize themselves differently each time you play, requiring different approaches, the idea is that every time a player starts a new session, their way of solving cases will automatically put them on a different narrative path than the last session–with a different story, scenes, events, and minigames.
Gameranx: Do these choices players make also influence how the game ends, or will everyone ultimately arrive at the same conclusion?
Caio Paifer: Each narrative line is quite different from the others; it’s a different story, a different plot, even with different secondary characters. However, once within a narrative line, the story becomes somewhat more linear, but with some possibilities for actions to change certain scenes and also different endings.
Gameranx: Can you tell us a little bit about the city hall employees players will be working with?
Caio Paifer: Sure! The main character is Mayor Bonner, a charismatic, selfish, and slightly clueless politician. He’s helped by Valerie, who handles HR. She’s a kind and clever woman who has set up a scheme to resell performance awards given to city hall employees (everyone here loves to show off a trophy, even if it’s not theirs, lol). We also have a secondary cast that appears in specific narrative lines, like Johnny Pipe, a 6-year-old entrepreneurial coach who partners with the city hall. There’s also Billy Rival, the mayor of the neighboring city; Mr. Fox, a problem-solving specialist; and the Business Association, which, although we don’t see them in person, will try to influence the player through their media power and intimidation.
Gameranx: Are there any plans right now for post-launch content that fans can look forward to?
Caio Paifer: Yes, initially, we have some small updates planned for post-launch. The game was created in a way that makes it easy to add more content to the base game, so the size and frequency of these updates will depend on player interest.
Gameranx: Currently, Debtors’ Club is a PC title, but are there any plans to bring the game to consoles in the future?
Caio Paifer: We are focusing just on PC now, but I’d love to have the chance to port it to consoles in the future. We will see the possibilities of doing so after we manage to execute a nice and smooth launch for our first platform!
Again, we’re not far off from the launch of Debtors’ Club, as the title is set to launch on August 26, 2024. Currently mecagames and publishers, indie.io, are bringing this game to the PC where you can find it available to wishlist or purchase through the Steam digital marketplace.
