Video game Midwest 90: Rapid City releases first demo

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - One video game chooses a familiar location to tell its story. Midwest 90 Rapid City is in development for PC and uses the Black Hills as its backdrop.

At the beginning of the month, a demo was released for the “Tycoon Survival” video game Midwest 90: Rapid City. This style of game tasks players with running the day-to-day operations of an in-game restaurant as well as preparing defenses to fight off monsters in the night.

When the developers were deciding where to set the game, one organizer said area landmarks stood out to him.

“In South Dakota, you’ve got these unique places with unique names like the Badlands and of course, you’ve got the Black Hills, so I found the names really captivating,” said Kesh Ganesparan, the game director for Midwest 90: Rapid City.

Kesh mentioned the classic Americana culture found in places like Rapid City was something he wanted to explore in order to better understand it. The monsters players face may look familiar to people from the Black Hills as well.

“We definitely looked a lot into the fauna in the Midwest and especially around the Black Hills when designing our monsters,” said Ganesparan.

Kesh says one inspiration for some of the creatures came from seeing prairie dogs online.

With the research and time spent into learning more about the area, we asked Kesh if he has any plans to visit.

“I really feel like I’ve gotta go to Rapid City. I’ve got to go and like I said if it’s a person you’ve only met online then you know you’ve got to go and meet this person right so it’s kinda like the same thing, it’s something I’ve got to do before I die,” said Ganesparan.

While there isn’t a definitive release date for the full game, Kesh says the game is about 60 to 70 percent finished.

Those interested can find the demo for it on the online marketplace Steam, which lets players get a feel for what the final product will be like.

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