'I based horror game on working in a chippy'

It might not seem like the most likely inspiration for a horror video game, but James Muirhead says working in a Scottish fish and chip shop provided the perfect setting for his latest creation.

"I wanted a culturally Scottish place, and the most Scottish cultural place I could think of was a fish and chip shop," he said.

"I also worked in a fish and chip shop myself in Perth before I worked in the games industry. It was the job I had straight after university."

The 28-year-old has just been awarded £10,000 in funding by Creative Scotland to help create Grease Trap '99, a video game with Gaelic dialogue where players try to fulfil customer orders while a monster is growing in the basement.

"Some creepy things start happening inside the chip shop while they're working," James said.

"The monster itself is very Cthulhu-esque seaside horror - octopussy, tentacles, slimy, gross - that kind of thing."

James said living in the East Nuek of Fife had also influenced the game's premise of a "spooky mystery happening in this small sedate seaside town".

The game's aesthetic, which is inspired by early PlayStation one graphics, also added to the "uncanniness" of the experience.

He added: "The homely comfy environment like a chip shop that people are familiar with, and nostalgic old-school graphics really helps lean into an uncanny dreamlike feeling."

Although the monster may not have been taken from his own chip shop experience, parts of his old job have made it into the new game.

"The menu is very inspired by the menu of the chip shop I used to work in," he said. "I don't think I fried a single Mars Bar when I worked in a chip shop, I feel like that's more for the tourists, but the thing that shocked me that a lot of people get is the pizza crunch - the supermarket pizza that's folded up, battered and deep fried.

"That will definitely be making an appearance, as well as scraps - the small bits of batter that flake off things and float in the fryer, and then you fish them out and then serve them on top of the chips."

Although the chippy can be claimed by all constituent countries of the UK, James said the game draws on the specifics of the experience in Scotland, adding that when he lived in England, he was surprised to see there were some stark differences.

"They don't even have the Scottish system of a single - which is like the individually fried item and then the supper which is the item plus chips," he said.

"It's chaos down there, they've got kebabs and pizzas in the fish and chip shops, which is insane.

"We're pioneers in the systemic ordering of chip shop menus, which is actually quite handy when you're making a game, because it's this easy to use system where it's just like, 'this plus this', add different scriptable objects - it all comes together very nicely when you're programming it."

James said he was inspired to have the dialogue in his game in Gaelic after playing a small indie horror game called Sona 2000, which uses the Finnish language and tasks players with heating a sauna.

"I came out of it with this appreciation for Finnish culture and the Finnish language that I didn't have before, and it just sort of seeped into my subconscious and I thought, 'wow, it would be great to do something like that for Gaelic'," James said.

He is now learning Gaelic specifically to help with creating the game - something the money from Creative Scotland would help with.

"The funding is completely game-changing. It means I can work on it full time. I don't have to worry about bills as much which is great, but it also means I can start taking Gaelic classes in person.

"I've just been learning with apps and stuff now I can actually go to in person Gaelic classes. It also means I can work with contractors and other artists and I can compensate them."

As well as working on developing the game, he is also trying to promote it on social media and by getting it into games festivals with a view to having a version available to play by the summer.

"Making a game is a labour of love - and it's going to be. It's gonna be intense," he said.