Here we are again on Interview Sunday, this time with Dushan Chaciej of the Frozen District team. We discuss what to expect from the new entry in the Warlocks series, as well as other games they had considered making instead, and how much has changed from the initial entry to this one.
This is the second game in the Warlocks series from Frozen District. Before working here, did you work on any other games? What made the team want to create a sequel?
After the release of Warlocks vs Shadows we started a lot of projects, some of them even got to a prototype stage. These included a 3D puzzle platformer, a Dark Soul-esque side-view brawler, and even a turn-based multiplayer tactics game. Some of them were quite promising, but in the end we found an investor that was willing to go with our plans for a Warlocks sequel.
What does being a lead designer and producer mean, for those that have never worked in the games industry?
Both those roles are used in different ways depending on the company, but in our case I design the gameplay, characters, enemies, levels, quests and stuff like that for our current project: Warlocks 2: God Slayers. As for the producer role, I am responsible for how the production goes, how the milestones and sprints are planned, and which features are moved to the “maybe after the release” list.
The art direction appears to be similar, but an upgrade from the original. Did you learn a lot from the previous entry that you’re now implementing into this? Was there anything you wanted to do in Warlocks vs Shadows that you couldn’t that is now being put in Warlocks 2?
Well, I think the biggest differences are how we create the levels and the variety of enemies. Firstly, in the sequel we have much bigger and interesting levels with a lot more vertical movement options. In the first Warlocks game the levels were mere arenas. Secondly, in the first Warlocks game we decided to go with the “shadow” theme among the enemies, because that took less time to animate properly. But now we have a dedicated animator so we can give each enemy the attention they deserve.
Being that this is a direct sequel from the previous game, does that expedite the development of this at all? How does it change the pipeline? How is this going to be different from the first?
To be honest I am still wondering if we should have the number “2” in the game’s title, since it’s so far from the original Warlocks game. We changed a lot of the basic gameplay rules; now you can aim your spells with a mouse/gamepad stick, whereas before you were just shooting in the direction your character was facing. That made it harder to create compelling gameplay with flying enemies or more vertically varied locations. We also wanted to flesh out each character more, giving him a whole skill tree instead of just 4 skills for the whole game’s duration. The other thing is that this time we have an actual story implemented via interactions with various characters, quests and locations.
What made you choose to use Unity for game development?
Unity is a very versatile engine that we’ve already learned pretty well during various projects. At the moment I don’t think we need anything that Unity doesn’t offer for our games, so it’s an easy choice.
The game is going to have humor – that’s something that a lot of games try to implement, but is often used for certain genres. This is not one you’d typically see humor in. What was the reason behind this approach?
We thought that this approach fit well with the quick paced action gameplay we were trying to achieve. Also, it seems to go well with the co-op aspect of the game. Playing the game with a bunch of friends in a more light-hearted environment might be quite refreshing in this genre.
There are multiple warlocks to use in this metroidvania – can you switch on the fly, or is it restricted to one per playthrough? Aside from different play styles for each warlock, does the game change depending on who you use? Dialogue or otherwise?
To be honest, after some thinking our game doesn’t really fit into the metroidvania genre and we changed the description on Steam to avoid misleading gamers. Anyways, back onto your question. Each Warlock comes with a different resource mechanic which impacts his playstyle, and he also has his own unique skill tree giving him different playstyle options along with various upgrades to the skills that further alter the way certain spells and attacks work. Story wise, the game looks the same for all the characters so you can seamlessly switch between playing solo or in co-op with your friends.
The game is expected for a Q1 2018 launch – how many hours a day does the team put into it each day to stay on schedule?
We try to fit the production into the basic 40-hours-of-work week per person schedule. I think that prolonged crunches don’t necessarily mean more output, as there is a limited amount of hours that you can effectively put into a task within a session.
What makes Warlocks 2: God Slayers unique from anything else on the market?
It has an easy to get into and hard to master combat style with various cautiously designed skills allowing for different playstyles. We wanted to try something different than the recently popular combat style where you mostly do combo attacks and rolls. Secondly, we have co-op up to 4 players in both local and online multiplayer. You can also choose from three familiars to aid you in battle, each of which evolve and have their own inventory with unique item slots. The game has a light-hearted story mode with lots of mainstream references.
How in-depth are the RPG elements pertaining to the ability/stat trees and equipment?
All the character statistics directly impact their combat capabilities; depending on the selected items you can change your casting or attacking speeds, lower your ability cooldowns, increase damage, make healing more effective, etc. You can also level up your abilities, unlock new spells, unlock upgrades for your abilities that change the way they work or level up the upgrades – so there are a lot of options available. However, you can only use four of your abilities at a time, so you’ll have to choose carefully.
What kind of experience are you hoping for people to get out of this? Is there anything you hope they take away from it?
We just want people to have as much fun playing our game as possible, no pretentious life lessons here. And in this case I think that the goal at the end of the game is to have the player think about what character or skill build to play next.
What are your top 3 games of all time, and your top 3 from the last 5 years?
Let’s start with the recent ones, my top 3 from the last 5 years are Tales from the Borderlands, Tomb Raider, and I assume like many others, The Witcher 3. And as for the top 3 of all time: League of Legends, Heroes of Might & Magic 3 and Torment: Planescape.
What would your advice be for someone that has never made a game before, but wants to start?
Just do it! No, but seriously, spend half an hour researching game engines and hop in. For starters you can use something like Construct 2 or GameMaker. The best way to learn is when you know what you need and can try to implement it right away.
If you could only choose one band/musician to listen to for the rest of your life, who would you choose?
If I were to seek advice on my last.fm profile I’d have to decide on Beatrice Eli it seems.
Do you have a favorite rodent?
I’m more of an otter guy, but as far as rodents go my favorite ones are definitely capybaras!
Anything else we haven’t touched on you’d like the readers to know?
We’re trying to regularly post updates from the development of our projects on our studio’s Facebook fanpage. And if you like the ideas behind Warlocks 2 consider adding it to your Steam wishlist. Thanks for the talk 🙂
We want to thank Dushan for taking the time out of his day to answer these questions and spread a bit more info about his game to you, the reader. For more about the game, you can visit the official site. And for those that want to see more of Warlocks 2: God Slayers, we’ll be streaming it on Twitch in the near future. Stay tuned!