The man behind many games you may have played or seen on the web is now on a mission to create something that is near and dear to him. See what “light permadeath” is and how he plans to implement it, get a look into the production method of an experienced game developer, and see where you can potentially meet him in the near future!
Based on the name of your company, you are creating Nine Witches by yourself. Have you worked on any games previously? If so, were they also by yourself, or did you have a team? If you worked on a team, having now worked by yourself, which do you prefer?
Yes! I’m the One Man Game! But I must confess that I’m getting some help from a background artist and a musician who is working on the original score. I tried to create a few backgrounds at the very beginning, but they were crap! So, I decided to get some help from an artist instead. Except for the music and the backgrounds, I’m doing all the rest by myself including the website, the social media, and the promotional videos. All the characters are my own creation. I draw them and animate them too. I’ve created more than 140 games in my whole career. Most of them were web-based games for top companies such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, FOX and TNT.
After this short intro, I will now answer your question: I worked for a game development studio called MP for 20 years. I was always in charge of the creative portion and the game design, so I spent most of my professional life working with people in teams, but at this particular time of my life I’m looking for a new horizon.
What inspired you to create this game, both artistically and story wise?
This project was born with the desire to create an independent and authentic video game that will achieve success purely from its essence. Being 46 years old now, I have decided to work for the value that and experience of those that appreciate games opposed to a high economic result. I love crazy stories and ridiculous humor, and I particularly like WWII and paranormal themes. I used to play Dark Matter a lot, an RPG game from TSR, if that gives you any indication.
I see that you’re using MonoGame for the development of Nine Witches. Is that all that you’re using, or is it in conjunction with other software? What made you choose MonoGame over something like GameMaker?
I’m an experienced C# programmer and I used XNA in the past. I’m using Visual Studio 2017 Community Edition and the MonoGame framework. MonoGame is a great port of the XNA Framework which was abandoned by Microsoft several years ago. But it is more than that, as it is cross-platform and allows you to target Linux, Mac, PS4 and Nintendo Switch among others.
The game features real-time combat, and items such as guns have limited ammo. Will ammo be easily accessible, or are guns going to be items you should be saving for more difficult fights, such as in survival horror games?
Firearms will be scarce, so as you said, you should save them for difficult fights. Players will mostly find them in secret bunkers or as loot drops when killing Nazis. Melee weapons will be of great help when you run out of ammo. There are also other kinds of items such as consumables and utilities that help you in solving puzzles and unlocking new areas too.
What does “light permadeath” mean for the player? When I think of permadeath, I think of starting all over. So how would you describe it in a light manner?
I like permadeath because it injects a dose of adrenaline to the player. However, to be tolerable and effective in most cases, permadeath requires the game to support some kind of procedurally generated levels or scenarios. Nine Witches doesn’t have this because it has a story that evolves towards an end. But the player might be able to experiment with some random places; I’m working on it. 🙂
Light permadeath is a feature that I’m still experimenting with and it is tightly related to the chances and moments where players are allowed to save the game. As you said, in pure permadeath games when you die you have to start all over again. My goal with permadeath is to create a similar experience, but in a world that lacks procedural generated levels; the main idea behind this experimentation is to face different events/NPCs each time you die. The world will always be the same (except for some specific areas), but the events will vary.
If you had to compare Nine Witches to other games, what would you say it’s like?
Nine Witches is a 2D action-adventure game. It has a touch of the old-school classical adventure games as you need to solve several puzzles, but it also has lot of fighting moments, and loads of crude and ridiculous humor. The game Legend of Dungeon gave me a good and simple starting point on how to equip the characters. The game has touches of RPG, but I’m there won’t be a huge emphasis on stats.
How far along would you say you are in development? Do you have a set schedule for game development each day, or do you just work on it when you can?
I’m in the middle of the development timeline and I’m working full time on the game, an average of 12 hours a day. I take my boys to school at 7:30AM, then I start my working day in a Coffee Shop writing ideas on paper (I like to work on paper) and outlining the daily tasks and goals and any great ideas that come up too!
What kind of experience are you hoping for people to get out of this? Is there anything you hope they take away from it?
For me, game development is art, and as an artist I must be able to express myself without thinking whether or not people are going to like what I’m doing. Being true to myself will get the best out of me, and people will appreciate it in the end.
What are your top 3 games of all time, and your top 3 from the last 5 years?
Oh, I have a lot of top games, especially from the Commodore ’64 era to choose from. I will choose three old games: Maniac Mansion, Zak Mckracken, and Questron. For the top 3 from the last 5 years, let’s say: The Batman Arkham Saga, Shadow of Mordor, and Gauntlet.
If a ten year old came up to you asking for your advice on how to make a game, what would you tell them?
My older son has a 10 year old! My advice would be to start working on a simple idea and a simple mechanic. This is a good starting point for everyone!
If you could only choose one band/musician to listen to for the rest of your life, who would you choose?
Mmm, this is a difficult one! I’m not a big fan of music. I mostly like instrumental music, but I will please you: Queen.
Do you have a favorite rodent?
Ha Ha! That’s what Schmidt, the faithful servant of the witches would say. My children have a Hedgehog, so… My favorite rodent is… a… (fanfares) Hedgehog.
Anything else we haven’t touched on you’d like the readers to know?
Just to tell them that I’m working hard on the game. I’m enjoying every minute of it and expecting that all this will be reflected in the final product. By the way, I’ll be at the upcoming GDC’18 in San Francisco. Finally, I want to thank you, Jason, for the interview. It was a pleasure for me.
A big thank you to you as well Diego, as you gave some fantastic answers. To get all of the updates regarding the game, you can check out the official site for Nine Witches, which contains all of the social media links. If you want to see Diego at the 2018 GDC, make sure to grab your pass here.