CorpoNation Interview: Taking Down Dystopia One Sample At A Time

Summary

• CorpoNation is a dystopian game where the Ringo Corporation owns everything, including you.
• Work hard, play pay-to-win games, and talk to your state-sanctioned friends, all under the watchful eye of Ringo.
• Will you comply or rebel?

CorpoNation is set in an increasingly realistic-sounding dystopian future where you reside in a corporately-owned state. During WASD, we had a chance to speak to creators Sam Scaife and Vicki Tingle, the founders of Canteen Games, before diving into some gameplay.

“We started by trying to imagine what meaningful job someone might have in a dystopia,” Tingle explains. She had just read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and started thinking about gameplay mechanics that could fit into that twisted future before building a story around them.

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After working your job at The Ringo Corporation, your leisure time is yours to spend as you wish… provided that your wishes include corporate-approved activities, naturally. You can play games, which help build sorting skills you’ll need for work, and spend money on items from the corporate catalogue. Rest assured though, CorpoNation also allows you to break the rules, just don’t let anyone find out.

The core gameplay of CorpoNation is your work, which involves sorting samples of undetermined origins into different tubes in order to earn money before returning to your state-owned dorm room.. As you become more experienced you’ll be given a larger selection of samples to sort, as well as some to splice or destroy.

Once the work day is over the corporate-sanctioned fun doesn’t end, as Tingle explains. “If you live in a state that’s owned by a corporation, so they’re your boss and your government, what would they let you do in your free time?”

The answer is gaming, and since this is sanctioned by your government, the Ringo Corporation, the game is, of course, pay-to-win, the most evil of all game mechanics.

When you get home from a hard day sorting samples you can relax by playing a fighting game that requires a splash of cash to get anywhere. Need to be stronger, faster or more resilient? Buy some experience. Want a new character? Get your cash out. Love some cosmetics? You guessed it… Everything in this game is for sale. Playing without spending is very slow, and using credits helps you reap rewards much faster.

In an added dystopian twist, one of my state-sanctioned friends suggested the wins in this game are entirely random, and the game is so clever I genuinely can’t tell if he’s correct.

The other sanctioned game is Solitaire, except you have four types of samples instead of suits, and each type must be sorted into the correct tube in numerical order. Part traditional card game, part blatant way to get you to sharpen the skills needed for your job, this game can also earn you some credits so it feels more like a reward, albeit for essentially becoming more efficient at your job. Oh, and in a further win-win for the Ringo Corporation, your rewards are in-game currency. Which you can’t use to pay your rent or bills.

Both these mini-games have intense Windows 95 vibes, as does CorpoNation as a whole. This was a very deliberate choice.

“I really love pixel art,” Scaife explains. “The film Brazil is a slight inspiration for it and there's a kind of retro-futurism aspect.”

Everything feels old, bland, and functional, with a kind of fake happy edge evident in the corporate mascot, Ringo. It’s also very, very blue.

The blue was a happy accident. Seeing it felt super right, as blue is such a corporate colour. The safe option.

Scaife has a background in advertising and this game really leans into that. Everything you touch is branded. From the posters on your wall to the interface on your PC, and the pillowcase on your bed, you’ll never forget who owns everything, including yourself.

Scaife goes on to explain that the idea is that the corporation values efficiency and profit above all else, so essentially the employees are all using old technology. After all, why waste money on modern solutions when the old ones work? It’s not as if anyone can leave. The state owns everything, from your bed to the food supply. Why would they need to give you the best?

“That's the fun part for me,” explains Scaife. “Everything you're using, it's all branded. It's all their old tech that they're giving you for cost-cutting reasons.”

For Tingle, the most enjoyment came from creating her narrative. “Especially in the earliest stages when you're doing world building and figuring out what the game is, that's the fun part where you can say, it's my idea, I can make it whatever I want, and see my ideas come to life,” she explains.

The response has been great so far after the game’s release on PC earlier this year. As it launches on Xbox and Switch, the pair are hoping for more of the same.

“It’s quite a niche game and it's a little bit political,” says Tingle. “I think we've been really lucky as you either get it or you don't. And the reviewers, they just seem to get it.”

After playing, it’s easy to see why. I got so sucked into this corporate hellhole that I went home and bought the game. I’ve not escaped my sample sorting job yet but I have notes to help me be an efficient worker, allowing me to “accidentally” slip up when needed to help uncover the conspiracy afoot. I’m taking this seriously and I will bring down Ringo Corporation. Just don’t tell my state-approved friends. I don’t want to be reassigned like Ash was. I have a feeling you don’t come back from that particular career move.

Corporation is out now on Steam, Xbox and Switch.

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