Interview With deVoid Studios

Posted Apr 27, 2011 07:17 pm

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We did an interview with deVoid Studios about their upcoming game, Dusk.

deVoid Studios are just a bunch of dreamers really. By day some of them are tapping away at keyboards in cubicles, writing the most boring software imaginable to man. Others have less boring but similarly unrewarding day jobs. By night...well...aside from the one guy who is a crime fighting superhero and that other dude who pretends to be an omnipotent villain deVoid do our best to stay awake and get this game of theirs done.

All joking aside, there is an even dozen of them now working on the game. Most of the guys are scattered around the globe with a bunch of them based in Cyprus. 

GB : Since you have a multinational team, how and where did you find them?

dV : It took awhile for this team to come together. In fact this is our third attempt. When the original team fell apart, long story, some of us decided to take on a different project, thinking that our initial idea was too ambitious for a group of amateurs to undertake for the first try. That did not last long either. We tried to sort of work past our differences, set aside other commitments, but it just didn't happen.

One good thing did come out of all those attempts at building a team. One morning I woke up to find an email in my inbox from some guy named Jakov, who offered to help out with the project we were working on at the time. The rest, as they say, is history.

With his help we slowly put together a back-story for a game we both always dreamt of playing. Eventually we got enough ideas to start working on a tech demo. After a while we started looking for more guys to join our cause.

We found most of the guys we have on the team now over at DeviantArt. We also managed to drag a few friends along to keep us company. That’s really all there is to say on the matter. 

I keep saying guys, even though we have a real live girl on the team. I hope she won’t read this.

 
GB : Is it hard to work this way without direct communication or does internet provide you all the workspace you need to function well?

dV : It's not easy to coordinate our efforts like this, on the other hand there are some advantages to having a distributed team. First of all, everyone works in the comfort of their own home and around their busy schedules. 

Secondly, we mostly rely on our online project management tool for discussions of various pending tasks. Since everyone can contribute their opinions and suggestions to each open tasks thread, we get a very good flow of ideas and critiques. This way people directly involved in a particular task have very strong support and tons of motivation.

Of course we often disagree, argue, call each other names and generally misbehave but that's an integral part of any healthy relationship.

GB : What sorts of problems do you encounter with your project?

dV : To be honest I wouldn't say we have problems. We do have plenty of difficulties though. Luckily most of them are technical in nature and come from lack of experience in certain areas of the development cycle. We still have a lot to learn about game development as a team. Nonetheless, we are moving forward and so far we haven’t encountered any issues we couldn't find a solution to. Having such a diverse team is pretty great, especially when it comes to solving problems.

GB : Do you have any previous experience with the gaming industry?

dV : Some of us have had previous experience with other projects and mods, but for most this is a first. 

GB : I see you are starting from the basement. That means all the work done is more or less voluntary?

dV : Depends. Mostly all our work load is divided into a set of tasks that are assigned to each member of the team. Core members work for hugs and cookies, everyone else is paid per task. We try to be fair with paid tasks, in the sense that all team members get same terms for similar tasks. For instance if there is a new model or a concept task that needs doing each modeler or artist is given the same offer and they take it on if their schedule allows or if they are happy with the pay. 

In rare cases tasks that are not easily quantifiable or are too costly get allotted a profit share instead. Personally I try to avoid the whole 'when we are rich you get rich too' ploy since chances are we might not and no one really believes stuff like that anyway. I don't think that this lack of belief stems from the fact that people are pessimistic about our chances or whatnot. It's just that many have been taken advantage of in the past. 

It’s not the best arrangement and we would really like to have all of the guys on full-time pay, but unfortunately we can’t afford that yet.

GB : If all goes well with game do you see yourself doing this for good, or do you take this as just a trip into the unknown?

dV : This is what I and most of the guys on the team see themselves doing for all eternity...maybe even longer. 

Personally I think that game development is the best job out there. Even if our first attempt doesn't turn out as well as we hope, there is always the next time.

GB : Do you have any rough game release date?

dV : As with any other game there are a lot of factors that may affect the release date. We do hope to ship it this year though, but it's still early to say for sure.

GB : On what platforms are you planning to release?

dV : For our first release we will ship a PC, Mac and a web browser version using  Unity's web player plugin. At some point we did consider iPad and Android but the cost of new Unity license, hardware and additional development time were just too high. If the game is received well once it's released we will definitely consider the handheld again.

 

GB : On what languages ?

dV : At this time we are only planning to release the game in English. However the dialog engine and the UI system is designed with multilingual support in mind so eventually we will have the game translated.

GB : I find an interesting mixture of genres in Dusk, particularly the RPG one. What RPG elements are you planning to build up?

The game will feature several RPG elements, most notably choices and consequences. Your decisions will result in different outcomes in the game world and with your character. You'll also be able to talk to and influence the NPCs in different ways. Even though such things as a customizable aircraft with unlockable equipment and non-linear gameplay have been adopted in many other genres, they are also RPG elements worth noting as featured ones.

If all these choices and dialogue things scare you, the casual gamer, don't worry, we plan to include a mode where you just fly around in a linear manner and shoot every moving thing.

GB : Do you plan on giving player character customization or is it going to be based on warships?

dV : Essentially in Dusk there are two ‘playable’ characters. First is the protagonist whom players will control between combat missions. This character will not be customizable. We did consider giving players a choice between a few main characters and various hairdo

Epic Hair

options, but then we decided that it would be best to build our story around one well defined character instead...with that shexy 80’s Dolph Lungdren flat top cut.

 

The second playable character is the actual aircraft that players will control during combat missions. When it comes to the plane the only thing they won't be able to do is turn it into a lawnmower.

In fact one of the main design goals of this game is to give players a chance to customize every aspect of their fighter in any way they see fit. 

We didn't set out to reinvent the wheel here; for the most part we just looked at what we  liked from other games like Raptor, Fragile Allegiance and even Diablo. In the end we got a system that isn't extremely innovative but at the same time is unique to this type of games.

 

 

Raptor, the old school madness

It's not just about getting a bigger gun or tougher armor plating; the key is to select the right equipment and upgrades to get you through the next mission in one piece. There are many factors that will affect player's decisions when it comes to equipment choices.

 

For instance, there are a set of constraints such as power consumption, heat output, weight, number of available hardpoints and so on. Each piece of equipment will affect each constraint in some way.

An engine upgrade might produce more power but at the same time output much more heat, weigh quite a bit more and leave your fuel tanks dry in no time. You will have more power to use for other equipment but if your heat exchanger is already at its maximum capacity or the plane is overloaded that engine upgrade isn't really going to do you much good.

In addition the types of enemies you encounter may not bode well for your chosen setup.

For example during your last mission you encountered lots of enemy units armed with projectile weapons that easily penetrated your shields and caused tons of physical damage. So, for the next mission you decide to get the toughest armor plating there is. Plating is heavy so you get a bigger engine consequently pushing your piece of junk heat exchanger to the limit.

On the next run, one or two light enemy units armed with thermal piercing rounds take a few lucky shots while your shields are down, half your systems overheat, engine shuts down…game over.

We tried to add a lot of depth to our customization system for players that enjoy building characters and customizing their equipment, at the same time keeping it simple enough for those who just want to shoot stuff and look at pretty explosions. Not that there is anything wrong with that. 

GB : I see that you have a post-apocalyptic atmosphere in the game. Is it inspired by game trend or world events we are currently witnessing?

dV : I'll let Jakov, our chief game designer, take all the design and game setting questions. It's his fault our planet is in peril again.

dV Jakov : Actually the setting is not post apocalyptic I'd rather call it pre-apocalyptic or dystopian. There's still a structured society, governments and countries, but everything's in dissolution and slowly falling apart, to put it simply. Our motivation for this setting did not stem from either world events or game trends, especially the latter - we are not trendy; the inspiration, if you can call it that, came from our fascination with such movies and games of

Blade Runnerz :)

ancient like Blade Runner, Moon 44, Total Recall and that classic gem - Fallout. I won’t lie, Fallout has inspired us so much, that if we ever manage to do what we set out to and get called "a Fallout spiritual successor", the way Fallout was considered to Wasteland – we will feel very accomplished.

 

The atmosphere of the game will not only be drawn from the setting, there are many design factors included here. We aim to make the game influence the player by creating a unique environment with a smart combination of all things that make a game, ranging from graphics to sounds to story and gameplay. To put it in perspective, I feel a large portion of modern games seem very bland and faceless, a lot of them look alike today. The reason behind this, I…we feel is because games are being created by publishers, marketing researchers and bankers and not game designers. I imagine them sitting down in a conference room ready to 'design' a new game and saying stuff like "Ok, what's big now? Post-apocalyptic setting. Great! Orchestral music too, we gotta have that, that's really hot now! Ok…what’s next? There's gotta be spells, people are into fantasy! Hell, let's put some Orcs in there too! Dwarves, some of those next! How about flying monkeys? No? No market for flying monkeys, huh? Ok, so laser guns then. AND ALIENS! Definitely aliens! Research shows that on average every second person believes in UFblah blah…", so you get this faceless mess of a game filled with generic content that's currently hot but doesn't fit together well and looks like everything you've ever played.

We strive for coherence and quality, and have a clear vision of what we want to do with our game.

GB : Story takes place on Earth or you made your own setting ?

dV Jakov: Yes, the story is set on Earth, but we've changed the planet so much that you could even call it "our own setting". The story of the game will begin some 50 years or more from today. Don't worry about the fact that there still are human pilots 50 years from now. We don't take kindly to plot holes so we will find some convoluted, farfetched and totally plausible reason why every pilot is not an android or an iPilot or something.

GB : Is there going to be more races or just human?

dV Jakov: Just human.

GB : What factions are we going to have and tell me something about them.

dV Jakov: A couple of corporations, militant guerrillas, mercenaries (that’s the player’s faction), and of course a cult. They are the only factions that you will interact with, but not the only ones that you will come across. Every faction has their own reasons for contracting mercenaries for assistance in forwarding their agenda, which you will uncover as you progress through the game. Players will get to choose which jobs they wish to take and their choices will affect the game's outcome.

This is where the stuff gets interesting: though some factions may seem inherently "evil" or "good", it will not be as simple or clear-cut. If the players fight only for the interest of one faction that they consider good or perhaps evil, they may indirectly become their agents and could place that faction in a position of supreme power, which is rarely a good thing… or bad. Choices are what this game is actually about, and that's one of the major RPG elements we want to get spot on.

 

GB : How did you imagine classes?

dV Jakov: This is one of the RPG elements that we will not include in our game, mainly because we won't have a featured character system with stats as abilities and skills. We try to stay away from rigid class systems because we feel that they limit player's choices. When you look at Fallout, in my opinion the best RPG ever, you'll notice there are no classes, but rather an intricate and complex character system that allows the player maximum versatility in building his PC through combination of skills and system unique feats such as perks and traits. It's kinda funny to me that a game from the 90's still allows more freedom in player creation than most modern games ever came close to achieving and I've played my portion of modern RPGs. This is what we will strive for in our next project, which will be a full-blooded classic role-playing game set in the world of Dusk, or what's left of it.

GB : Is it going to have multiplayer option?

dV : There are some ideas on how we can fit multiplayer in but it's still early to say what we will do in the end. Definitely there will be a co-op option and perhaps a few challenge game types. 

Players will be able to play through some of the games combat locations together with their friends. Can't say more on that now though.

GB: You provided me with some art work, which I have to admit, looks nice. Tell me the story behind the character you made - Sabah.

dV: I think it's best that Isaac, our concept artist, answers this question. He created her, I'll let him deal with the consequences.

dV Isaac : Alex gave me a couple of NPCs to design, one had to be a male and the other a female. First one runs the Armory the other one would be in charge of Upgrades and Maintenance. I picked Sabah to be the Armory Technician with the sole argument that a girl with big weapons should please the audience, obviously. It may sound crude but everything needs a beginning. Sabah was a nice character to design and things went on extremely quickly and smoothly with her. 

She had to be a girl, a native to our game's starting location and gifted with a vast knowledge of weapons. Seeing how violence and arms were part of her daily life as she grew up, she had to go through hard times that broke her mind and body but not her will. Sabah, like most of the people growing up over there, is a survivor; she's quick, tough and quite capable of making sure no one dares to disrespect her. However, beyond the adamant face she presents, there's still a woman, very human, with her doubts and fears, with her girly love for jewels. I don't want to spoil it for you but I hope you'll get a chance to get to know the real Sabah while playing.

GB : Is this the only project you are focused on, or is there something else boiling in your head?

dV : There are ideas for many different projects but I doubt we will concentrate our efforts on any of them in the foreseeable future. The world of Dusk has so much to offer, I feel it would be a mistake to leave it in favor of another project any time soon. Once this chapter of our saga is done we will start working on the next one. After all, the next installment is what it's all about.

 

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