- Joined
- Oct 21, 2002
- Messages
- 17,068
Tags: Serpent in the Staglands; Whalenought Studios
It was just before this weekend when Whalenought Studios' Serpent in the Staglands caught the attention of the Codex by showcasing its lovely-looking pixel art graphics and name-dropping genre classics Darklands and Baldur's Gate in their Kickstarter pitch. It was a great pitch too, but it left us pondering about a few things, so we got in touch with Whalenought for an interview.
The interview mainly covers the game in question and its mechanics and design. Here's a few Q/As to wet your appetite:
If you think this game sounds balls-off-the-court awesome after having read the interview, be informed that the Kickstarter is still ongoing!
Read the full article: RPG Codex Interview: Serpent in the Staglands (Now on Kickstarter)
It was just before this weekend when Whalenought Studios' Serpent in the Staglands caught the attention of the Codex by showcasing its lovely-looking pixel art graphics and name-dropping genre classics Darklands and Baldur's Gate in their Kickstarter pitch. It was a great pitch too, but it left us pondering about a few things, so we got in touch with Whalenought for an interview.
The interview mainly covers the game in question and its mechanics and design. Here's a few Q/As to wet your appetite:
Graphically, I would have a hard time trying to imagine a game looking more like a cross between Darklands and Baldur's Gate than Serpent in the Staglands. However, you cite these games as influences for the game's innards rather than how it looks. Let's start with Darklands. What have you drawn from this game?
Thank you! That was absolutely what we were going for (and budgeted for). We’re keeping the art gritty and ground in some amount of realism.
Similar to their classless skill system, our system involves building your character by selecting any combat, spell or aptitude skills you’d like. This allows for a vast amount of customization and personality — rewarding creativity with your own custom build types. The Darklands combat is frenetic and pretty ruthless and we’re trying to capture that as well. Nothing was more satisfyingly demoralizing than failing to best some bandits and getting told they stole all your equipment and money and left you for dead. Their story scenes were the original inspiration for our Aptitude creation and uses outside combat.
On the Kickstarter page, you mention a few locations such as Emerald Mines and the forest domain of the Wandering Lady. Will the player travel seamlessly between these areas or do you use a world map system like the one found in the Infinity Engine games? Is the progression linear or can the player choose which areas to visit and in what order?
We designed a system that’s completely open for the player to explore at will. Enemies and conflicts don’t level with you, so there isn’t necessarily an order, but general areas are safer out of the gate than others.
Similar to other crpgs, maps are individual scenes that you can exit near the edges that will bring you to an overworld map with markers that you manually traverse. You can have random events and ambushes take place while traveling, along with uncovering secret locations.
Where do you see Whalenought heading with Serpent in the Staglands? It's a certainly a departure from your earlier, perhaps more accessible, mobile games. Are you looking to become the next Spiderweb Software or Basilisk Games, focusing on throwback CRPGs?
Our plan is to continue to explore the world of Vol (where the Staglands lies) in future games. We have a lot planned for other continents to explore and are excited to continue unraveling the lore in other campaigns.
Thank you! That was absolutely what we were going for (and budgeted for). We’re keeping the art gritty and ground in some amount of realism.
Similar to their classless skill system, our system involves building your character by selecting any combat, spell or aptitude skills you’d like. This allows for a vast amount of customization and personality — rewarding creativity with your own custom build types. The Darklands combat is frenetic and pretty ruthless and we’re trying to capture that as well. Nothing was more satisfyingly demoralizing than failing to best some bandits and getting told they stole all your equipment and money and left you for dead. Their story scenes were the original inspiration for our Aptitude creation and uses outside combat.
On the Kickstarter page, you mention a few locations such as Emerald Mines and the forest domain of the Wandering Lady. Will the player travel seamlessly between these areas or do you use a world map system like the one found in the Infinity Engine games? Is the progression linear or can the player choose which areas to visit and in what order?
We designed a system that’s completely open for the player to explore at will. Enemies and conflicts don’t level with you, so there isn’t necessarily an order, but general areas are safer out of the gate than others.
Similar to other crpgs, maps are individual scenes that you can exit near the edges that will bring you to an overworld map with markers that you manually traverse. You can have random events and ambushes take place while traveling, along with uncovering secret locations.
Where do you see Whalenought heading with Serpent in the Staglands? It's a certainly a departure from your earlier, perhaps more accessible, mobile games. Are you looking to become the next Spiderweb Software or Basilisk Games, focusing on throwback CRPGs?
Our plan is to continue to explore the world of Vol (where the Staglands lies) in future games. We have a lot planned for other continents to explore and are excited to continue unraveling the lore in other campaigns.
If you think this game sounds balls-off-the-court awesome after having read the interview, be informed that the Kickstarter is still ongoing!
Read the full article: RPG Codex Interview: Serpent in the Staglands (Now on Kickstarter)
Stuff like this was very much evolving at the time and I can see how people not used to the more crap control schemes of yesteryear would have a problem with it. Like the artstyle. Sounds like this one has potential to become a pretty cool and memorable rpg. I'm intrigued. Looking forward to see more of this and especially what they'll do with the overland map. Darklands is one of the few rpg's that managed to get that portion of the game right. Wonder if they're inspired by that part as well. Anyway, pledged.
