RPGfrance published the third and last part of their interview with Swen :
http://www.rpgfrance.com/dossier-10274-1-interview-avec-swen-vincke-partie-3
At some point during the interview, they talk about Age of decadence and Swen's opinion on accessibility. And since I found that part interesting, I though you might want to have a look at it. Please bare in mind this is an imperfect translation of Swen's imperfect french. I didn't want to put words in Swen's mouth so I translated quite literally, only smoothing things out when I though it really needed to. So, there you go :
- A game that allowed it lately [Talking about a pacific playthrough], is Age of Decadence.
Ah yes, but there you have an example of an inaccessible game. Well, that's a game with a good heart, with lots of imagination, a lot of stuff in it, but the problem is that it’s not accessible, and you have to spend more than a few dollars to add accessibility to your game. It would be great if Age of Decadence was very accessible. Not in the sense that it should be easier, i’m talking about its graphics and interface. I tried Age of Decadence, with someone from its target audience, and still, graphics are a problem for many people. That's why I made my argument about the financial side. There's a core audience that, if you got a good RPG, you'll have them. But eventually, it’ won't be enough to sustain the number of people you need to build the worlds everyone wants. So the graphics become important, UI becomes important, even with the best will in the world, it's still a great piece of budget you have to put in it. I'm sure that if you add better graphics and UI in Age of Decadence, it's a hit. I'm sure of it.
- I took it as an example because it can be completed from start to finish without a fight, and I don’t find the game unbalanced.
Yeah, I know, and how many years did it take him ? And now imagine you have a team that should do that. It can’t be. That's the problem, you have to face that truth, you can do so if it’s a hobby, that's possible, but if you do it as a team, you have to be able to move forward. And if I'm not mistaken, it all takes place in a city right ?
- Early in the beta, yes, but I think there are five cities in it.
He put in five cities ? Wow. I did not play long, I played it a bit to see what it was, but I recognized what he was doing. It's ambitious. But it's a pity the game’s inaccessible, because it would allow him to have a lot more resources to put into the next game. And that's a shame.
- If I'm not mistaken, they are a team of several people now, and want to make a living out of it.
In this case, it will change their philosophy. I hope for them it'll work, because there’s a lot of good heart in the game. Sure, you see. This is the kind of game to be cherished, and hope they will grow up, but it'll be ... It's important for them to accept that accessibility is important. You can catter to the most hardcore sure, but RPGCodex, it's small huh. Worldwide, you can’t content yourself with this audience. You have to get a bigger audience, otherwise you just can’t ... Because ultimately, to do this job, it starts with having the means to be able to dedicate yourself to it full-time. And it's not just to finance your game now it’s also to finance your next project.
- Is this the risk of being completely focused on A game, what you’re doing now ?
Yes, that's right, you should be able to throw yourself completely in that. Is it going to work enough to support the investment we made, and to support our next game, that's my question. I know, it works now, it has already sold more than most of my games in preorder. So, sure it works. But how well is it going to work ? Because that for us is important. Will it work better than we hope ? Super cool. We will make great strides in RPG everywhere, the money coming in, it will be reinvested. But if it only does OK, we will be limited in what we can do next.
- Is a console version possible ?
It’s never been a secret that I think it would be a good idea to make console port if we have the option. But the UI would have to be different. The interface must be adapted to consoles. And saying that, I see no reason why you could not play it on console. It would be pretty easy. The game being turn-based, you can adapt, have fun. And you can play online, super cool.
I noticed he used "he" to talk about Iron Tower, I guess he though
Vault Dweller is doing the game on is own.