<p>RPS did <a href="http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/08/03/titanic-quest-crate-speak-about-grim-dawn/" target="_blank">a lengthy interview</a> with <strong>Grim Dawn</strong> developer <a href="http://www.crateentertainment.com/">Crate Entertainment</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>RPS: The action RPG seems to be becoming more popular of late, which is great news. How will Grim Dawn stand out – what makes it unique?</strong></p>
<p><strong>
</strong></p>
<p>Bruno: I think we’re probably unique just in the sense that, while most studios are redesigning their games to be more casual-player friendly, we’re busy making Grim Dawn more complex and probably casual-player hostile.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think older, traditional PC games had a certain magic that has been lost in most modern games. Bethesda comes to mind as one of the few big companies left still making games with the kind of depth and magic that games had when I was a kid. I mean no disrespect in saying this, but their games are sort of complex, clunky, and often rife with imbalance and exploit. The very sort of imbalances and exploits that I delight in discovering and abusing but not the sort that are so bad they ruin the game. They are the sort of complex but loose systems that leave the player wondering how far they can push the limits of what is possible, and where there are no hard caps obviously and arbitrarily restricting what they can do. I sometimes wonder whether this sort of thing is intentional or not. I certainly add some deliberate measure of this in my games where I can get away with it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I love systems that are asymmetrical and chaotic, where the player can’t easily see the tell-tale structure and patterns of deliberate, organized human design. The real world isn’t always perfectly planned or sensible and I don’t think game worlds should be either, otherwise you see the hand of the developers everywhere you look and it erodes the magic of feeling like you are in a living and unpredictable world. Exploration of game systems is all about the discovery of what is possible. When there is too clear a structure and pattern to the design, not only does it feel artificial but the player is much more quickly able to assess the limits of the system. Unfortunately, most of the industry is moving away from this sort of design.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Considering the drought in action RPGs over the last years and how developers spammed us with real full-fledged RPGs, another action RPG is good news indeed. Can't have enough of those.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/104125-grim-dawn-interview-and-screenshots.html">Gamebanshee</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>RPS: The action RPG seems to be becoming more popular of late, which is great news. How will Grim Dawn stand out – what makes it unique?</strong></p>
<p><strong>
</strong></p>
<p>Bruno: I think we’re probably unique just in the sense that, while most studios are redesigning their games to be more casual-player friendly, we’re busy making Grim Dawn more complex and probably casual-player hostile.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I think older, traditional PC games had a certain magic that has been lost in most modern games. Bethesda comes to mind as one of the few big companies left still making games with the kind of depth and magic that games had when I was a kid. I mean no disrespect in saying this, but their games are sort of complex, clunky, and often rife with imbalance and exploit. The very sort of imbalances and exploits that I delight in discovering and abusing but not the sort that are so bad they ruin the game. They are the sort of complex but loose systems that leave the player wondering how far they can push the limits of what is possible, and where there are no hard caps obviously and arbitrarily restricting what they can do. I sometimes wonder whether this sort of thing is intentional or not. I certainly add some deliberate measure of this in my games where I can get away with it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I love systems that are asymmetrical and chaotic, where the player can’t easily see the tell-tale structure and patterns of deliberate, organized human design. The real world isn’t always perfectly planned or sensible and I don’t think game worlds should be either, otherwise you see the hand of the developers everywhere you look and it erodes the magic of feeling like you are in a living and unpredictable world. Exploration of game systems is all about the discovery of what is possible. When there is too clear a structure and pattern to the design, not only does it feel artificial but the player is much more quickly able to assess the limits of the system. Unfortunately, most of the industry is moving away from this sort of design.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Considering the drought in action RPGs over the last years and how developers spammed us with real full-fledged RPGs, another action RPG is good news indeed. Can't have enough of those.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Spotted at: <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/104125-grim-dawn-interview-and-screenshots.html">Gamebanshee</a></p>
