There is a subgenre within the simulation games that can be described as “store sims”, games in which you are in charge of a store or an establishment, like Papers, Please, Strange Horticulture or Coffee Talk, about taking orders from customers as well as chatting with them.
Wax Heads, the new game by Patattie Games, fits within this genre. Talking with Gamereactor at the IndieDevDay 2024, its creators Rocío Tomé and Murray Somerwolff describe it as a “cozy, punk, slice-of-life record store sim”. There are a lot of narrative elements, but the focus is also on the puzzles: you need to deduce which record will enjoy more each customer.
“Customers come in, you’ll talk to them, but then they will never tell you exactly what they want”, explains Somerwolff. “So it’s your job to work out from what they say, from what they look, from what you know about the world, to look through the record store and figure out what is actually the right record for that person.”
Despite the puzzle-solving element, Tomé adds that this game isn’t as strict as Papers Please, and it’s more about “engaging with the customers, understanding what they want.”
“Maybe they are not really direct with the request, so you need to investigate, like a detective game. Each of the bands, their story or even the art of the cover, because maybe someone arrives and is like, do you remember this pink record, you know, the one with the cat in the cover? And you have to look at all the information you have to guess which one is the best record, the best fit for that person.”
Wax Heads will be filled with references, but you don’t need previous knowledge to enjoy it
Where did this idea come from? Murray confesses he is a music geek, he used to play in bands and buys records, “probably too many”. He thinks there are a lot of games with music, rhythm-based games, but not too many where music is talked about culturally.
“So I’ve been looking at ways to try and how could that be expressed in a game? And the record store felt like the perfect conduit”. But, as Rocío said, the goal for the game is not to make the most money out of the record store, but to explore people’s relationship to music.
The game will feature fictional bands, but will obviously be filled with easter eggs and references. However, it will not require you to have previous knowledge about music history, and the intention is that the game feels authentic and real, “and you can just enjoy the gossip between the bands, the story they are telling”, says Tomé.
With Murray being the music geek (there are hidden nods to Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous and more), Rocío is the opposite force who makes sure the game is enjoyable for everyone. “If we were both as geeky as me, it would be a disaster”, he jokes. “We’d just be like, getting so far up ourselves that we’d just be gone”.
“So it’s great to have that balance of we really want it to be approachable. We want to celebrate music and celebrate that. But in a broad sense, not everyone feels like, you know, you have to have a pedigree, yeah.”
You can watch Gamereactor’s full interview with Rocío Tomé and Murray Somerwolff above, including local subtitle options. In the video, we also discuss how Tomé’s own Diggy Doggo: Daylight Dungeon made it into the game as a full arcade cabinet.