An Off-Peak Conversation with Cosmo D

I've never seen the sun shining on the Off-Peak City. The buildings are adorned with talking heads, their brick mouths open to a black void, its inhabitants mingling inside, past the veil. Its denizens are under watch from buff policemen who seem copy-pasted. Down July Avenue, a giant roulette wheel spins ominously. Some fire escapes are replaced with slides, careening you down to hidden passageways and abandoned canals. There's a building facade that's just cat butts with wagging tails. Eating the pizza in this town could send you into a psychedelic spiral. It is a surreal place – a mishmash of visual oddities stacked on top of each other. It is a city composed of collages, broken dreams, and spontaneous moments of joy. What kind of madman could even conceive of such a place?

Meet Cosmo D, professional musician turned game developer, and creator of musically-laden, narrative-driven games such as Tales from the Off-Peak City Vol. 1, The Norwood Suite, and Betrayal at Club Low. His early work can be categorized under the "first-person adventure game" genre; some might even derogatorily define them as "walking simulators", but I see these games as surreal explorations of a complex, stimulating world, filled with zany characters. His latest game, Betrayal at Club Low, moves the camera to a third-person perspective and introduces some light RPG mechanics, with stat allocations and fate-deciding dice rolls. They are all part of the same Cosmo(D)verse – they all take place in or around the eponymous Off-Peak City.

Despite the oppressive undertones, I love the world Cosmo D has created. It evokes architectural schizophrenia – reminiscent of some of my favorite cities, such as Cosmo's very own New York City, where he's lived for most of his adult life, and my mother's home, post-emigration from Venezuela, Buenos Aires.

It's not just the vistas I adore – its citizens are wacky, have odd and mysterious motivations, and speak in trumpet honks and saxophone notes. Despite looking like they're shaped by Blender Play-Doh, they're some of the most human characters I've encountered in a video game

Cosmo D is a master, not only in the creation of head-nodding music but in his dialogue-writing, his aesthetic sensibilities, and his ability to build an exaggerated world that manages to speak the truth about our own, real world. We too live under overt oppressiveness, under a mysterious Authority and entitled businessmen that shackle and dash people's hopes. Our train stations are inhabited by sullen, crestfallen musicians, just like in the Off-Peak station. The rich, famous, and powerful get even wealthier and more power-hungry, while the layman struggles with rising food and housing costs. Building 9 is overcrowded – you don't want to live there. The building sheds tears of joy when fed a humble pizza pie.

With my newly minted credentials as a games writer, I took the chance and emailed Cosmo D for an interview. In many ways, I felt like a citizen of his world. In that moment, with my finger hovering over the "send" button, I saw myself as a young, inexperienced jazz musician trying to interview the legendary, almost mythical, Peter Norwood. When Cosmo replied, I was elated.

I asked him about his artistic inspirations, the video games that influenced him, his writing process and, because I am the writer that I am, I couldn't pass up the chance to ask one of my favorite game developers what kinds of food he likes to eat.

SUPERJUMP

Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us here at SUPERJUMP. First and foremost: what was the first video game you remember playing?

Cosmo D

There were several that come to mind. Super Mario Bros. / Duck Hunt. I saw it on a family friend’s TV and couldn’t look away. Edutainment stuff like Battle Chess, Number Munchers, Oregon Trail were in our elementary school computers, too.

But I think the first game that really took it to another level for me was my friend’s father who had King’s Quest V on his 386 pc. We were so young and here was this adult dad playing a 256 color pixel game with a classic fantasy aesthetic. I’d never seen graphics that crisp or a world that rich, coming after the 8-bit era. 16-bit was the real hook for me.

SUPERJUMP

I am curious: what made you want to develop videogames in the first place?

Cosmo D

For the longest time, I considered myself a hobbyist of gaming. It was an activity I did in private while I carried on as a professional musician. The act of making games felt out of reach, unknowable. Then one night, around ten years ago, I met someone else who was a big fan of Planescape Torment. We got into a long, winding in-depth discussion about it. I was surprised at how passionately I found myself talking about the game. I felt like something had clicked at that moment.

During that time I was starting to mess around in Unity, too. It quickly occurred to me that I wanted to know how games were put together, who made them, what it took to finish and get them out there. Also, I had what I thought was an audience for my music at the time. Then I realized I could possibly cultivate an audience for my games that more aligned with my creative sensibilities. But I didn’t really know how they’d respond to my ideas unless I committed to them fully, so that’s what I did. I took the creative and professional leap of faith and started making Saturn V and then Off-Peak shortly after. I’ve been building on that ever since.

SUPERJUMP

Were there any RPGs that were useful to you when designing Betrayal at Club Low's dice-roll mechanics?

Cosmo D

I think the Fate tabletop system was really helpful, as it used unique dice that could be applied to almost any situation. Most importantly, it showed how non-combat encounters could still provide tension and drama. This dovetailed nicely with me playing Disco Elysium. Playing it inspired me to want to respond with my own work. DM'ing live DnD sessions during that time was also helpful. Most of the best moments in my tabletop sessions came outside of combat – just ridiculous skill checks that resulted in emergent storytelling. The combat felt almost apologetically unnecessary in my sessions, but I still found a way to make it click, too. Beyond that, Yahtzee was the “old gold” that helped me ground my ideas to a time-tested mechanic – the act of rolling three times and keeping what you like.

SUPERJUMP

The writing in your games is something I want to note. There's a certain mastery of dry wit and humor I absolutely adore. I am curious, are there any literary influences that inspired the style of dialogue and writing in your games?

Cosmo D

When I write, I definitely find myself reaching for a specific cocktail: the punchiness of a David Mamet play, the big-hearted ruminations of a Richard Linklater film, and the dry silliness of a Flight of the Concords episode. It’s meant to feel like improv, naturalistic, and grounded. I think one thing that always surprises me about writing, in particular, is that the actual final copy is usually brief, yet can still pack a major emotional or narrative punch. But to get there requires a lot of revision, iteration, and editing. To me, writing is one of the most deceptively challenging and mentally demanding aspects of development. Respect to the writers who do this regularly!

"When I write, I definitely find myself reaching for a specific cocktail: the punchiness of a David Mamet play, the big-hearted ruminations of a Richard Linklater film, and the dry silliness of a Flight of the Concords episode."

Cosmo D

SUPERJUMP

Your work is a jumble of wildly different aesthetics toppling over each other, contrasting and overflowing, leading to surreal and beautiful vistas. What was your initial inspiration to make such a bizarre world?

Cosmo D

New York City, where I’ve lived most of my adult life, is a visual bric-a-brac in its own right. This comes through in its architecture, the street art, the commercial hubs, and the soaring towers new and old. Since buildings are always going up or getting knocked down, businesses always opening and closing, the street life is organic and chaotic. The pockets of tranquility and visual order can be found in parks, gardens, or soaring public buildings like Grand Central or The Public Library. But the chaotic rhythm happens in the margins, on the street. Simply walking down any street in NY with open ears and eyes reveals endlessly evolving, tantalizing sources of inspiration.

Interiors are inspired by public places too. I’m drawn to spaces that are inviting, yet also offer up adventure and tension. Jazz clubs, dance clubs, bars, and restaurants all provide fascinating interiors for me to observe. People’s apartments are full of mementos and curiosities. How are all these places lit? How do they function spatially? How do they guide their visitors? What does the furniture look like? How well are they maintained? What do these places say about the people who inhabit them?

SUPERJUMP

More on the aesthetics: I see your games are made using Unity. Where do you get such colorful and varied assets? What's your process when designing the models in your games?

Cosmo D

I get 3D models from all over the place and hack them in Blender. The more rudimentary ones I make myself. I design the bigger architectural stuff in Blender too. I usually start with a reference, then use Blender to push and prod it to my needs. I’ve come to realize I tend to work with models that are naturalistic and believable. Inversely, I tend to avoid models that are overly stylized or evoke a certain genre or vibe already. The stylistic neutrality gives me freedom to juxtapose elements in ways that are unexpected, but still feel grounded in the real.

SUPERJUMP

My favorite game of yours is Tales from the Off-Peak City, Vol. 1. If you had to eat a real-life pizza based on that game, which weird topping(s) would you want to try?

Cosmo D

Synthetic grey matter – the texture is like seitan. You read it here first!

SUPERJUMP

I have to ask: anything you're working on right on that you'd be willing to speak to us about? Could we look forward to a new Cosmo D game anytime soon?

Cosmo D

I’m currently working on my next game, Moves Of The Diamond Hand. I aim to have it out in the world in 2025. For the record, it deepens the dice-based gameplay of Club Low but returns to a first-person perspective. The scope and story are larger than anything I’ve done before. It’s set in the same city as previous games, which means a lot of re-emerging themes, characters, and dramas. But the story’s core thematic focus is brand-new.

SUPERJUMP

Thank you so much for your responses! Last question, from a fake New Yorker to a real one: what's your go-to bodega order?

Cosmo D

Turkey on wheat with lettuce, mustard, ketchup, hot sauce – and it’s gotta be toasted!

I want to give a huge thank you to Greg Heffernan (i.e., the one and only Cosmo D) for taking the time to speak with me, for his beautifully honest answers, and for humoring me on the sillier questions. I want to give a shout-out to the rest of the SUPERJUMP Team for their support and, of course, YOU, the reader, without whom none of this would even be possible.

All of Cosmo D's games are available on Steam or itch.io for around 10 dollars a pop (American). Off-Peak is sweet and a great introduction to the world. It's simple to play, can be beaten in a single sitting, and, best of all, it's absolutely free, so now you have no excuse to stop ignoring this talented artist's body of work. Be on the lookout for Moves Of The Diamond Hand, releasing sometime in 2025, and please peruse (and buy) all of Cosmo D's titles.