Why the Creator of Citizen Sleeper Is Taking a Massive Risk on Signet City
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Gareth Damian Martin, creator of Citizen Sleeper, discusses why they are finally developing Signet City, a risky new first-person fungalpunk RPG. Originally conceptualized in 2017, the project allows the developer to push structural RPG boundaries further than ever before.
In an industry where modern development teams often lean into safe sequels and predictable formulas to survive, developer Gareth Damian Martin is heading in the exact opposite direction. Following the breakout success of the narrative RPG Citizen Sleeper, the creator is finally bringing a long-germinating concept to life with Signet City. Recently detailed in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, this new first-person fungalpunk RPG drops players into the perspective of a brain parasite navigating an algae-powered metropolis across multiple hosts. It is a wildly unconventional premise that rejects standard industry safety nets in favor of pure creative exploration.
Damian Martin has built a reputation for upending traditional RPG tropes. In their 2020 debut, In Other Waters, players took on the role of an onboard AI communicating only through restricted audio cues to intentionally evoke distance and longing. With Citizen Sleeper, they swapped the tired power fantasy of the all-knowing hero for a vulnerable escaped android struggling just to secure basic medication. Signet City represents the culmination of world-building that began back in 2017. Though the concept sat on the backburner while Damian Martin worked on Citizen Sleeper and its upcoming sequel, completing that sci-fi arc finally cleared the runway to tackle this ambitious first-person project.
What makes Signet City exciting for players who track indie innovation is how it builds on the structural risks Damian Martin loves to take. While Citizen Sleeper famously adapted tabletop mechanics like dice pools to create tense daily resource management, Signet City applies years of evolved game design maturity to a brand-new space. For a gaming landscape currently starved for genuine risk-taking, watching a proven developer trust their instincts on a bizarre, high-concept world is a welcome reminder of why independent development matters.
Tags: Citizen Sleeper, Signet City, Indie Games, RPG, Gareth Damian Martin
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun