Interview Our Depths of Peril interview

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: Depths of Peril

I've had an opportunity to ask Steven Peeler <a href=http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=160>a few questions</a> about <a href=http://www.soldak.com/>Depths of Peril</a>, an action RPG with a strategy twist:
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<blockquote><b>5. What would you have done differently given a choice? Also, what are you best and worst DoP design decisions?</b>
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Looking back on the project, I would probably say something I would do differently is bringing in artists a bit earlier in the project. This turned out fine in the end, but finding artists and getting good progress on the artwork was pretty stressful for me during a lot of the project.
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I think the best design decision of the project was including the covenant gameplay. Not only is this one of the biggest distinguishing features of Depths of Peril, but it is also the feature that led to other important unique things in the game like consequences to your actions and the very dynamic world. The covenants is one of those features that changes just about everything in the game. They adventure in the world, they can solve quests before you do, they start wars and raid other covenants including yours, they help out when the town is attacked, they can grab recruits before you do, guards, rumors, and crystals all are due to the covenant gameplay, they can destroy your covenant, and the list just goes on and on. </blockquote>Also, here is a <a href=http://www.rampantgames.com/blog/2007/10/lets-talk-about-depths-of-peril.html>review</a> of the game, courtesy of <a href=http://www.rampantgames.com>Rampant Coyote</a>:
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<blockquote>First of all, if you resent and hate Diablo-style RPGs, you probably aren't gonna like it. Depths of Peril is firmly in that camp. The combat action is intense with lots of real-time clicking. However, unlike Diablo, your character will keep fighting the targeted enemy if you don't issue different commands, so you don't have to wear out your mouse button quite so badly in melee.
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And if that was all there was to Depths of Peril, I'd call it a competent if uninspired Diablo clone, give it a short rah-rah go-indie speech, and call it good. But what makes Depths of Peril so fascinating is that it goes well outside the comfort zone of traditional RPGs, and incorporates elements that might sound like a mash-up on paper, but really work extremely well as a unified whole. The "strategy elements" aspect of Depths of Peril isn't some tacked-on gameplay or mini-game, but actually a well-executed logical extension of the roleplaying experience. It complements the core gameplay extremely well.</blockquote>If you are interested, you can <a href=http://www.soldak.com/content/blogcategory/28/65/>grab the demo here</a>.
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[Deleted member 7219]

First of all, if you resent and hate Diablo-style RPGs, you probably aren't gonna like it. Depths of Peril is firmly in that camp. The combat action is intense with lots of real-time clicking. However, unlike Diablo, your character will keep fighting the targeted enemy if you don't issue different commands, so you don't have to wear out your mouse button quite so badly in melee.

I'm glad he's honest about it.

 

[RampantCoyote]

Hey, you KNOW I was thinking of you guys when I wrote that

I tend to dis on Diablo clones because my heart is still in old-school RPGs. But I grudgingly admit that I enjoyed Diablo 2. Just as I enjoyed Oblivion (yes, I know, a heretical opinion in this crowd, perhaps...) What I resent is ALL cRPGs becoming Diablo / Oblivion. I have zero time for uninspired Diablo clones when there are games like Avernum 4 and Geneforge 4 sitting unfinished on my hard drive.

Diablo to me is RPG fast food. Okay once in a while, and maybe even mildly tasty, but you don't want to make a diet out of it.

And so yeah - originally I was imagining a Diablo clone with some strategy aspect tacked onto it with Depths of Peril. I was very pleasantly surprised, and it changed the whole game for me. But even with all the dynamic-world elements and strategy and stuff, a big chunk of the game is still Diablo-style monster bashing. So if the very thought of that makes you want to slit your wrists, please don't play the game. We need all the old-schoolers who remember how RPGs are supposed to be as it is.

But otherwise, I feel it is a pretty worthy title. If it ain't hatred keeping you away, you should give it a try.

 

[speeler]

I have the same problem with recent action RPGs (hence my rant). I do like the Diablo series and have liked some other Diablo clones, but come on enough is enough. I personally don't mind the focus on combat, but they need to do something different. I'm tired of straight up clones, which is all the industry seems to be making right now.

This is why we added the covenant gameplay and the dynamic world to Depths of Peril. Once you get into the game a bit and these things start taking hold, the game plays pretty differently than Diablo. Diablo (and the tons of clones) sure don't have dynamic quests, diplomacy with enemy factions, wars, raids, town attacks, quests that can be failed, etc.

Anyways, the industry really needs some games that break the mold and are successful, so that we can get some new games for a change.

As an aside, I know Depths of Peril isn't a full fledged, massive story RPG that a lot of gamers on this site would ideally like to have, but unlike most recent RPGs, at least Depths of Peril is trying to move the genre in the right direction.

 

[Mefi]

Thanks for the interview. Love it when people don't try to bullshit their way through. For that alone I'll have a peek at the demo.