Casper Croes - Director of Alisa

Game-News had a chance to speak with Casper Croes, director of the old-school-inspired survival horror game, Alisa. We asked about their game, what inspired its creation and how it came to be. Read on for a better insight into the awesome horror game, which is out now on Steam.

1. What inspired the concept of Alisa originally?

The idea for Alisa started while I had a conversation with my girlfriend about Svankmajer's Alice and around that time I was really into 90s Resident Evil. So I thought, these two things combined could be kind of cool.


2. What was it that drove you to make Alisa and release it commercially?

I've always been into low-poly. I had many game projects before but I could only do graphics. I didn't have the motivation to learn programming.

I started working on Alisa in 2017. Back then PS1 style games were not common so I thought it would be quite a unique style to work with.
But by the time I finally learned how to do programming and got somewhere close to a demo, the ps1 horror style already exploded.

Along the way, I also decided that Alisa will be the game that I will finish and start my career as a professional game developer.


3. With many indie devs making their homages to classic survival horror games, what would you say makes Alisa special?

I think it's the pre-rendered backgrounds. it's not easy to get it right and might be a little daunting for some starting developers.
I also don't want to make a game that already exists. It's important to feel familiar but it should also feel fresh at the same time.


4. What were the challenges in making Alisa?

I think everything was a challenge. (Expect graphically) I learned to program along the way, Steam was a whole new thing for me,
Kickstarter, making this development my full-time job, trying to survive on the Kickstarter budget, and paying the bills, ...
This project was also waaay too big for the little experience I had. But there was no way back, so I just went forward and learned a lot of things.


5. How Challenging was it to perfectly replicate that same look and feel of a 90's survival horror game in such detail in Alisa?

I Observed some old Resident Evil games and other pre-rendered graphics from that era. It took a while until I got the right methods for this style. In total, it wasn't as challenging as it looks.


6. Was there a process/or rules you had in place, to replicate a style and design of a genre from 20 years ago.

I played a lot of survival horror games around that time so everything was still fresh in my memory.
Most of what I decided just came naturally. Around that period, I had a lot of boring dead-end jobs, so I had plenty of time to think and design.


7. Alisa includes many of the great survival horror tropes but also features some elements many fans would maybe not consider fitting to the genre, such as the shop. Would you say these elements are fitting or was it a conscious choice to add something more associated with modern games?

The shop was part of the story I had in mind. So it had to be added. I didn't want to make a full Resident Evil replica, I had some inspiration from Souls games too.


8. What are you most proud of for the release of Alisa?


I wasn't very proud of it in general, I wanted to add many things before release. I didn't want to release the game in its current state, but I had no choice. But I'm definitely proud that I got this far and happy that there are people out there who really loves the game so far.


9. Is there anything you would advise or say to inspiring game designers out there looking to follow in your footsteps?

I'd say: don't take the easy road. Don't do it the lazy way. And make something you want to play.



10. Lastly, what are your thoughts on modern survival horror, and do you think we need to keep revisiting the classic formula?

We definitely don't need any more remakes. We are currently in the era of remasters and remakes.

I played a little bit of The Medium with Gamepass and actually enjoyed it! So I'm sure AAA studios can make good horror games that are not all about the Action. But most AAA studios are afraid to take risks.



Alisa is out now for Steam and Itch.io as well respectively. Alisa can be purchased for £14.00, $17.99 or 15.00€. Check out the trailer below and see why Alisa could well be your ultimate old-school-inspired horror game this year!