Articles

Inks & Coloring: Pako,Com-X srl

Pencils: Lorenzo Ruggerio, Com-X srl

Lettering, Com-X Games

Story & Design: Laura MacDonald, Momentum AS

Inspiration:

• A game, Culpa Innata, by Burak Barmanbek,
• A novel, Schrödinger’s Cat, by Alev Alatli

The Culpa Innata Prequel Graphic Novel

Throughout the game Culpa Innata there are references about the state of the world “before” the World Union private forces ushered in this so-called “era of unparalleled peace and prosperity". There were economic riots & even bloodbaths that rose up in city after city. The global economy and nation states were in many places close to collapse due to unchecked environmental problems, violent conflicts, economic failures and other catestrophic global events.

Phoenix was found in the city of Adrianopolis, in the aftermath of a terrible bloodbath. Her parents were presumed dead, and like so many other new orphans she was taken away and raised within the brand new hope of tomorrow, the World Union. So we tossed around the idea to create some sort of prequel material that showed how fast things can go very black in world events and perhaps even a few nudges about what the “World Union” was like in its early days. We also wanted to have something in the box besides the game, something special that gave a bit more insight into the game and its back-story before people installed one bit of code. So Laura MacDonald was happy to take on the job of creating the script and design for a small graphic novel to release with the game.

Laura got in touch with an Italian Comix & game group that had a growing reputation for producing wonderful comix art, inks, lettering and everything graphical. Originally, Laura drafted a smaller story based on perhaps 8 pages. But the ideas felt cramped and really didn’t feel right until it stopped at 16 pages, including the cover art. Lorenzo seized the script and design notes and gave definition and form to the images within. Pako, brought it all to life with his amazing inks and coloration. Hand lettering was done in house. Then with some edits, page shifts and tweaks, (and a month and more of long nights and days) the Culpa Innata prequel comix was ready to roll.

The European versions of Culpa Innata, all include their own localized version of the prequel graphic novel. Then we thought, “Why should English speaking gamers miss out on this little slice of extra back story?” And well.. it is that time of year. So here’s an early holiday gift from everyone at Team Culpa Innata and Momentum AS.

Happy Holidays Gamers!

Download the Graphic Novel