Aussie game creators want your rental horror stories for new video game

Every renter has one, from mouldy walls to broken ovens, rental horror stories are as common as door handles on doors.

It's simply fact that some landlords just aren't as good as others.

After a dodgy landlord experience of their own, award winning Sydney video game creators, Pete Foley and Scott Ford, decided to create their own new game to raise awareness of the things renters need to put up with.

Foley and Ford make up Sydney game studio Fuzzy Ghost, who last year released the role-playing adventure Queer Man Peering Into A Rock Pool.jpg, which went on to win 2022 Australian Game Developer Award for Best Emerging Game at the Australian Game Design Awards.

Speaking with 9News.com.au, the duo say this game is their biggest one yet; Janet DeMornay is a Slumlord (and a witch), or JDM for short.

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The game starts off seemingly innocent until you get a letter from your landlord and a list of demands.

"Suddenly your landlord (Janet DeMornay) is insisting you make these absurd clean up, like, chore list for your finish. But then as you start doing it, it starts falling apart," Foley said.

"And then she starts taking your housemates away from you, or your bedroom. You're in the door and your bedroom is not there anymore. There's now a desert, that kind of thing."

Who is Janet DeMornay?

She's the fabulous land lord from hell - like Cruella DeVille crossed with Yzma from the Emperor's New Groove, says Foley and Ford.

"She was a TV shopping network celebrity and then she kind of faded with the '90s and is now kind of taking that out and our tenants." Foley said.

"She's kind of our our contribution to the diva cannon. We both love a female villain that you just love to hate in love when she's on screen and you can't wait for it to go away, but you love it."

Now Foley and Ford are calling on Aussies to submit their own rental horror stories to feature in the game.

Real life rental horror stories will be found throughout the game for players to read.

"The horrible real estate company that Janet was going through, their case files have been kind of thrown throughout the world," said Foley.

Players will be able to find these stories, collect them and "join in solidarity" with the main character to know they're not alone.

The couple are looking to launch the game in early access later this year, allowing players to get a feel for the game and help shape it.

Submissions for "rental horror stories" close on March 25, which coincides with the New South Wales election.

"The 'no grounds eviction' thing was part of what inspired us to make this game. It feels right to tie with that because both parties were talking about it a few months ago, but it's kind of slipped off the radar," said Ford.