{"id":244592,"date":"2024-07-17T18:26:54","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T18:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/17\/clem-backstage-stories-from-a-19th-century-house-to-a-puzzlevania-environment\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:14:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:14:32","slug":"clem-backstage-stories-from-a-19th-century-house-to-a-puzzlevania-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/17\/clem-backstage-stories-from-a-19th-century-house-to-a-puzzlevania-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"CLeM Backstage Stories: From a 19th Century House to a Puzzlevania Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In our previous Wire post <\/a>we shared some insights on the origin of the story and the player character of our game CLeM<\/em>. Now we\u2019d like to share some ideas that influenced the design of one of the most important characters in the game: the house.<\/p>\n

Here at Mango Protocol we pride ourselves in the ability to look at the real world and extract wonder, mystery and fun from our sometimes worn and mundane surroundings. Thus, we\u2019ve been turning our gaze to the things around us and injecting tons of these concepts into our games since the inception of the studio.<\/p>\n

When developing CLeM<\/em>, we all agreed that we had to find the perfect environment for our game with escape room vibes to take place in. Luckily, we had access to Torre Elias, which, besides being a hauntingly beautiful 19th century traditional Catalan house, is Mariona\u2019s ancestral home! You would not reject having total access to a protected architectural heritage building, right? Well, neither did we.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the main street facade, the one that you can see when walking around CLeM<\/em>\u2019s house garden.<\/p>\n

\"Clem
(Photo with permission: Servei de Patrimoni Arquitect\u00f2nic Local, Diputaci\u00f3 de Barcelona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The house has been inhabited since it was built. Every generation has managed to leave their mark by adapting or rebuilding parts of the house to keep it up to modern living standards. That really helped us to bring that \u201cempty but not really abandoned\u201d look to CLeM<\/em>\u2019s house. We wanted you to explore the different rooms and halls and have that feeling of a place that, not so long ago, was full of life and provided a nice home for a family.<\/p>\n

Torre Elias kitchen is a nice example of furniture that looks old for today\u2019s standards but is definitely modern in contrast to how an 1800s kitchen might have been.<\/p>\n

\"Clem
(Photo with permission: Servei de Patrimoni Arquitect\u00f2nic Local, Diputaci\u00f3 de Barcelona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In that previous picture you can see how Mariona adapted that mix of old and older furniture to the game.<\/p>\n

Of course, when you inherit an ancient architectural jewel of a home, you may introduce some changes to make it liveable, but there\u2019s some things that pass the test of time with flying colors and you want to keep at home at all costs. A couple examples of this are, on one side, the marvelous hydraulic tiles and wall paintings resembling wallpaper, both beautiful staples of Catalan Modernism which Mariona managed to translate perfectly into the game\u2019s style.<\/p>\n

\"Clem
(Photo with permission: Servei de Patrimoni Arquitect\u00f2nic Local, Diputaci\u00f3 de Barcelona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And, on the other side, there\u2019s the small items, those that bring the personal taste of each inhabitant to the house. Look at these forged iron wall lamps that ended up lighting an in-game corridor along with these pattern wall decorations and even more hydraulic tiling. Turns out these low light corridors and tones were a perfect fit for the mood we wanted for the least modernized rooms in CLeM<\/em>\u2019s house.<\/p>\n

\"Cem
(Photo with permission: Servei de Patrimoni Arquitect\u00f2nic Local, Diputaci\u00f3 de Barcelona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speaking of small items, Mariona picked some decorative and artistic objects to fill the house with flair and personality. Some of them I managed to incorporate into puzzles, letting you connect at some level with the characters that lived in that house and coexisted with these particular items. This Bristol glass jar will surely catch your eye in the first stages of CLeM<\/em>. It is one of these objects that helps bringing a cohesive environment and at the same time end up being relevant to the development of the gameplay.<\/p>\n

\"Clem
(Photo with permission: Servei de Patrimoni Arquitect\u00f2nic Local, Diputaci\u00f3 de Barcelona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, I\u2019d like to stress the importance of the works of art that you\u2019ll be able to find around the house. Mariona made the effort of filling CLeM<\/em>\u2019s house walls with some iconic female artists\u2019 works. These pictures also helped to inspire some of the puzzles.<\/p>\n

Have a tour around the house and enjoy homages of paintings like Vanessa Bell\u2019s \u201cThe Pond at Charleston\u201d, Tamara de Lempicka\u2019s \u201cPlante grasse et fiole\u201d or \u201cPianist\u201d by cubist artist Maria Blanchard, which inspired part of a musical puzzle in the game.<\/p>\n

\"Clem
(Painting reproduced from a public domain source)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I hope you enjoyed this walkthrough along the real-world influences that helped build our beloved house. You can explore it right now, as CLeM<\/a><\/em>, our acclaimed puzzle adventure with escape room vibes and a dark story to unveil, is out now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\"CLeM\"
\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Xbox\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

CLeM<\/h2>\n
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Mango Protocol<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\u2606<\/span>\u2606<\/span>\u2606<\/span>\u2606<\/span>\u2606<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t1<\/span> \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\u2605<\/span>\u2605<\/span>\u2605<\/span>\u2605<\/span>\u2605<\/span> \n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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\n\t\t\t$15.99<\/span>
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\n\t\t$14.39<\/span> \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n\t\tCLeM is a narrative-driven puzzle adventure game with a dark twist. Wake up in a world where puzzles intertwine with exploration, weaving a unique narrative rooted in alchemy. A voice awakens you. It gives you purpose. To guide you, you find a notebook with mysterious entries and a house to explore.
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\nEXPERIENCE A DARK ADVENTURE FULL OF MYSTERY
\nYou awaken in a cold, dimly lit room, your senses slowly adjusting to the surroundings that, oddly, feel familiar. A strange sensation lingers in you, reminding you that something is not quite right. As you find your bearings, your attention is drawn to a peculiar item on the ground. A notebook labeled “CLeM” lies before you. As you delve into its pages, covered with intricate sketches of insects accompanied by vague symbols, you find a note containing a cryptic message: \u201cBring me BEAUTY.\u201d Lost in deciphering the contents, a voice interrupts your focus.
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\nSOLVE PUZZLES AND FIND YOUR WAY
\nPuzzles intertwine with exploration, weaving a unique narrative experience we call \u201cpuzzlevania\u201d with a shadowy story to unravel and countless challenges to overcome.
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\nCRAFT ENCHANTED TOYS AND UNCOVER SECRETS
\nCraft magic toys to unveil hidden secrets, access unreachable spots, and reclaim items from the past as you uncover new revelations in familiar spaces.
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\nDISCOVER A CUTE AND DARK WORLD
\nInvestigate a seemingly desolate house accompanied only by an obscure voice and a notebook full of annotations and drawings on alchemy, insects, and other creepy crawlies.
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\nEMBRACE YOUR DESTINY
\nChoose your fate in this dark story of manipulation, pride, forgiveness, and redemption.\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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[ad_1] In our previous Wire post we shared some insights on the origin of the story and the player character of our game CLeM. Now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":244593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244592"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}