The Indie Game Magazine April 2015 - Issue 48

April 2015 | issue 48

IndieGameMagazineindie Game News, reviews & Community

The

The LosT PiscesGadgets and Gizmos A-plenty

Dragon Fin souPRed Riding Hood Gone Wild

ProjecT scissors: nighTcryA True Horror Legend Returns

#GameDev ContentsEvEnt CalEndar . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

FEaturE intErviEws . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Project SciSSorS: Nightcry 10

the LoSt PiSceS iNterview 14

DragoN fiN SouP iNterview 26GamE watCh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

wiLDStar 7

LoSt ember 8

sCrEEnshot monthly . . . . . . . . . . 60

imPact wiNter 60

mekazoo 61

tiNy robot juStice SquaD 62

through the wooDS 63

boSS 101 64

riDe 65

fortiS rex: riSe of the kiNg 66

Light faLL 67

The Indie Game Magazine -- Copyright 2015all game logos, screenshots, artwork, trademarks, etc are property of their respective owner

#InDIeGame ContentsFEaturEd ContEnt . . . . . . . . . . . .20

the LoSt PiSceS 20

DragoN fiN SouP 30rEviEws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

cookiNg for gamerS 32

wooLfe: the reD hooD DiarieS 34

karmafLow 36

caStLe iN the DarkNeSS 38

DeaD SyNchroNicity 40

traSh tv 42

haroLD 44

there came aN echo 46

oScura: LoSt Light 48

haND of fate 50

oceaNhorN 52

PNeuma: breath of Life 54PrEviEws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Striker areNa 56

wiNDwarD 57

SPeLLweaver tcg 58

the SkieS 59

There and Back Again

Welcome to The Indie Game Magazine, Year Two! Its been a full 12 issues since our relaunch, and this issue marks the start of a brand new chapter for IGM. As youll see while reading, this month is a special jumbo issue of the Magazine, featuring 3x more reviews than a nor-mal issue. We wanted to celebrate the anniversary issue with as much extra content as we could jam in. Hopefully, youll enjoy it! Weve got a ton of exciting stuff lined up over the next year, so those of you purchasing an issue of IGM for the first time picked the perfect jumping on point. While this months page count isnt a permanent increase yet well be back to normal size next issue I do plan on bulking up the Magazine in the very near future. Were slowly rolling out a number of changes to IGM as a whole, and offering a bigger, better magazine is at the top of the list.

In the meantime, we just introduced a brand new website and logo for IGM. (Which I encourage you all to check out after youve put down this issue.) The new design has been a long time coming, and includes a host of upgrades; not the least of which is total mobile support, something weve unfortu-nately been lacking up to this point. But no more shall IGM be trapped in the dark ages, now you can access our full web content, including daily news, reviews, previews, etc. on tablet and smartphone devices. In addition to a great new homepage, the new site also allows us to roll out a few features to streamline the entire IGM experience for our audience. Youll continue to see us announce and integrate enhancements and upgrades throughout the year, so stay tuned for details.On a brief tangent, I just wanted to mention how awesome this past convention season was. March became the unofficial event month for the indie industry, with GDC, PAX East, SXSW, and EGX Rezzed all happening in the span of two weeks. It was a whirlwind of news, announcements, and first-looks, but when the dust settled, we were left with a really amazing glimpse at the future of indie gaming. Virtual Reality hardware is continuing to slowly win me over - especially now that I can use the Oculus Rift with my glasses on and still enjoy the full 3D effect - and the impending launch of Steam boxes will bring indie games onto the big screen in a way consoles have yet to do, in part because of a lack of support. Beyond that, software continues to improve thanks to the likes and accessibility of Unreal Engine 4 and Unity 5, giving small teams the opportunity to make visually stunning graphics that can match their imaginative gameplay innovations. It all adds up to an exciting 12 months for the indie gam-ing community, and its no coincidence that as the indie scene grows, so does IGMs ability to cover it. Im excited for us to continuing growing alongside the community, improving our content and visual presentation much in the same way indie games are.

This April issue is a major milestone for both me personally, and IGM at large. And just as we kicked things off with a bang on the first of the month, I promise well be ending it with an even bigger explo-sion on the final day of the month. What do we have planned for April 30th, you ask? I think youll much prefer finding out as a surprise. All I can promise is that it will definitely be worth the wait. See you then!

Vinny ParisiEditor-in-Chief

Indie Armada Fleet Admiral

edItorIal

Staff Credits

Vinny ParisiEditor-in-Chief

Ryan NobleManaging Editor

Toby HooverForum Admin

Luke SiutyBonnie BurgetteLaura KlotzNick CesconRafiq MandalKatrina FilippidisConnor SelinskeStaff Writers

Michael StearnsGraphic Design

The Indie Game Magazine Contact Directory:

For advertising opportunities ... [email protected] review policy questions ... [email protected] forum support ... [email protected] submit your game for review ... [email protected]

Your Game -- Our CoverHave a game releasing soon and are interested in having your game featured on an upcoming issue of The Indie Game Magazine? Contact our Editor-in-Chief to find out how we can make that happen.

Contact us at [email protected]

aDVerTise WiTh us!Connect with an audience of over 150 thousand indie game fans and developers! Indie Game Magazine has opportunities for advertising both in our magazine and on our web site, with discounts available for developers.Please direct all magazine advertising inquiries to [email protected] online advertising, please email [email protected]!

Cover art provided by Sirenum Digital

March reTracTiona little hazy on the detailsWe made a mistake in our The Magic Circle sub-feature last month. The in-game lead designers name is Maze, not Haze. Sorry about that!

Website: www.themagiccircle.com

EVENT CALENDAR

aPril 2015GamE rElEasE sChEdulE

April 1 - KnaApril 1 - Super IIIApril 1 - War For The OverworldApril 2 - LunoApril 2 - Sentou Gakuen: RevivalApril 9 - Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today

April 9 - TechnobabylonApril 13 - ExiledApril 14 - Apocalypse HuntersApril 14 - The Ember ConflictApril 18 - Treeker: The Lost GlassesApril TBD - Abbeys Flight

April TBD - Empyrion - Galactic SurvivalApril TBD - NevergrindApril TBD - PlanNetApril TBD - PonchoApril TBD - Red Goddess

April TBD - Sketch TalesApril TBD - TheftimeApril TBD - TinertiaApril TBD - WanderApril TBD - Zombie Office

6 The Indie Game Magazine

The invasion cometh!

Prepare for invasion, fellow Nexians! Thats right, 2015 is in full swing and were already looking at our next major content update! I know, like me, youre probably still up to your elbows in Protostar fun, however theres no time to lose. INVASION: Nexus went live on the PTR (Public Test Realm) half-way through last month, and that means that the invasion will be starting sooner than you think!

There are a lot of new features and content coming in the latest of Carbines patches. From new game systems and companions to new adventures and PvP, the INVASION patch promises to be chalk full of the type of content that makes me think this year will make WildStar great.

Besides the game-changing updates, there will also be a few life-style convenience upgrades. Players will be able to change their costumes appearances from anywhere on Nexus remotely, rather than having to find a Protostar Appearance Modificator for one. We can also look forward to the addition of vanity pets; from liv-ing vegetables to the infamous and always popular Rowsdower,

well soon be able to bring our non-combatants out for a jog.

Contracts are going to be a completely new form of mission in the game to keep play interesting. Meant as short, single-objective jobs that emphasize fun over a large amount of playtime, Contracts should be an ideal solution for when you want to play for twenty minutes. They have three difficulty settings, but should still tote some impressive loot rewards so that the time completing them feels well spent.

Bay of Betrayal is the newest Adventure that is going to be set in an alternate version of the Levian Bay zone. Designed as another Sim-Core simulation, players are tasked with the job of infiltrating the Ascendancy and dealing with its leader. Taking on the role of a technopath candidate, youll enter a competition against other candidates to get you closer to the enigmatic leaders vault, and spoils within!

PvE content isnt the only part of the game getting love, though, and PvP-oriented players have a lot to look forward to as well. Fac-tions will now be able to fight against each other in Exile-on-Exile or Dominion-on-Dominion action that should be able to shorten some of those PvP Queue times.

Theres a whole lot more coming out too, so make sure to stay tuned. Good luck on the frontier, Nexians, and well see you all next month!

Developer: Carbine StudiosPlatforms: PC, Mac, LinuxWebsite: https://shop.wildstar-online.com/

Twitter: @WildStar

GAME WATCH

by Nick Cescon

7

Welcome to the latest edition of Game Watch, a recur-ring segment where I take a look behind the curtain of a game early in development and track its progress from initial concept to, hopefully, final release. Currently, were focused on a project developed by Mooneye Studios known as Lost Ember. As a general synopsis, the game is about a wolf exploring the re-mains of a ruined civilization. While journeying through a jungle landscape, puzzle-solving elements open up opportunities to re-store the ruins to their former glory, offering snippets of insight into what happened to the culture that existed before everything collapsed.

As mentioned last month, one of the top goals for the team head-ing into April was to rework the wolf model and smooth out the animation process. Just in case you forgot or are new to the seg-ment last month also introduced Marco Apel as the teams new social media and community manager. With Apel as my new point of contact, we discussed the details about Mooneyes plans, and if they were able to achieve any of last months objectives.

Fortunately, it seems the team did manage to make some head-way. Apel told me that we are still putting a lot of work into the implementation of the wolf and we are making some real progress. Especially the fur is looking great already. On top of that, Lost Ember managed to secure some assistance from IKinema, a studio that provides animation software for motion capture, games, and

virtual reality. IKinema is an experienced group that has worked on a number of AAA projects, with a client list that includes LucasArts, Arkane Studios, Valve, Platinum Games, Square Enix and even 20th Century Fox. Mooneye sees this partnership as a major win for Lost Ember that will ensure the game has top notch movement animation for the wolf, among the other playable characters.

Speaking of other playable characters, weve already covered how the wolf will be able to take control of certain other animals in the game, switching up the playstyle as players assume direct control of the new character. These animals will offer a new perspective, beginning in Episode 1 with a parrot that can fly. While the feature is not yet in place, Apel mentioned this month that we started working on the switch mechanic to control other animals, which will take probably about a month. Well be sure to check in on the progress of the switch mechanic in time for next months issue.

Another exciting development for the team is that the staff roster continues to grow. Last month, Mooneye brought two new members on board, with conceptual designer Miriam Komorek joining Apel to round out the group. This month, the team is happy to welcome Larissa Grtner into the mix as an additional intern who will assist with programming.

One of the other goals for Lost Ember this month was to get the project in a decent enough shape to be able to present it to potential partners and investors. Beyond their successful partnership with

by Vinny Parisi

GAME WATCH

LosT eMBer Fanning the Flames

super carl!Take a quick look at MoonEyes new iOS

offering...

Sqwaaaak!! More info at:

www.indiedb.com/games/super-carl

8

Ikinema who then displayed the game during their presentation at GDC 2015 Mooneye Studios was able to begin reaching out to potential investors to increase their funding for Lost Ember. Apel confirmed that negotioations had begun and were ongoing, so the game has reached a presentable enough state that it is possible to begin shopping it around.

Yet, even with such progress in terms of internal goals, the team was admittedly disappointed with the lack of overall project development they were able to get done. There was no mention this month of how soon their vertical slice would be completed, nor any mention of the planned teaser trailer. These two objectives would allow the public to catch a glipse of Lost Ember for the first time, at an event similar to GDC or PAX East. Additionally, Apel mentioned the studio had to deal with a lot of legal and financial work this month. While he did not confirm any specifics, he did cite the necessary project management hurdles as a cause of slowed production.

Heading into the next month, the team plans to hammer out the specific plot points of Episode 1. By next issue, Mooneye should know exactly what aspects of gameplay and level design need to be completed in order the finalize the first installment of Lost Ember. They will continue to reach out to investors, as well. Most interest-ingly, they will also be releasing a mobile game, called Super Carl, which will potentially already be out by the time our April issue is published.

Super Carl is an Android game that was developed prior to the production of Lost Ember. It was designed by Mooneye over the course of three months, and just recently received a final bit of pol-ish. Details can be found on the games IndieDB page, but the basic goal of Super Carl is to save a sheep from falling off a cliff by moving fences. No details concerning pricing were disclosed.

Lost Ember still has a long journey ahead before its ready to release, but the team at Mooneye is consistently growing and motivated by a clear set of objectives. Be sure to check back next issue to catch another behind-the-scenes, inside look at indie game development with Game Watch.

Developer: Mooneye StudiosWebsite: http://www.lostember.com/DevBlog: www.mooneyestudios.com/blogTwitter: @MoonEyeStudios

Advertisement:

INTERVIEW

Fans of the horror genre are in for a treat this issue. (For o

nce,

you can yelp with delight instead of terror.) Most

horror

fans will know the name Hifumi Kono from the Clock Tower

series, which originally debuted way back in 1995 f

or the SNES.

Konos original idea was to create a horror title that b

roke typical

genre conventions of the time, introducing brand n

ew ways to

scare gamers by emphasizing the horror mechanics, rather

than

overlaying them on top of traditional gameplay.

Flash forward to today, and Kono and crew at the newly for

med

Nude Maker studio are developing a modern horror expe

rience titled

Project Scissors: Night Cry. Set on an ocean cruise liner nam

ed the

Oceanus, players will interact with guests and crew me

mbers until

things take a turn for the scary. Enter the Scissorwa

lker, a fright-

marish creature infused with Konos trademark horror wea

pon,

scissors. Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, Night Cry

will

soon be the reason many gamers are crying at night. I spoke to

Mr.

Kono about his exciting return to the genre, after a len

gthy hiatus,

to find out what players can expect from the game; o

r rather, how

scared they should prepare to be.

hifumi Kono interview: running with scissors by Vinny Pa

risi

10

Indie Game Magazine : After the original Clock

Tower came out, you werent too interested in developing a sequel. Eventually though, as new technology arrived, you changed your mind. Along with todays technological improve-ments, what makes now the right time to bring a spiritual successor to life?

Hifumi Kono: Starting around 5 years back, I began pitching this type of horror game to publishers, but no one was inter-ested. Their reasoning was it is difficult to make up for the ever increasing production cost with horror games, unless they feature zombies.

In recent years, however, people have begun focusing on indie games, and because of this, while the development budget is nothing compared to major titles, we are able to create original, cutting edge games.

IGM : The team behind NightCry is made up of experienced professionals. Can you highlight some particular strengths of the core team members, in regards to how their contributions will improve the game?

Kono: As we continue shifting from the smartphone version of the game to platforms with higher specs, they are starting to show off what they are really capable of. Especially since

improvements for animation and character models are being made as needed, I am seeing the quality being polished each time updates are made. It is our plan to showcase as much of these improvements as possible.

IGM : Youve spoken before about the concept of ideal horror. Despite the depth of the horror genre, what would you consider to be the core pillars needed

to attain ideal horror?

Kono: The first thing I would say is that the main character is the average Joe. Characters with special abilities give an out-of-this-world impression, making it hard for the audience to relate to the character. Also, there shouldnt be a special rea-son the main character is being attacked. I feel it is important to create a world in such a way that the audience feels these horrifying events could happen to anyone at any given time, including themselves.

Another point is to leave a small amount of hope in any dev-astating situation. Fear and despair are amplified when the small chance of survival that the characters foster is crushed right in front of their eyes.

IGM : Project Scissors was originally intended as a mobile game - for PS Vita and Smartphones - with an emphasis on touch controls. Will accommodating a point-and-click control scheme via mouse as opposed to touch (which assumedly alters how quickly players can input commands) affect the games moment-to-moment pacing?

Kono: Currently, we do not see any problems with mouse con-trol while we play the game in development. Instead, because right-clicking can be used for a certain feature in the game, the controls are smoother than originally planned. Because we originally envisioned a point & click game, the system has a high affinity for controlling with a mouse.

IGM : Before deciding on the Oceanus cruise liner as the loca-tion for the game, were there any other potential settings you had in mind? Can you tease or describe some of the rooms within the ship that players will get to explore?

Kono: Closed environments, such as mansions and remote

11www.indiegamemag.com

islands, were candidates for setting in the planning process of the game. However, because one of the characteristics of the Scissorwalker we have not revealed yet is closely connected to water, I decided to use a cruise liner at sail as the setting.

In stages we are currently developing, and will be developing in the near future, we plan to include deserted islands, and parts of the ship that are submerged in water. Needless to say, the success of our Kickstarter is key for these features to be added. (Editors Note: NightCry its funding goal of $300k, bringing in nearly $315k via Kickstarter.)

IGM : A lot of horror games rely on a sense of isolation to invoke fear. But Project Scissors openly encourages players to get to know the ships crew and guests. How does designing a horror experience differ when the protagonist is with a group, as op-posed to being alone?

Kono: We also will not have many scenes where a large number of characters appear (mainly due to the limited resources available to us). However, the more people there are, the more corpses we can create. With more corpses, an anxiety increases among characters, and we can create the sense of Whos nextAm I going to be the next victim? Furthermore, as we see in many horror films, humans can be much more vicious than the monster in extreme circumstances. I hope to be able to illustrate that aspect of human nature in this game as well.

IGM : Are there any horror game/movie tropes youd like to specifically avoid while developing NightCry?

Kono: Not exactly a horror trope, but I want to avoid explain-ing everything. Thats because its so common for us to be very disappointed when we figure out the truth.

IGM : Ive been waiting to ask this question for a long time: Where

does your fascination with using scissors as a weapon come from?

Kono: It all started from the fact that scissors are a weapon we are all familiar with, and the pain associated with it is easily comes to mind. This sense of familiarity makes it easier for the audience to relate to the characters. Also because when you are cut with scissors, you have to wait for the blades to cut through the flesh. Knowing the pain wont end quickly adds to the fear.

Another thing, which is related to the theme of this project, is that scissors are a tool with the ability to sever two related objects. For example, when humans are born, the baby is separated from its mother when its naval cord is cut withscissors. In this way, scissors play a major role in separating two living entities from one another, and this is a key theme in the story of NightCry.

IGM : Clock Tower really turned the horror genre on its head with the inclusion of multiple endings and a scare meter to display the characters mood. Despite your peers at the time telling you the basic concept of the game wouldnt work, what convinced you to pursue and implement such unique mechanics?

Kono: Being a horror fan myself, I believed it to be a system that allowed me to express all that is important to a horror title. Horror games until then were just games that added a touch of horror to existing game systems. This system was created for the sole purpose of presenting horror in a game, in a way that is true to the genre.

IGM : For folks on the fence about NightCry, what would you say this horror game delivers that hasnt been done before? Are there any particular design innovations youd like to highlight?

Kono: In NightCry, the player will be controlling 4 characters,

Knowing the pain

wont end quickly

adds to the fear.


With Night Cry funded, players can expect all of the features Kono detailed in this interview to be included in the game. Stretch goals were unfortunately not met, and included things like PS4 and Xbox One releases, a bonus playable character, and extra ways to die. In all likelihood, console releases and additional characters beyond what is currently planned would only be possible upon a successful launch and continued inter-est in the project.

I want to give a very special, heartfelt thank you to Mr. Hifumi Kono for taking the time to conduct this interview. Hes done amazing work in the horror genre, and as Shinji Mikami (direc-tor of Resident Evil 1 & 4, as well as the recent The Evil Within) so accurately stated, Kono is one of the great game creators in Japan. Fans of Clock Tower and the horror genre in general would be wise to keep an eye on NightCrys development, as it boasts a true-to-form return for one of the best in the busi-ness. Im already having trouble sleeping just thinking about it.

Developer: Playism GamesPlatforms: iOS, Android, PS Vita, Windows PCWebsite: https://www.night-cry.com

Twitter: @Night_Scissors

all in separate places and times on the Oceanus. This is when

the smartphone in the game comes in handy. The flashlight of course, making and answering calls, as well as posting to a fictional SNS [Social Network Service] in the game allows you and other survivors to share information that will be crucial for their survival. Having an SNS in the game is so that char-

acters can find clues from the dead characters as well. To call other characters, you need their phone number, but through answering calls, you can collect information. Also, by making a call you will be able to find other survivors as you follow the ringtone. Beware, if you are careless about when and where you make calls, the ringtone could attract the Scissorwalker.

Beware, if you are careless about

when and where you make calls...

...the ringtone could attract the

Scissorwalker.


FEATURE INTERVIEW

Its not everyday two grown men sit down to have a se-

rious conversation about mermaids. But thats exac

tly

what Dan Rutkowski, director and producer of The Lost

Pisces, and I did. Well, perhaps not exactly. The Lost Piscesis

a project thats long been in development at LLC that tells a

reimagined version of Hans Christian Andersons The

Little

Mermaid; you just have to replace uncomfortably attra

c-

tive mermaid with uncomfortably attractive robot

and

youre on the right track.

It turns out the Disney version didnt exactly hit all the

right

notes with the team behind Lost Pisces,and theyre deter-

mined to tell a far more authentic story that stays t

rue to

the original themes. With an admittedly ambitious end

eavor

ahead for Sirenum, I found out just exactly what the

team

has planned, and why theyre so confident they can d

eliver

on their grand vision. So gather round, all ye bright

young

men and women, sick of swimmin, and get your que

stions

answered.

The Lost Pisces interview Life aquatic by Vinny Parisi

14

Indie Game Magazine: The Lost Pisces a reimagining of Hans Christian Andersons The Little Mermaid. What makes this classic story the perfect blueprint for the narrative youd like to tell with Pisces?

Dan Rutkowski: Good question. The original Little Mermaid is a pretty fascinating short story that Ive always admired, because its a really deep story that barely anyone is familiar with. The ani-mated versions that were created didnt do the core message justice, unfortunately. That said, the original tale was actually about the Little Mermaid desperately searching for a soul, and doing anything to gain one. Most fairy tales dont get into such complex mat-ters as searching for a soul in order to evade the infinite nothingness of a death without one. Thats a pretty intense concept for a childrens story. Andersens version existed within a world where religious beliefs dictated that, strictly speaking, only human beings have souls. Animals, plants, etc. are alive and conscious beings, but they dont have a soul that will allow them to continue on after death at least according to the story.

Knowing that we wanted to play with AI quite a bit, theres this obvious sort of connection to the question of what is a soul? Its easy enough for many people to imagine that anything alive has some eternal essence, but its difficult to imagine that something which has never been alive can actually house a soul. However, if one day we create AI that is sophisticated enough to understand its own existence, its a legitimate conclusion that the AI would ask the same thing any child eventually does: What happens to us at the end? If we can build a machine that can question its existence, it will almost cer-tainly experience the same terrifying eternal questions that any human being is faced with. Our Little Mermaids name is Pisces, and shes faced with those same questions. Shes endowed with enough consciousness to become consumed by the same haunting ideas as the Little Mermaid had, and she is driven to become human in order to gain a soul.

IGM: can you tell me about the games set-ting? It obviously differs from the story it is inspired by, but what sort of science fiction will players be swimming into?

Rutkowski : Swimming nice. We were actually influenced by an amazing author and researcher named Graham Hancock and transformed many of his conclusions into a sci-fi adventure for gamers to engage in. The game is set at the end of the Age of Virgo, which would be around 10,500 BC which is also the beginning of the Age of Leo. This would also be around the time when the ice age came to an end, a time when the glaciers that covered most of the northern hemisphere would have melted, and sea levels rose about 300 feet.

It takes place at the end of the last great high-civilization (cough, Atlantis, cough) and sees the worlds coastal regions (which today hold roughly 44% of the worlds population) being drowned under the seas as they slowly rise and consume more and more land. With their backs set against still-existing glaciers, the civilization has to abandon its technologi-cal endeavors and go into a sort of survival mode. Think about it: Scientists are no longer focused on research theyre focused on feeding their families. That goes for every profession. And when a civilization is deal-ing with starvation, flooding, infrastructure collapse, power-vacuums, hysteria, and mas-sive migrations, it doesnt have the time or manpower to maintain the knowledge its gained over the eons and so within only a generation or so, those technological marvels can be lost. Realistically, an advanced civili-zation can be sent into stone-age existence very quickly.

So, in short, The Lost Piscestakes place during this fall from grace. Its a moment in time where youll see beautiful monuments that stand as testaments to what civilization can achieve, being lost to time and the oceans. The climate is cold, watery, and brutal. And the last pieces of working technology - these gods that were created by mankind - now wander the world.

IGM: I think a lot of folks are going to take a look at The Lost Pisces think its way too overambitious to be feasible for an indie team to tackle. What do you say to those people who are leery of the teams ability to make good on your vision?

Rutkowski : I say thats a legitimate concern! It does sound a bit ambitious, doesnt it? Though I stand by the idea that industrial designers can do anything

The three main designers, myself (Dan Rut-


kowski), Maya and Michaell Bakalars, are all industrial designers with professional backgrounds that include Exhibit, Point-of-Purchase, and Experiential Design. Weve each had to work at breakneck paces for the last decade 30 years of design experience total. These fields dont allow for a designer to take a week to model and texture a table, or chair, or whatever other game prop may exist they allow for only a couple of hours. Were comfortable with the typical design project that lasts between 4 days and 3 weeks- so what Im saying is we are very fast, very efficient, and very good at what we do. Unlike traditional game designers, industrial designers are tasked with almost project-management positions; we innovate, ideate, design, present, and manage the production elements throughout a projects life cycle. Our day jobs are intense and extensive, and its taught us quite a bit.

IGM: Youve been working on The Lost Pisces three years now, and originally intended to launch a Kickstarter in May of 2013. How has the game evolved over all that time, and what makes now the right time to lay all the cards out on the table?

Rutkowski: the time we were using Unity to build the game, and while we love Unity for specific reasons, we werent confident that we could provide a stellar experience using it. We were able to prototype all of the original ideas for Pisces, with Kinect-enabled learning AI and such, but when it came to a visually-stunning world, it was insanely dif-ficult to maintain a consistent experience at a decent framerate. Unity can do an amazing amount of things, and can look outstanding when you purchase enough of the community-created plugins that provide better and better lighting and AI effects. But it comes at price.

Framerates became miserably low and we were unsure of how to remedy the situation in May of 2013. Optimization is one thing, but we wanted our characters and world to be amazing we wanted the terrain to be awe-inspiring. We wanted water to look and feel like, well, water! Unfortunately these ef-fects are just outside of what we felt Unity 4 could provide on a console or common-range gaming PC. So we held off.

Fast forward to March of 2014 and Unreal Engine 4 makes a debut. We had dabbled with UDK in the past and knew that the technol-ogy was insane (in a good way), but for one reason or another never perused that engine for The Lost Pisces. But Unreal Engine 4 was something special, and we began the long journey of porting our art into that engine. The fact that Unreal can handle such a gigantic breadth of things well, from massive terrains to realistic foliage, to their incredibly robust blue-print visual-scripting system, has given us the confidence that we can deliver the game weve always envisioned.

IGM: Pisces partially described as a shooter. What else can you tell me about the games combat mechanics, and how theyll evolve over time?

Rutkowski: s just the easiest way to describe it until we release game footage, I suppose. The game is set in first-person perspective, as this makes the most sense when it comes to interacting with your female companion, Pisces. I dont know if I would define it as a shooter in the sense that shooters are usu-ally focused only on that shooting things. Theres not a whole lot of that in The Lost Pisces,actually. The game is an adventure that pits you, the gamer, against massive machine-like gods that are next-to-impossible

to destroy. Theres usually only one way to kill the god, and it involves plotting and discovery elements to find the appropriate weapons and methods required to fulfill that goal.

IGM: As Pisces becomes more human, she loses some of her more powerful abilities. Growing weaker as gameplay progresses is typically the exact opposite of what most players expect when experiencing traditional games, which serve as power fantasies. How does the team plan to empower players, or at least offer them a sense of positive progres-sion, as Pisces grows weaker?

Rutkowski : Another good question! From the perspective of an RPG, it could certainly be perceived that were doing the exact opposite of what is a proven formula for engaging the gamer. The whole project is unorthodox, I suppose. But were not really building an RPG at all. The fact that Pisces becomes more and more human over time is just a different twist on a gameplay me-chanic that everyone is familiar with: As a game progresses, we expect it to become more challenging! Stage 5 is usually more difficult than stage 2.

Likewise, the enemies you encounter in The Lost Pisces dont necessarily become more powerful or intelligent (theyre easily likened to almost Lovecraftian cosmic forces that are pure, unbridled chaos not evil geniuses), and so the increased difficulty cant arise in that sense. So we thought that the fact that Pisces herself becomes more fragile is a great mechanic that allows for the game to become more difficult over time. An attack that in the beginning of the game may do minimal damage to her, may later-on critically injure her in the final portions of the game.


IGM: What sorts of obstacles and enemies will Pisces come across on her journey?

Rutkowski: enemies in the game are simply referred to as gods in the beginning, though it will be up to the player to discover what that really means. The gods themselves are very unique from one another in design, but each is undoubtedly gigantic in scale... with the exception of one named Pisces (who has no interest in staying an immortal machine, and wants to turn human)! Their history is also up for debate, with various origin stories that the gamer will discover along the way, left behind by the previous inhabitants cultural creations, such as written words, iconography, and artwork. The gods are a strange thing, because theyre clearly not organic, nor are they ethereal in nature, but very real and mechanistic. But why they were created in the first place is something youll have to play the game to uncover. So hopefully this sparks the gamers imagination as they explore the truth behind the gods, which will lead to a

few shocks along the way!

One of the things youll learn very quickly is that there are many different vehicles at your disposal around Atlantis, which will help you to reach your destinations much more quickly than traveling by foot. Some regions are actually impossible to reach without us-ing them. These vehicles range from tanks, to flying vehicles, to submarines. Each has a purpose, and the gamer should feel that these are almost disposable as we want the gamer to feel free to jump in one at any time, without worry of resource-management. If you hop in a submarine and pilot it against an enemy, we dont want you to be too concerned with never finding another sub again; the game is about experimentation when trying to destroy these gods, so youll make a lot of mistakes. Youll destroy a lot of subs, helicopters, and tanks you are fighting against 20-story tall nearly-immortal machines, after all.

IGM: The Lost Pisces three unique, open-

world areas that players can explore. What are some of the different locations players will be able to visit?

Rutkowski : The gamer will see the end of the Atlantian civilization. Its cities lay somewhat submerged beneath the waves and so youll be able to dive into the water (or, if you can find one, use a submersible craft) and explore the submerged remains.

The three areas are The Port of Aries, The Chasm of Signis, and the Shatters of Old At-lantia. Each area has its own unique appeal to it, and the climate changes a little bit. We see Atlantis as having not been a single city, but


actually a globe-spanning civilization. The Port of Aries is the region that folks will see in the Kickstarter campaign, and its the first region the gamer will experience while playing The Lost Pisces. This is a cold coastal region full of sunken and buried technologies that the gamer will be tasked to hunt down and use against the massive denizens that inhabit the waters of the coast. The region is butted-up against a picturesque mountain range with large glaciers that have closed-off any sort of escape route. Here, the player will find a few functioning laboratories that provide the technological equipment required to trans-form Pisces from the aquatic creation she is, to the human being she wants to become. The challenge of course, is to do this under the radar of the massive monsters that roam the coast looking for survivors.

Also in [The Port of Aries] region, gamers will begin to unearth many of the worlds mysteries, which hopefully will compel them to put the many pieces of this large puzzle together, and find out why the world was destroyed, who created the denizens of the game known only as the gods, and how to grant Pisces her only request of you: A human soul.

IGM: Sirenum intends to integrate Kinect so that Pisces can learn from a players reactions, reading their facial features and remembering her experiences. Can you detail some specific examples of how youd like this process to effect gameplay, or the relationship between players and Pisces?

Rutkowski : Emotional responses are context sensitive. A shocked look on the gamers face can mean many different things. Depending on if the enemy just finished an attack animation, or if a piece of information regarding some hidden truth was just read off an ancient tablet, the same look can mean very different things. And so we use a Boolean system to gauge what different emotional responses really mean i.e. if A and B are true, then the emotional response likely equals Z.

As an example, things you may have done with her will define how she will react to you in the present. If youve come to her rescue, if youve shown compassion in your face when she asks you for a favor, if youve smiled at her when you thought she wasnt looking these things all mean something to her, and will change her perception of you. If youve shown despair or concern in your face when she has been hurt, that too


means something to her. Theyre really simple ideas, but these subtle responses that your face generates gives her a clue as to who you are, and whether or not she can trust you.

IGM: Instead of Artificial Intelligence, youre aiming to create what the team refers to as Emotional Intelligence with The Lost Pisces. From a development perspective, what sorts of technology and infrastructure are needed to create a character that learns and adapts to players in a meaningful way capable of stimulating an emotional connection?

Rutkowski : Well, weve connected with a company now that has been working on a solution for a very similar goal for some time, named Rival Theory. They have traditionally created content and technology for Unity Engine, however theyve been interested in producing a standalone API which can output agnostically to different engines, including Unreal, for a while. Their goals seemed to align very well with our own, and having started The Lost Pisces in Unity, we were already familiar with their AI system called RAIN AI. The addition of an even more advanced, learning AI called Sentio really peeked our interest, and so weve connected with them to provide some of their magic to Pisces.

Additionally, Unreal Engine 4s malleable blueprints and behavior-tree system provide

the backbone for our Emotional AI, however were using some unique methods to make Pisces different. Not to get too deep into technicalities, but unlike typical AI methods weve tried to approach Pisces AI from a more philosophical, artistic perspective. She has all of the wayfinding and nav-mesh technology youll find in any other games characters, but her goals are defined differ-ently than most others.

IGM: Pisces, much like her classic inspiration, loses her voice in the game. Sirenum aims to give her the ability to see how players are feeling through their facial expressions, but how will players be able to tell what Pisces is feeling? How realistic will her expressions and animations be, and will the team be us-ing any motion capture?

Rutkowski : Indeed. She loses her voice and ultimately relies on our most powerful tool to convey emotion: The face. We can garner an amazing amount of information from facial expressions, when combined with our situational understanding. A smile put into context can mean many different things, and so I believe people will be surprised at just how much they can know about Pisces even though shes lost her voice. If she cant answer you with her voice, then she will ultimately answer you with her body. Hand

gestures and body language also convey a lot of information. We really dont see it as a hurdle at all really. Its the same as if youd met someone who doesnt speak your lan-guage. Eventually youd have to rely on very instinctual methods of communication. Youd have to be clever. This is an adventure game after all, and as with all adventures there are many puzzles the gamer will be challenged with, communication is one of them.

So, that said, yes we rely very heavily on mo-tion capture so far, as it provides all of the subtle movements that provide clues into what Pisces is thinking. Another reason Unreal is great right out of the box, is its inclusion of blendshapes support. Weve found that morph-targets/blendshapes offer the most realistic movements so far (as opposed to joint-based facial animation), and weve been using a couple of Kinect-based products for both facial and body capture that seem to be doing very well so far. While we continue to create the game, wed also like to explore some of the more advanced facial animation techniques that include streaming normal-map and occlusion-map textures, like those found in L.A. Noirs gameplay, but that would require a good deal of funding to generate that sort of capture.


COVER STORY

Flipping your fins, you dont get too far. Legs are required for jumping, dancing, strolling along down the whats that word again? - street. Up where they walk. Up where they run. Up where they stay all day in the sun. Wandering free. Wish I could be. Part of that world.

The Lost Pisces aims to tell a new tale based on the familiar story popularized in the Disney animation, The Little Mermaid. The problem is, the story that most folks have grown up with isnt actually an ac-curate representation of the original authors intent. To that end, the

Part of your World by Vinny Parisi


by Vinny Parisi

from outside resources to help them realize their vision. A good creative director knows how to find the right people to do specific, specialized jobs. In my career, Ive overseen the creation of digital virtual experiences by teams composed of in-house talent as well as outsourced elements, he said. We dont NEED to be able to do everything theres a world of talent out there to fill the gaps. Part of leading a project is knowing that you cant be an expert at everything, and so you may need to apply additional resources to complete the project the way it was designed. Thats reality. Sirenum is made up of three key members, all of them industrial engineers with a cumulative three decades worth of experience in the field. Anyone who takes on every aspect of game design is ultimately failing at a few things theyve stretched themselves too thin. If youre good at art, stick with art. Learn some of the technical things, but when you want an advanced feature for your game, bring someone on board who knows what theyre doing dont let your project suffer from the fact that no one can be good at everything! he advises.

Specifically, the team plans on working with two outside studios in particular, both working in tandem to achieve an incredibly complex objective. Rutkowski revealed that Sirenum has part-nered with two smaller companies that bring their own unique abilities to the project. One, a company named Opaque Media, has created an amazing tool named Kinect4Unreal which allows us to get data from a gamers facial expressions and input them into our behavior and memory systems. The other, a relatively well-known company named Rival Theory that has been produc-ing AI solutions for some time for Unity developers, is helping to bring their Sentio Character learning AI technology to our game as well.

Mapping players facial reactions and implementing advanced AI is a key component of The Lost Pisces development. The games protagonist, an advanced synthetic named Pisces, wants to be granted a soul and ultimately become human. It is the players job, under the guise of her companion named Erebos, to forge an alliance with Pisces and survive in a world that is slowly fall-ing into ruin. Imagine if the companionship between Booker and Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite merged with the advanced AI and vision of Peter Molyneuxs Project Milo tech demonstration. Theres no real way to introduce this concept in a manner that doesnt sound totally bogus or unrealistic, and I was personally very skeptical prior to chatting with Rutkowski, but Ill share with you what he shared with me, and the community can decide for itself whether or not it seems feasible:

Part of the characters Emotional AI is actually based on RTS techniques, where youve got separate units each with different

development team at Sirenum LLC is working on The Lost Pisces, an adventure about a robot in search of a soul who wishes to be human. Or more accurately, who wishes to understand what it means to be human. Their efforts will culminate with a Kickstarter campaign set to launch on April 7, shortly after this issue hits the stand.

Despite being an indie team, Sirenum is both ambitious and de-termined enough to feel confident in achieving their goals. As Dan Rutkowski, director and producer on the project, explains, experience has taught the team that theres nothing wrong with getting help


weighted goals send-ing information back to the core of the AI. Like a strategy game, theres resources that certain

units try to collect in an effort to provide resources for the AI to use. In some games this is akin to ore, or some other mineral being mined. The easiest way to explain it is that in our game, the AI is quietly using invisible resource-collection units to mine for digital serotonin the chemical that provides a sense of happiness. Theres a lot of things that drive our levels of serotonin, including how hungry we are, how safe we are, how exhausted we are, how connected to other humans we are, etc, etc. Revenge and lust offer rewards too. The invisible mining-units are generating paths to their goals, and these paths have weights to them within the program, and so certain paths are more favor-able than others. Theres a plethora of invisible potentiality units working in RTS style to provide data to the AI, not just serotonin bots, but you get the gist. Weve simply found that the RTS system seems to simulate a singular being well.

However, the AI learns over time. Everything is context based, and so if a certain path to happiness is met with pain enough times, that path-method is determined to be unfavorable. For instance, if Pisces tries to help you when youve been injured and are limping along, but being a stubborn individual you meet her offer of help with anger and rejection, shell become hurt and af-ter a couple of times, may no longer offer her help. In fact, if the gamer presents her with enough painful, emotionally-damaging instances, she may turn against you

This idea of creating a lasting, meaningful relationship with Pisces is the true heart and, well, soul of the project above all else. According to Rutkowski, it was the initial spark from which everything else began to materialize. We knew we wanted to do something special with artificial intelligence and perception from the beginning, because at the core of our team, were all industrial designers. As designers were taught to tell stories to connect with human beings, he said. A good product is something that connects to the public, and elevates the product, whether it be a wrist-watch, or a car, or a video game, to something meaning-ful. Games can be just for fun, absolutely, or they can be stories that are meaningful, personal, and moving. We chose the latter.


With the thought of developing a meaningful, personal journey in mind, Sirenum settled on the idea of exploring the concept of a soul. Its a question that I believe every human being, whether you believe in an afterlife or not, and whether youre willing to admit it or not, struggles with in the quiet moments of our lives. Its a terrifying notion to think that after we depart, that we just disappear, Rutkowski reasons. Its this unfathomable question we have what its like to no longer exist? Its all weve ever known. We wonder where loved ones have gone, forever, and its some-thing that can consume you if you let it. The Little Mermaidis this curious exploration of what a creature will do to escape the infinite quiet that non-existence offers, and its fascinating to think what we could do with that concept in our story.

The story, set during the fall of Atlantian civilization, depicts a once highly advanced technological people reduced to a fragment of their former glory. In the aftermath of a recent ice age, the world is flooded, sinking most cities, and with them, any orderly or cohe-sive sense of civilization. As it turns out, this idea isnt taken from science fiction. Rather, it comes from early religion.

The ancient worlds religions were so seemingly obsessed with the stars and their constellations that we found the connections between the ancient skies and time-keeping on a civilization-scale irresistible. Theres this concept that many ancient cultures held that time is actually cyclical in nature, Rutkowski explained. Every Cycle of Procession would see civilization rise over the eons, and eventually fall. The Hindu religion has these well defined as The Satya Yuga (an enlightened, advanced time in human history), and the Kali Yuga (a fall into darkness and depravity), along with two others: Golden ages and dark ages. As living beings, our civiliza-tions are bound to repeat our fates into eternity. Theres no real way to escape this endless cycle, and so just as we have moved into a more technologically advanced world today, its possible that weve been here before

As the team puts it, these concepts are so awesomely mysterious that we had to set the game in this advanced ancient world. As for where the idea of a great flood comes from, it too is a recurring theme in many early cultures. Theres this sort of illusive flood story that permeates many ancient cultures mythologies; a surprisingly large amount of them, actually. We found that truth to be really interesting, and a bit disturbing, as its presence in so many cultures

indicates that there might be some truth to the flood stories. And a massive flood that is decimating a civilization makes for a great backdrop, especially when your heroine is a mermaid!

While much of the world and setting is forged from ancient cultures and religions, The Lost Pisces is a video game after all, and so theres also a fair bit of fiction and fantasy thrown in for good measure. We added a healthy dose of science fiction in our version, trading a literal mermaid for something of a sentient, aquatic machine (still a cute girl though) and toyed with the adventure a bit so that were fairly certain youll fall as deeply in love with our story as we have, Rutkowski told me. It should be noted that although the game has its action elements, this is really a psychological adventure. It explores scary ideas, but its a beautiful story too. Its one which we want to haunt the gamer for a long time. It has a beginning, a middle, and a definite end - with no real room for a sequel - its a complete idea. An ode to our short time on earth, and what we choose to do with it. In the end, I hope it makes people imagine a bit further than they usually do to ponder what we are, and what makes us human. Its a lofty goal, but this story is so meaningful that I believe it can be accomplished. With Sirenum so intensely focused on telling a singular narrative, unrestricted by the notion of holding something back for a follow up game, perhaps they truly can craft an unparalleled level of engagement between players and Pisces.

In order to establish any sort of emotional connection to Pisces, Sirenum must first create a scenario in which players are willing to open themselves up to the idea of connecting with her at all. To that end, it seems like the team will place gamers in a situa-tion where allying with Pisces is mutually beneficial. An uneasy alliance of sorts. At least at first, anyway. Pisces is a curious girl who, while certainly determined, also doesnt understand the world your character comes from. Shes entranced by you but she doesnt know you either. Shes shy, shes careful, and like any other stranger, shell have to get to know you before opening up with any secrets she has.

Just as Pisces is unfamiliar with the human world, so too are play-ers equally in the dark about Pisces, her kind, and the powerful, mechanical gods that now roam the wastelands of Atlantis. This creates another point of engagement between players and their mermaid-esque companion, as theyll initially be wholly reliant on Pisces to learn how to survive and ultimately overcome the obstacles


that stand between them. For example, you may have to persuade Pisces to provide you with insight as to where a certain device may be, which can be used to sabotage one of the denizens in the game, Rutkowski revealed. You cant directly destroy these enemies, but if you can acquire an old reactor-core from one of the sunken air-ships that lay at the bottom of the ocean, you might be able to set a trap in a mountain-pass and detonate it when your enemy is in position. But to get this information from Pisces thats where it gets tricky. Just as with The Little Mermaid, she cant speak to you. And in the beginning, while she finds your character interesting, she doesnt trust you.

Trust may be an issue at first, but given the sheer size and strength of the creatures that stand between Pisces and her goal of becom-ing human, it wont be long before players team up with her to take down the massive mechanical monstrosities. As Rutkowski describes them, they are lumbering, gigantic machines that prove to be very difficult to destroy you cant simply fire conventional weapons into them and expect to deal any damage. With that in mind, it will take a bit of creative ingenuity to succeed, in a way quite reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus. Pisces can provide some protection from them, and actually deal a bit of damage herself, but you will have to hunt down items to do any damage yourself. The game is an adventure game, and each enemy is a bit of a puzzle. What works to eliminate one enemy wont necessarily

work for another. And the devices and techniques you must employ to annihilate them are themselves hidden away in the many buried/sunken facilities that dot the landscape and lay beneath the waves of Atlantis. Sirenum wants to design each encounter in a way that makes each victory feel like its own reward. We really want the player to feel a sense of massive accomplishment when they take these massive, unbending, relentless enemies down.

Even though taking down the gods is meant to feel like a major achievement, Rutkowski is quick to point out that The Lost Pisces is designed to prioritize story above combat. In fact, the notion of gameplay at all is seemingly a secondary mechanic. I think that when the gamer plays through the story, theyll find that the story is one that revolves around a much deeper concept than fighting, Rutkowski began. Fighting exists because thats the force which poses a strategic challenge to the gamer. But at the core, the game isnt a game at all; its an experiment. We want to see how intimately connected a gamer becomes to Pisces. The story is about falling in love with a being, and wanting to protect it. Knowing that being, spending time with it, learning and sharing secrets, and becoming entwined with one another. Elaborating further about this idea, he mentions that we want the gamer to become entangled with this AI. To wonder things about her. We want the gamer to play again and again, in an effort to find out more and more about her. And the more the gamer cares about her, the more empowered youll feel. The more meaningful her fate becomes to you. Thats the real game.

To be clear, when the team talks about falling in love with Pisces, the intent is that players will forge a bond similar to the way they would with close friends. Its a platonic love, which the narrative aims to help guide. That said, we know that story is the key to all human experience. We could simply tell you a story, but thats no-where near as engaging as having the protagonist of the story write her story alongside you, the gamer. That will connect the gamer to something much more entrancing and eternal. Ultimately, Sirenum wants to design an emotionally impactful experience. We believe that even if she doesnt act exactly as a human being would (shes an AI after all), we can still make the gamer care for her. If Pisces can know you notice who you as a person are and respond to your subtle facial expressions, then she can build a rapport with you.

Its clear from talking to the team that they truly believe their vi-sion for The Lost Pisces is well within their means. Its equally clear that their ambition is matched only by their passion for weaving an unforgettable experience. Beyond the technical implementation, the remembering of experiences and the ability for the AI to, for the first time ever, see the gamers response to her own actions will hopefully create a character that gamers can become attached to. Its in our shared experiences, our memories, that companionship evolves. We are nothing except for stories. When we lose someone we love, I imagine that a good deal of the pain we experience is from knowing that their demise means the end of their story. We never want a good story to end. We want stories and characters to go on indefinitely. Its hard to contemplate that the companionship we share with someone can suddenly come to an end it causes


this irrefutable pain that is so primal and built into us, that I have to believe that stories are what drives our being. Theyre how we define our existence and our importance.

If stories are truly how we define our existence in this life, Im rather satisfied with the end result of this piece. Whether or not The Lost Pisces can live up to such lofty goals - and despite a certain Fable creator dashing my hopes with lofty goals on more than one occasion, Im optimistic enough to have faith it can the very concept is so grandiose and awe inspiring, its just damn fun to think about. Maybe I wont love Pisces, and maybe she wont

really understand much about me just by reading my reactions and gestures; but what if. What if?

Developer: Sirenum DigitalPlatforms: Windows PCWebsite: www.thelostpisces.comTwitter: @sirenumpisces


INTERVIEW

interview with grimm Bros - Dragon Fin soup by Vinny Parisi

Given the following discussion is with a development te

am

named Grimm Bros., you can expect this interview to con-

tain its fair share of fairy tale talk, sprinkled with some gris-

ly fates and untimely demises. Before most fairy tal

es were Dis-

ney-fied for a younger audience, they were... Grim

(m). It wasnt

always happily ever after and, in fact, it rarely wa

s. Most fairy

tales were meant to scare children straight, to keep them

from

doing naughty things by convincing them that naughty kids

were

often punished in rather disturbing ways. (Not dire

ctly relevant,

but Rumpelstiltskin tearing himself in half? Not re

ally

child appropriate.)

Which brings us to Dragon Fin Soup, an

upcoming tactical RPG developed

by Grimm Bros. The game

doesnt shy away

from violence or vulgarity,

and in actuality rather relishes in it. I spoke with Ash Monif

, co-

founder of the Grimm Bros., to find out more abo

ut the game,

which blends numerous classic fairy tale characters togethe

r in a

single story filled with danger, mature humor, and bo

oze. He gave

me some great insight into the characters, places, and mecha

nics

gamers will be introduced to when they begin their

journey in the world of Asura.


Indie Game Magazine: When you first launched the Kickstarter for Dragon Fin Soup, what was the response like? Did people im-mediately gravitate towards it, or did it take a couple weeks for the project to gain traction?

Ash Monif: When we first came up with the concept of doing a Kickstarter, we had already spent over a year developing the core game and game mechanics, so we were very nervous - we hadnt gone public with any details on the game, and we really werent sure if anyone would like what we were doing! We kept our expectations low - maybe theyd think it was too old-school, too crude, too edgy, too lame, but it was our labor of love, so we hoped for the best.

Fortunately, when our campaign went live, we were completely blown away: We hit our fundraising goal of $24k in the first week, and it kept on growing from there. In addition, we were doing Steam Greenlight at the same time, in which we were fully Greenlit in less than 10 days!

IGM: Why did you settle on Red Robin (a take on Little Red Riding Hood) as the protagonist? Were other fairy tale heroes/heroines considered before deciding on RR?

Monif: Randis [Albion] and I both have a soft spot for the original dark, majestic Grimm fairy tales. When we decided to become Grimm Bros and use Grimm as one of our core inspirations, we immediately gravitated towards this type of character. Red Riding Hood was something of a challenge - we were taking a

character whos traditionally a bit hapless and trying to make her strong; we needed to make her interesting without losing

the macabre whimsy of the Grimm universe - and thats how we came up with Red Robin. In addition, we have Morgiana from Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, which is part of 1001 Arabian Nights, and we talked a lot about including Gepetto, from Tales of Pinocchio (unfortunately he didnt make the cut, but wed love to include him in future expansions).

IGM: Tell me a little bit more about the Grimm Bros. Where have you worked previously, and where does your passion for dark-humored fairy tales come from?

Monif: Ive been in the game industry for over 16 years, everywhere from AAA publishers to indie devs, on both the developer side and the publishing side. Ive worked on such franchises as Lord of the Rings, James Bond, the Sims, and more. My partner Randis is actually senior to me, he has been in the industry for 19 years. He has also been in the AAA and indie space, and has worked with a tremendous amount of different groups and clients, including League of Legends, Fieldrunners, and Aquanauts.

When you sit down and start an indie studio, its more passion-driven than you think - the question is, ultimately, what do we want to really devote ourselves to? For years, we worked for other companies, and while it was at times enjoyable, it wasnt truly satisfying. We wanted to make the type of games we grew up playing: Shiren The Wanderer, Earthbound, Shining Force, Final Fantasy: Tactics, all these wonderful, great games. Thats kind of where we started, but what else? Thats when we realized that we both adored the dark, original Grimm Bros fairy tales. Nobody was really doing the dark ones, everything is white-washed. You look at what Disney is doing - its beautiful, its great, but its not Grimm! (Pun intended!) So we decided to do that. We brought those two ideas together. We didnt want it to just be dark and gritty without something to balance it, so the last thing we added was the black humor. Thats our tongue-in-cheek (think Monty Python and the Holy Grail) sense of humor meets Evil Dead over-the-top violence. We think those three things together - old-school gameplay, lush Grimm-inspired world-building, and a crooked sense of humor - make a unique combination. Its something wed want to play, and we hope everyone will enjoy it as well.

IGM: With a name like Grimm Bros., can we expect to see more twisted fairy tales come to life in future projects?

Monif: Absolutely! It is in fact our mission, part of our companys vision, to have fairy tale-inspired elements in all of our games. We

27

are an RPG studio and we hope (fingers crossed) to be making all sorts of interesting, fascinating, engaging RPGs for years and years to come - with the support of our community.

IGM: The 2D tactical strategy genre is a bit of a niche, with most folks either loving it or hating it. Are you worried the genre may throttle the potential player base?

Monif: Not so much. When we first started we had to make a choice, do we go 3D or 2D? For the type of game we wanted, on an indie budget which is basically comprised of donations from friends and family, plus our own savings, we said what can we do, and do a really great job with it? We had this debate, and ultimately decided that with our small team (one guy, Randis, does all the art) we could do a fantastic job with 2D. With 2D we could afford to get creative, to make the gameplay unique and interesting and fresh, and to create something you havent really seen before in the recent console space. Were pretty happy with our choice - we were able to make high resolution, beautiful art, which we might

not have had the time/resources for in 3D. We know that 2D tacti-cal games dont have universal appeal, but we feel that what we have is hopefully (and we hope you agree with us!) a beautiful, accessible, and engaging experience. We welcome everyone to try it out, and have a taste of Dragon Fin Soup.

IGM: You can cook Dragon Fin Soup in the game, right? Please say yes. What other non-combat activities besides cooking can play-ers engage in?

Monif: Tons. We have several minigames that the players can get into that all tie into crafting, in addition to some secret ones we havent announced yet. Theres tons of stuff to do; I believe there are over 500 unique recipes in the game, including weapons, food, potions. You name it, you can make it. You can craft not only for yourself, but to make materials to sell for quite a good price, and then grab better armor or weapons.

Can you cook Dragon Fin Soup in the game? No comment.


IGM: How will the day/night cycle and weather conditions affect gameplay?

Monif: The day/night cycles do play an important role because they affect which monsters spawn. Some special monsters only come out at night, or live in caves. Some are only available during the day, in specific areas. Certain missions may be affected by the cycle - for example if youre going after some undead, you might have to wait for nightfall. The rain and weather cycles also have a gameplay factor. As with most roguelikes, we do feature a procedurally-generated world, permadeath, tactical decision making, but also occlusion, and weather plays a factor in occlusion. We have smoke, fog, rain, storms, sun, and all these will factor into visibility in the game. You never know what might be lurking in the shadows

IGM: Who is composing the soundtrack for Dragon Fin Soup, and do you have an idea of how many tracks the final game will feature?

Monif: That would be our fantastic music composer and audio designer, Jade Leamcharaskul. We are thrilled to have Jade on board; shes a lifelong RPG gamer and fan. We dont have a de-tailed breakdown of how many tracks we have yet, but part of our rewards that you can earn is our soundtrack, which will also be made available on our online store.

IGM: Red Robin can be a little bit...raunchy at times. Whats her backstory like, and where does her personality come from?

Monif: What I can share so far of her backstory is that Robin is a raging alcoholic bounty hunter. She lost her memory a couple of years ago and has these recurring nightmares that haunt her almost every night. That may play a factor into why she is a bit of a party girl -- she doesnt want to be sad, and deal with this, and thats her way of coping with these nightmares. In the beginning, you do not yet know what Robins true background is (since she lost her memory), but she does have training in weapons, and has quite a knack for surviving a tough situation. Thats all I can say for now; youll have to play the game to learn more!

IGM: Im really curious to know more about Asura, the Dragon Turtle god. Will players get to learn more about it, or is it merely mentioned in passing during the early stages of the game?

Monif: Asura is the world in which Dragon Fin Soup takes place. The world of Asura is interactive - it is part of our World Screen, so when you select different missions, you can see yourself traveling to different destinations. While youre traveling, you may also have random encounters with different enemies and foes. Here you can

get a sense of the world, how its structured, and how it comes together. As you learn about the lore of the world, it all starts to make sense. Think of it as an interactive J.R.R. Tolkien map.

IGM: One of the stretch goals that most intrigued me concerned body mods and transplants. Can you

describe what that would have entailed, and if theres any chance it will make it into the game post-launch?

Monif: Everything has a chance of making it into future expan-sions, we just have to figure out what everyone in the community is excited about. The body mods were actually a really cool feature where you would be able to not only customize your abilities, but your appearance. Say you wanted to equip extra rings, well, you could drink a potion and grow extra fingers. Do you want to see in the dark, or be able to sense the undead? You could swap out one of your eyes for a Sharingan Orc eye and be able to see undead on the map. These cool abilities would be permanent to your character, and explore a space of customization that hasnt really been done before.

IGM : What would you say to gamers on the fence about Dragon Fin Soup? Whats the one diversifier for the game that should convince people to try it out?

Monif: Its a highly accessible roguelike, meaning its challenging but rewarding. When you play, youre going to start smiling and laughing. Its full of tons of inside jokes, gamer satire, and some really messed up dark humor, and we think that everyone will re-ally get a kick out of that. If you love Zelda, FF:Tactics, Grimm fairy tales or dark humor, youre gonna love Dragon Fin Soup.

I admittedly grew up on Disney versions of classic fairy tales, so Im unfamiliar with the majority of Grimm tales. That said, Dragon Fin Soup is being designed in an approachable way that even novices to the genre and source material like my-self can try their hand at it. The mix of dark humor and fairy tale inspiration is certainly an eye-catching mix, and judging by the level of success the games crowdfunding campaign achieved, it seems quite a few other folks feel the same. Red Robin may not be the kind of girl you bring home to Granny, but she sure seems like she knows how to have a good time, something I imagine most gamers will appreciate.


SUB-FEATURE

In todays world, where fairy

tales tell stories of near-perfe

ct,

beautiful characters, who

overcome their challenges

through

good-natured magic and a

little luck, a tactical actio

n RPG

named Dragon Fin Soup lookin

gto turn the standard on its he

ad.

Or to be more precise, the deve

lopers at Grimm Bros. have weav

ed

their game through some of the

dark roots of the old Grimm fai

ry

tales. The game then incorp

orates a versatile, turn-base

d/action

gameplay mechanic that follow

s players as they explore the wo

rld

of Asura, and fight against

an assortment of fantasti

c creatures

within dangerous dungeons.

The developers are focused

primarily on creating games

in magical

settings, and littering their

epic stories and adventure

s with dark

humor. To me, this already soun

ds like a well-balanced game, u

s-

ing humor to entertain throug

hout while a darker, deeper sto

ry

continues in the forefront. T

o lead this progression throu

gh the tale

are references to a variety

of fairy tales, twisted slight

ly to offer a

new perspective and tell a n

ew story.

Since the success of their

Kickstarter campaign back

on April 11,

2014, development has m

ade slow but steady progr

ess over the

course of the year, setting

up content and adding the

framework

for the many in-game featur

es. Among those included is

the tactical

action RPG combat style th

at allows for turn-based co

mbat that

can move as fast, or as slow, a

s the player wishes to. Its easi

est

to see the game in action

to understand the way the

battle me-

chanics work, but in writte

n terms this allows enemie

s and other

characters within the world

to move during the turns a

nd actions

of the players character. The

entire grid-based world play

s like this,

including procedurally-generat

ed dungeons with untold numb

ers

of enemies.

As Ash Monif, co-founder of G

rimm Bros. alongside his part

ner

Randis Albion, puts it, in t

he world of Asura, everyth

ing is con-

nected, and the gameplay

is super fluid. In our game

play, when

you move the world moves wit

h you in a turn-based system,

so

you can move fluidly while

exploring, or slow down an

d tactically

approach combat turn-by-turn

. You can hack and slash, or sl

ow

down and make tactical de

cisions.

Dragon Fin Soup will have thre

e different modes to enga

ge in,

including the main Story M

ode that allows players to

follow the

adventures of alternately por

trayed characters from childho

od

fairy tales. The other two m

odes consist of Survival and

Labyrinth

modes, which are both mea

nt to test the abilities of th

e player as

they fight to survive and ea

rn a high score.

The first character that the g

ame will primarily feature is

Red Robin,

whos essentially Little Red

Riding Hood whos lost her

memory of

all events beyond a year ago

. She continues to experienc

e the same

nightmare, where a nameless bu

t powerful murderer slaughters h

er

family, and makes short wo

rk of Red Robin as well. The

journey of

this cheerful, raging alcoholic w

ith a few issues to sort through

is

then filled with sudden plo

t and twists conspiracies a

s Red Robin

tries to make sense of her world

and remember more of her pa

st.

The world itself is set on the

back of a giant dragon-turtle

god

called Asura, who swims t

hrough the multi-verse of s

pace-time

a stew of Tactical rPg and

grimm Fantasy

by Rafiq Mandal


and has done so for longer tha

n anyone remembers. As a pla

net

approaches Asura, the story beg

ins to take shape as dangerous

red

shards crash throughout the lan

d, marking the beginning of a ne

w

era of villains, heroes, and lore.

Beyond Red Robin, Grimm

Bros. is implementing a pe

t and mer-

cenary mechanic into the gam

e, so players will have a party

of

companions at their disposa

l. Detailing the pet system,

Monif says

that in Dragon Fin Soup, there

are a variety of pets, all with th

eir

own unique abilities and AI

. You can collect pets, you ca

n purchase

pets, you may even be able

to craft pets (hint hint). On

ce you have

them, they are a permanent pa

rt of your inventory, and you c

an

deploy up to two simultane

ously. The pets have their o

wn abilities,

and can level up on their own -

the more you use them, the m

ore

powerful they become.

As far as mercenaries, the

team explains that, NPCs f

or hire and

companion NPCs can join y

ou on certain quests. They

have their

own AI; you cannot see the

ir stats or control them. In

addition to

that, they also have their o

wn unique behavior set - so

me are lazy,

some are cowards, some are s

trong. You just have to play arou

nd

to see what each of them d

oes. You can find NPC comp

anions on

various quests throughout th

e entire game. You will enco

unter your

first NPC for hire in one of t

he opening missions in Stor

y Mode, in

the Cock&Bull Tavern.

Players can dive into an e

xtensive craft and armory

system in

Dragon Fin Soup, which is then r

ewarded by a wide array of spac

es

for powerful armor. Red Rob

in can also dual wield, starti

ng with a

sword and dagger, but able to h

andle any weapon in each hand

,

including two shields. Dragon

Fin Soup being developed wit

h

versatile tactics in mind, in

order to allow different p

lay styles to

successfully fight against a v

ariety of enemies and travel

deep into

the dungeons. The dungeons ar

e also loaded with scripted eve

nts,

traps, and ambushes, ensuring t

hat anything could happen as t

he

player travels deeper into the u

nknown. Minigames also give th

e

player several optional qu

ests and activities that do

nt require

combat, giving more acces

s to Asura and its craftable

resources

along with worthwhile rewards

.

The developers at Grimm B

ros have finished impleme

nting all of

the base content, and are c

urrently running it through

QA testing,

fixing bugs, and adding polis

h to the games optimizatio

n. Dragon

Fin Soupis slated for release so

metime in the Spring, with n

o defini-

tive date yet. (An exact lau

nch date has never been a

nnounced,

as the team is more concerne

d with releasing the game wh

en

its ready above all else.) W

ith any luck, however, we

should be

escorting Red Robin throug

h the world of Asura some

time within

the next few months.

Developer: Grimm BrosPlatforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS3, VitaWebsite: www.dragonfinsoup.com

Twitter: @TheGrimmBros31www.indiegamemag.com

There are few things more

traditional in our sub-culture

than ignoring meals and

proper sustenance in favor of hor-

ribly unhealthy items which can

only be thought of as food with

quotations or as junk food, more

commonly. For many, it really is a

tradition: Friends come over with

the TV they dragged from their

house, whatever console everyone

is playing on, and with a bit of cash

to pay for pizza and dessert. And

thats the night that is the stereo-

typical LAN party. And it is glorious.

What it aint, though, is good for

you. And ordering pizza every day

isnt exactly a sustainable option

for most gamers, either for their wallet or

their waistline.

Enter Cooking For Gamers: A Primer, a cook-

book with the gamer in mind. For anyone

already rolling their eyes, dont worry, there

will be plenty of eye-rolling necessary for

this particular Cooks Compendium. Bu

t

at its core, Cooking For Gamers is a useful

starting cookbook for anyone looking pas

t

daily trips to say, McDonalds and Starbucks

,

to skills that will allow you to go far beyond

what this admittedly cheesy cookbook ha

s

in its pages.

Cooking for Gamers opens on a short fore-

word from its creator, Samuel McKeon, an

d

then dives into the first bit of cheese: Th

e

book has achievements. While theres no

bleep-bloop when you get any of them

,

nor is there a system for tracking them

against your friends achievements, they

will help encourage you towards being a

better home cook. Most are fairly simple

,

but all of them gently nudge you towards

doing something more impressive with

your food, like letting something marina

te

overnight, rather than the minimum of

a couple hours or so. Oh, yes, and all of

them are cheesy. Theres barely room for

puns in this review because the cookbook

took them all.

The achievement for marinating overnigh

t

is, naturally, Timelord, the one for add

-

ing additional spices of your own choosin

g

is The Spice Must Flow, and, becaus

e

anything else would really just be missing

out on prime punning, the achievement for

getting every other achievement is wa

it

for it Master Chef, with a picture of

a

Spartan helmet wearing a chefs hat. Yup

.

It went there.

Personally, I found the achievement system

to be surprisingly effective. I scoffed at it

at

first, but as I went through the cookbook

,

Id notice the icon for a particular achieve

-

ment and go Oh. Right, I could totally d

o

that for the achievement, before realizing

my own thoughts and scoffing again. Bu

t

it did make me think, and I still really wan

t

that Timelord achievement, if only because

the thought of marinating something for

a

day sounds unbelievably tasty.

After the achievement list, Cooking For

Gamers whets your appetite by detailing

the absolute basics in cooking instruments

needed in order to cook any average meal.

Pots, pans, knives, etc., and each one has i

ts

purpose explained, so that readers wont

think theyre buying the culinary equiva-

lent of three kinds of conditioner. Wher

e

things really start to heat up, however,

are the knife skills. For those who dont

spend copious amounts of time watching

the Food Network (like some reviewers),

there is more to wielding a knife than keep-

REVIEW

by Connor Selinske

a Land Before Thyme

32 The Indie Game Magazine32

Developer of Flavors: Samuel McKeonWebsite: www.cookingforgamers.com

Twitter: @cooking4gamers

Pros Accessible Good starting recipes Fills a niche that

needed filling

The Indie Game Magazine April 2015 - Issue 48

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Transcript of The Indie Game Magazine April 2015 - Issue 48