Megan Everett: After the conclusion of The New War, we basically went to kick off a new narrative arc, and, sometimes, in order to go forward, you need to go back to the beginning. We wanted to explore an alternate version of the Warframes’ origins, how that ties into our current “main forces” of this narrative arc (Albrecht Entrati and The Man In The Wall), and do it in a nostalgic setting that our players could feel an unfamiliar familiarity to. A lot of which we owe to Dark Sector, which serves as one of our primary inspirations for 1999. Especially since Warframe wouldn’t be here without it! Our dev team is full of people with beloved memories around the ‘90s and it’s a decade with such iconic imagery, it just gave us a ton to play with.

Megan Everett: We don’t want to totally lose sight of Warframe’s core setting and identity, right? It’s a melodramatic space opera epic, and we can’t go on a time romp through every era of Earth’s pop culture. It’s fun to take a break from the main setting and try something new and weird that fits the game style, but we will always return to Warframe’s core.

Megan Everett: Community feedback is always influencing the game. It’s our belief that that’s why Warframe has lasted as long as it has. We just made a number of changes to the new player experience in our Koumei & The Five Fates update, so we will always be listening for feedback around every moment in Warframe, not just the latest content. We’re already getting great feedback from the 1999 demo we put out last month, such as some movement changes to how the Atomicycle feels. Regarding specifics in the full 1999 launch, though, you’ll just have to play to see exactly what and how the community responds. No spoilers from me!

Megan Everett: The romance feature was specifically designed around 1999. It functions through an old-school instant messenger system called KOL on a computer to emulate the experience some of us grew up with in the ‘90s and early 2000s. I’m not sure it would hit the same way in a far-future setting. The seasons system for Höllvania is a new experiment for us, and if players like it, we’ll keep that in mind for future ideas!

Megan Everett: You can always count on us trying new, weird things in Warframe! We’ll see where the journey takes us.

Megan Everett: Every player is different. Some like to stop and smell the roses; others are interested in getting through content and unlocking the next best thing. The Warframe: 1999 Quest won’t be as long as The New War, but it is still a sizable chunk of story, gameplay with several easter eggs, and other shiny things to play with and find that go well beyond the single-player campaign.

Megan Everett: When we had our TennoCon Relay social hub, which was set in the Höllvania Mall, players quickly found our Half-Life Gordan Freeman easter egg. But saying if there are more ruins the surprise of discovery… so I’ll just say keep an eye out while you have a good time, and you won’t be disappointed at some of the ‘90s references we’ve baked in.

Megan Everett: We have no expectations! We have hopes, we have dreams, but we would never expect things to go a specific way. Our community keeps us humble and lets us know when we missed the mark and we always take it to heart.

Fun Dog Studios: Formed in 2022, Fun Dog Studios has grown to 30 full-time game developers and is fully remote. From a design perspective, we believe gaming needs to be harder to be fun, worth your time and your money. No one tells stories about beating the boss on their first try!

Fun Dog Studios: Any other game would position the player as the chosen one, the only one who can stop the war. The Forever Winter is not that game. In our world, you’re not the hero – you’re a survivor, and you have to act like it. This shift in positioning also helps reinforce the concept at the heart of the game: going in guns blazing isn’t always the best option. The odds are stacked against the player – it’s adapt or die.

Fun Dog Studios: The Forever Winter’s dynamic environments and AI make it so no two runs are the exact same. And while you’re constantly building your skills and learning the game’s rhythm, you’re never too good to die. And if your squad dies, you lose everything – resources are gone, and you start the run anew. Best way to avoid this? Build up a stash back at the base to stockpile resources for later sessions. Or just try to not die.

Fun Dog Studios: Limited resources are just that: limited. When you die, you lose everything – say goodbye to the gear, the ammunition and the supplies you’d gained. More important than any bullet, though, is the water. Without it, you and all other scavengers die – and there’s a ticking clock that tells you exactly how much you have left. Find and retrieve water before your supplies dwindle, or it’s game over.

Fun Dog Studios: We’re a team of artists, so we are never short on fresh ideas. The beauty of The Forever Winter’s world is that the narrative benefits the setting itself. Every day, the war takes the land apart, and every night, a rapidly decaying AI puts it back together again. This concept allowed us to constantly push the boundaries of what the world could look like – nothing is set in stone.

Philippe Morin: I’m Philippe Morin, co-founder and designer at Red Barrels. The latest update is a big one. We’re basically starting a season structure with lots of new stuff and improvements. Among other things, it has a new Prime Asset, new environment, new mode (Escalation), etc.

Philippe Morin: The reaction has been very positive. We’ve seen a big bump in terms of engagement and concurrent players. We get a lot of love from fans, and we feel privileged. We always listen to players’ feedback, and we will keep on improving and refining with each update. 

Philippe Morin: It’s been really satisfying to see the game evolve. I’ve been making games for almost 26 years, and it’s the first time I play a game I’ve worked on just for the fun of it. Considering we started working on Outlast Trials 7 years ago, I never expected this to happen.

Our team is amazing and they’ve been able to create so much content and new features in the last year, the future is looking bright. People tend to forget, but we’re a small team. 

We were 10 on Outlast, 20 on Outlast 2, 45 when the early access of Trials shipped, and we’re currently 65. We’ve grown, but we’re still significantly small for the kind of game we’re making.

Philippe Morin: Ask me in a few months…

Philippe Morin: Total commitment and very little compromise. You gotta love scaring the shit out of people. 

Philippe Morin: The landscape has changed a lot since we released the first Outlast. There’s a lot more horror games on the market. Players have a lot more choices these days, which is a good thing, but it’s a lot harder for game developers to make their games stand out.

I honestly don’t pay too much attention to trends. We focus on the games we want to make and hope enough players enjoy it. I think if you pay too much attention to what others are doing, you risk losing your focus and derailing the whole project. 

I’ve seen it several times in big studios. Some dude gets a promotion and wants to justify his job, so he comes up with an analysis showing Project X is heading in the wrong direction and the team must do a 180, bla bla bla… 

We started Red Barrels to avoid those frustrating situations.

Philippe Morin: Yes, it’s been a big adaptation. A lot of us must change our mindset. We’re used to shipping a game, taking a break, and then slowly starting the conception phase of a new game. But with Trials, it feels more like a marathon… a very long one. So, we must find a balance between what needs to be done and keeping the creative juices flowing.

Philippe Morin: No. It was never part of the conversation. Our focus was to make the best cooperative horror experience we could.

Philippe Morin: Never say never, but currently, it’s not an option on the table.

Philippe Morin: We’re growing the studio so we can eventually have a second team. I can’t give dates or make any official promises. As a small team, we can’t do it all, and we must pick our battles.

Philippe Morin: It definitely becomes an important parameter of the equation, but it doesn’t pinpoint the source of problems, even less the solutions.

Philippe Morin: Now we have the foundations of the game. We can focus on creating cool content and bring back a lot of ideas we’ve had along the way but couldn’t do yet. We always saw Outlast Trials like a universe in motion, and I can’t wait for people to see what we have in store for them.

Philippe Morin: It’s been a long and bumpy ride, but I’m proud of the team and the game.

Thomas Dunn: I’ve honestly never played Gang Beasts, but I am aware of the gameplay. There wasn’t any real inspiration for the Wobbly character; it just looked and fit the part. I wanted to make a character that players could pretend was them.

Thomas Dunn: It was just a game I wanted to play. I used to play Simpsons Hit and Run, and I also liked the physics from Human Fall Flat, so Wobbly Life is quite a mixture of the two.

Thomas Dunn: Well, honestly, it’s just got bigger; we spend a lot more time on updates now than we ever have to make sure these updates are good quality for our customers, and because there is so much content already in the game, which takes longer to test.

Thomas Dunn: We have a Discord where players can submit their suggestions.

Thomas Dunn: Afraid not; this is just an estimate which has increased each year due to us wanting to add more content to the game.

Thomas Dunn: If we were offered, we might consider it.

Thomas Dunn: Not anytime soon, many years left.

Thomas Dunn: Listen to our player base. Try and ensure we are bringing a bug-free game.

Thomas Dunn: Crossplay is difficult due to how the game is networked. I cannot rule it out, but it is unlikely.

Thomas Dunn: Yes, we do plan to port Wobbly Life to more platforms. We did this roughly a year ago with PlayStation.

Pablo Coma: I’m Pablo Coma, the founder of Rablo Games. I was the solo developer of Healer’s Quest, which was released in 2018. I then started the development of Necro Story while also working as the Game Director on Outcast – A New Beginning (Appeal Studios – THQ Nordic) until the game’s release earlier this year.

Necro Story is a light-hearted creature collection RPG about a (kind of) evil necromancer who is tasked with saving the world. Guided by the playful ghost of a white mage, you’ll have to sneak into the Underworld to save humanity.

Gameplay-wise, you will summon undead creatures, cast necromancy spells and capture the souls of your enemies to turn them into allies. There are more than 20 different spells that you will learn, each related to a particular school of Dark Magic: Affliction, Darkness, Life Stealing, Summoning and Dark Pacts.

As with Healer’s Quest, we put a lot of emphasis on the depth of customisation. Each spell has its own skill tree, which you can develop in many different ways. You can also choose which allies you will bring with you onto the battlefield, modify their equipment and manage how they use the various skills available to them.

Pablo Coma: Indeed, capturing enemies and managing your new allies is an important part of the game. You can have up to 6 different characters in your team, and 3 additional slots are available for summoning only (skeletons and zombies). So that gives us a grand total of up to 9 characters in your team during combat.

A key difference with many other monster-collecting games is that here, your whole team is on the battlefield together, not one after the other.

Pablo Coma: In the world of Necro Story, nature has gone mad. The planet has taken some defensive measures to protect itself, so in the first part of the game, most of the enemies you encounter are natural elements that have been given life or aggressive behaviour.

These range from mushrooms, leaves, rocks and peers to more Pokémon-like creatures such as Zaardz, Deerz or Oowlz. Most enemy names have a single syllable, a double vowel and a final z to make them sound funnier.

Pablo Coma: The Dark Pacts are not exactly summonings – as the player already summons undead creatures – but transformations, a bit like in the Breath of Fire series. The Necromancer will take the form of the demon with whom he signed the Dark Pact.

There are 4 different demons to find in the game, each giving access to a different demonic form and set of attacks. Note that all of these spells are secret, so the player will have to find these locations and go through some trials in order to sign the pact with the demon.

Also, like all spells in the game, all the Dark Pact spells have their own skill tree, allowing the player to unlock new attacks for the demon, improve its passive ability, etc.

Pablo Coma: During combat, we have a different cooldown system for the player and for the other characters. The non-playable characters are all controlled by the AI. They perform an action, and then, based on their speed stats, they will be unable to act for a short period of time.

However, the playable character has access to various spells, and each spell has a certain cooldown before it can be cast again. So you can cast all your spells one after the other. There are no limitations other than each spell’s own cooldown and your mana pool.

The only exception is the melee attack. When performed by the necromancer, it will put all your spells on hard cooldown for a set amount of time, just as if they were a non-playable character.

This cooldown system is very similar to the one I used in Healer’s Quest, my previous game. Since it worked well, I decided to keep the mechanic for Necro Story.

Pablo Coma: At the beginning of the story, Jaimus, the necromancer, is in a state of lethargy, his soul separated from his body. In one of the first scenes of the game, Vivi, the ghost, puts Jaimus’ soul back in his body, bringing him back to consciousness.

We then learn that it was Vivi herself who put the necromancer in this state five years ago. But she had no other choice, as Jaimus is the very last human alive. Together, they will have to discover what has happened to humanity and try to put things right.

Pablo Coma: Both games use the same kind of humour, but there are some key differences between them. For example, the constant breaking of the fourth wall was a big part of Healer’s Quest’s narrative, but it’s completely absent from Necro Story.

I felt like I had covered everything I wanted to talk about on that topic for the time being, and I was looking for something different. For this project, I wanted to have a strong contrast between the dark setting and the very light-hearted dialogue, including burlesque humour in the interaction between the playful and super-optimistic ghost and the grim and moody necromancer.

Pablo Coma: The feedback on the demo has been quite good! Players seem to be enjoying the game, which is amazing and means a lot to us. We also received interesting feedback on some of the mechanics, like the one where you had to drag and drop the souls and mana fragments to the necromancer to absorb them.

Some players told us they found it somewhat tedious to do so in the long run, so we’ve simplified that interaction for the final game, and we think it’s more fun that way.

Pablo Coma: Necro Story has a lot of secrets, so this can vary quite a bit depending on your playstyle. But I’d say a standard playthrough would take around 12 hours. Having said that, we also have some replay value, different endings, 5 different difficulty levels, a hardcore mode and even an ultra-hardcore mode!

All in all, players who like the game and want to invest the time to try out the hardest difficulty levels should be in for a really long time.

Pablo Coma: We’ve been working on this game for over 6 years. Development started as soon as Healer’s Quest was released back in April 2018. However, most of that time was spent working after hours.

Since then, the team has grown a bit, and we’re now three people working full-time for Rablo Games. So, if Necro Story meets some kind of success, we hope to be able to deliver the next game before 2030! 🙂

Pablo Coma: On Healer’s Quest, I worked 100% alone, and I’m not a technical person. I used the game engine Construct 2, which allows for simplified programming in order to still be able to deliver a game on PC. The Nintendo Switch version was made with the help of a porting studio.

For Necro Story, I’m working with my friend Baptiste, who is an experienced programmer. We worked together on various games at Appeal Studio, and he has experience working on console games.

So, we decided to make Necro Story accessible to as many people as possible. From a development point of view, we had to take into account very early on that the game could be played with a keyboard and mouse or with a controller.

Pablo Coma: I would like to thank everyone for reading and thank Tech4Gamers for this opportunity to talk about Necro Story. We’re working hard to make this game something that players will really enjoy when it launches in September 2024, so I hope you’ll have a ton of fun with Necro Story if you have a chance to try it!

Yiming Sun: Thank you for your kind words. The overwhelming anticipation from players worldwide has exceeded our expectations. In less than a month, total beta signups on our official website and Steam wishlists have both surpassed 1 million.

Additionally, our Discord community has grown to over 400,000 members. We are thrilled by this response, but it also brings a certain level of pressure. As this is a closed beta, I regretfully cannot provide specific player numbers at this time.

However, as you may have seen from our recent news, we have extended the beta period due to player enthusiasm. This extension allows us to continue optimizing and improving the game through player feedback.

Yiming Sun: I’m glad to hear that. We do hope that Arena Breakout: Infinite will provide players with a gameplay experience that stays true to the expectations of PC shooters, encompassing both graphics and gameplay.

We understand mobile and PC games offer distinct experiences and require separate design considerations. ABI was designed and optimized for PC from the very beginning, incorporating elements tailored to suit the preferences of PC FPS players. It wasn’t simply a matter of porting AB on mobile to a different platform, as some might assume

Yiming Sun: We started development on Arena Breakout: Infinite before the global release of AB on mobile – it’s been three years now.

Yiming Sun: While we were not directly influenced by the event you mentioned, we will be focusing on the following aspects of Arena Breakout: Infinite:

1. Maintaining positive and effective two-way communication with players worldwide.
2. Creating a diverse range of maps, weapons, game modes, and additional content to ensure a healthy and engaging cycle of game content.
3. Providing players with long-term, sustainable services.

When it comes to the extraction shooter genre, there is a limited number of high-quality games in the market that consistently provide excellent service and memorable experiences for players.

I firmly believe that the extraction shooter genre is spacious enough to accommodate both existing products and new challengers. Healthy competition will continue to drive the development of the genre, meeting the needs of a broader player base.

Yiming Sun: Arena Breakout: Infinite is the first free-to-play GaaS (Games as a Service) extraction shooter on the market, and we are committed to providing players with sustainable content and services. This is one of our strong competitive advantages.

Unlike many other extraction shooters, where players need to play daily to obtain loot and avoid falling behind, Arena Breakout takes a different approach. Players can join at any time during the season and have a unique experience.

Our focus is on providing a repeatable and sustainable single-match-based experience rather than emphasizing RPG-style accumulation. The gameplay of ABI is straightforward: equip, fight, and extract. Every aspect of the game is designed with this core gameplay loop in mind.

We hope to lower the barrier of entry to extraction shooters, allowing more people to enjoy the genre. Our current motto is “easy come, easy play, easy go, easy return.”

Yiming Sun: As a matter of fact, including Arena Breakout on mobile, we have accumulated several years of R&D and operational experience in the extraction shooter genre. Therefore, we are not exactly a newcomer to the scene. At MoreFun Studios, we often describe ourselves as “genre development drivers.”

As mentioned earlier regarding Arena Breakout: Infinite’s competitive edge and uniqueness, our exploration and validation efforts on both PC and mobile platforms over the past few years have allowed us to establish our own path within the extraction shooter genre.

We have provided players with a distinct gameplay experience that sets us apart from other extraction shooters. Combined with the invaluable feedback received from players and creators worldwide during our first closed beta test, I am confident about the future of Arena Breakout: Infinite.

Yiming Sun: Cheating has always been an issue we take very seriously. Arena Breakout: Infinite uses advanced algorithms and real-time monitoring systems to detect and fight against cheating behavior, ensuring a fair gaming environment. Based on current anti-cheat measures and data, ABI’s anti-cheat system is now operating more effectively and smoothly compared to the initial test phase.

Unfortunately, no technology can guarantee a 100% anti-cheat rate. There’s also the risk of false banning. We will continuously refine and optimize our anti-cheat algorithms and methods based on extensive testing and feedback from the community.

With this in mind, we will be introducing a “Kill Cam” feature in an upcoming version, which will enable players to better assess whether or not they were defeated by cheaters.

Yiming Sun: Thanks for the feedback. We believe this is due to the limited number of players involved during the current beta phase. We’ll keep an eye on this situation and make adjustments and optimizations as necessary.

Yiming Sun: We are currently focusing on the development and optimization of Arena Breakout: Infinite. Similar to Arena Breakout on mobile, we will continuously enrich the game by introducing new maps, weapons, gameplay modes, and more in the upcoming version and post-launch. Please stay tuned for upcoming official announcements.

Yiming Sun: Thanks for bringing up this question. I know this is something that many players are concerned about. First of all, I want to emphasize and assure you that the paid content options in ABI have no impact on gameplay or fairness.

Instead, they offer convenience and personalization features. Players have the option to pay for certain conveniences, such as safes, extra warehouse space, battle passes, as well as personalized appearances and melee weapons. However, it’s important to note that players who pay gain no direct advantage in combat.

In Arena Breakout: Infinite, paying does not guarantee victory. Even if you are fully equipped, there is still a high chance of defeat – you could still lose everything. Victory or defeat is determined by factors such as shooting skill, tactical ability, and a deep understanding of the game, all of which cannot be bought.

Yiming Sun: I think we’ve covered most of the questions players care about. Thanks for the interview!

Zahid Ali: ENENRA is set in a neo-cyberpunk world between dense hive cities with their own economies and hierarchies. The ENENRA universe revolves around the essence of Daemon cores.

Every person is born with a Daemon core. Daemon cores are crystalline organs which grant supernatural abilities. Some wielders can move as quickly as lightning, whereas some have underdeveloped cores and can barely activate them.

At one point in time, The Great Harvest began, in which multiple pharmaceutical companies began to harvest people for their cores specifically targeting powerful cores. A core is usually latched onto the heart organ itself; removing the core has a 95% mortality rate.

Many fought against them, but with the combined efforts of corrupt militaries and PMCs, they were overpowered. This began the first Daemon war. (Set prior to the events of ENENRA: DΔEMON CORE).

ENENRA: DΔEMON CORE is a third-person, hack & slash game with an emphasis on abilities. One specific group, Ronin Industries, gathers high-end Daemon core wielders and has created a huge mercenary organization far superior to any military. You play as Enenra, a Daemon core hunter and member of Ronin Industries.

Zahid Ali: The biggest inspiration for ENENRA is Ninja Gaiden. The flow of combat, as well as the relentlessness of enemy behavior, was a massive inspiration for the combat. Devil May Cry is also a large inspiration as directional and pause combat is a great addition to a combat system.

Zahid Ali: The idea behind using a combo metre was to give everything a purpose. I found adding a combo count with a style rank served no real purpose apart from letting the player know they have performed certain actions.

However, giving the combo count a purpose in which there is a high risk and high reward would incentivise the player to perform defensive actions as well as offensive actions.

When taking any damage, any stored combo points are lost, so the idea of a dance-like encounter in which the player must evade, block and attack to gain access to weapon abilities works fairly well in this instance.

Initially, the idea was taking the combo metre and using that as the health you gain back, but after testing, it was almost impossible to get killed, as the sole purpose of the game is to attack enemies, so the player would be constantly healing.

Zahid Ali: Hand-to-hand was added as a fan request, as many fans wanted a hand-to-hand style. The idea behind the hand-to-hand stance is there is no blocking or parrying, but bobbing and weaving become available, allowing the player to dodge, bob, weave, and counter seamlessly.

The stance also allows the player to punch projectiles back at enemies, such as bullets or rockets. Also, you can perform unique finishers such as suplexes and DDTs.

Zahid Ali: After the initial playtest on Steam Fest, I found some players struggling with the lock-on system. Holding the lock-on input (similar to DMC) was not easy for many people; this made me shift focus and improve locked-off combat. So, both locking on and locking off combat have pros and cons.

The freeflow was inspired by the BATMAN ARKHAM series. However, the freeflow works with aerial combat, meaning the player can zip between aerial enemies (There are flying enemies to deal with).

It’s as simple as the player should expect: push in the direction of an enemy, zip over to them and perform the attack with one input. Simplicity was important here so as not to overcomplicate this system. It should feel natural and embedded within the player’s moveset.

When locking on, the player gains access to attacks such as launch (Riser) and slams (Stomps), as well as chase attacks, which let you close gaps almost instantly. Locking on also allows for the tracking of enemies, which uses Blink cores (Teleportation), giving the player a general idea of where the enemy is located.

Health information is provided in both instances, but when locked on, there is more detail in the UI.

Zahid Ali: As I continue to develop, I find myself learning more and taking the teachings forward in ways to make different mechanics. The idea is giving everything a purpose and only adding new mechanics into the game if they have a purpose. I experimented a lot and made 100s of mechanics for ENENRA only to remove 90%, as most of the mechanics served no purpose.

I tend to look at the idea and find a way to make it unique, for example the embedding and ricochet blades are considered the ‘projectile’ equivalent of Ninja Gaidens shurikens, a method to continue the combo but also provide an incentive and purpose. Creating new mechanics now has to make gameplay ‘fun’

Zahid Ali: To keep up with the speed of combat, I found that wall running during combat encounters heavily slows down the pace. I instead opted for a wall bounce or wall hike, as this keeps the flow of combat. Parkour is not too heavily involved in the combat apart from the wall bounce, but this may change!

Zahid Ali: Extremely! Developing games is difficult to begin with, making a solid experience which is optimized and unique is insanely difficult! I have continued to attempt to push the production value in regards to the quality of the game, in models, environments, cutscenes and more.

I have friends who are also developing their own projects, which have been a massive help where we push each other. Check them out here:

• Sword of Symphony
• AIKODE
• Workplace Of Madness 

Zahid Ali: ENENRA will definitely be released on consoles! I am planning a demo soon for PC with the new mechanics and all the clean up / Optimisations! This demo will have a heavily integrated training mode allowing the player to fight many enemy types!

Zahid Ali: I have not personally looked into this, so I cannot give a reasonable answer.

Zahid Ali: Hoping for an end-of-year release or early 2025. As I work on this game part-time, it may change depending on the quality of the game, which I continuously intend to improve.

Zahid Ali: Just over 35,000!

Zahid Ali: I do believe action games/character action games are making a comeback as indie developers are putting the time and effort into bringing back a genre which was more or less lost to us.

Zahid Ali: It feel the souls like genre is now extremely saturated, I personally will not be adding any souls like features in ENENRA. There are some games which find a great balance between souls and hack and slash such as Stellar blade.

For example, A health consumable does not exist in ENENRA. All health is absorbed through enemies by executing them! (However, in easier modes, there are health posts from which players can heal). 

Zahid Ali: I post a lot on my discord, so joining the discord is a good place to keep up to date! You can also follow me on Twitter/X and everything else.

Mathias: My name is Mathias. I am a programmer, and I have been making games in one way or another since I was young. I started an indie game studio called SkyGoblin together with a bunch of friends almost twenty years ago.

Hellfront Honeymoon is the last game we released and it’s currently out on Steam, Playstation, and Xbox. It is a pretty unique type of top-down shooter that combines elements of RTS base building and run-and-gun action.

Mathias: It was a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. The first world you play in Hellfront was designed to look like a hive with hexagonal cells laid out like a honeycomb.

One of us, I don’t remember who started calling the world “Honeymoon,” and we all thought that hey, “Hellfront Honeymoon” has a nice ring to it. So it doesn’t really make much sense, but I still think it’s a pretty cool name.

Mathias: SkyGoblin has seen its fair share of ups and downs throughout the years. The team has been growing and shrinking at different times to roll with the changing tides and reality of the games industry.

I think a lesson learned is that big trends tend to come a few years apart (e.g., casual, mobile, MMO, VR, Multiverse, AI), and they extend the possibilities of what a video game can be. While there is a lot of money to be made if you position your company at the nexus of hype, there is also a risk that you lose focus on the strength and drivers of your studio.

Mathias: The past two years have been absolutely brutal. We’ve seen so many colleagues struggle, and sadly, some of them have been forced to close up shop. At SkyGoblin, we have always balanced internal projects with external work to keep ourselves afloat.

For example, for the past few years, I have been working with a startup called Coherence, where we create a new type of online multiplayer solution. The online mode for Hellfront actually started off as an internal gamejam project on Coherence, and then I just continued from there.

Meanwhile, Theo (who does the graphics on SkyGoblin) has been working part-time as a lighting artist at a game called Eriksholm. Working with other companies in the industry helps pay our bills. But it also gives us valuable experience from using new tools and techniques that we can then apply when we return to our own game projects.

Mathias: While the industry is finally seeing the potential of indie games, it is still not easy to get a good publishing deal. The competition is extremely tough, and publisher expectations are very high.

A publisher would ideally like your game to be a viral hit with thousands of wishlists even before they sign you. That means that you’ll have to put a ton of work into social media marketing from the very start – apart from making a game that really stands out.

But if you have a really good game idea, and if you have the time and know-how to develop it and show it off online, then the barrier of entry is lower than ever. You pretty much only need a computer and an internet connection. This is very different from how the industry worked when we started making games in the early 2000s.

Mathias: We’ve always liked to try new things, so we tend to switch genres and platforms every few years to learn new things. I never really saw switching genres to be something difficult; it is rather refreshing actually.

Having the flexibility to go in the direction that inspires you is a big perk of being fully independent. I think larger studios have more inertia because there is a higher cost to realign their pipeline, team, and skillset when switching genres.

One huge challenge when switching genres is that you risk losing a great chunk of your followers. There is very little overlap between point-and-click and RTS, and of course, players will expect more games in the same vein.

Luckily, most of our followers are sticking with us even as we try new things.

Mathias: Helldivers 2 is absolutely amazing, and the response it has received shows us just how fed up players are with the greedy business practices that have become standard in live service games.

I hope its success sends a signal to the board rooms where the future of video games is being decided. Stop trying to squeeze every last penny out of your customers and focus on making great games.

Mathias: At the time we designed Hellfront, we’d often hang out in the game studio after work hours, drinking beer and playing couch multiplayer games. We noticed there were not many titles to choose from on Steam, so we decided to make our own.

Since we’ve always been huge fans of Starcraft, it was a natural source of inspiration. But we wanted the gameplay to be far less complex and more action-oriented than a full-blown RTS. So, we experimented with different play styles until we found a core game loop that we really enjoyed.

Mathias: The one-screen approach comes naturally for local multiplayer games because you quite literally share one screen. Some games use dynamic split screen techniques that adapt the viewports as players move around, but we kind of prefer a good old static camera.

Towerfall was a big inspiration to Hellfront, as were Bomberman and Super Smash T.V., which use a similar perspective. I consider fixed camera perspective a creative limitation that can help guide the game design.

When you see the actual frame that the game will live inside, you know immediately what you have to work with.

Mathias: Online multiplayer was something we wanted to support from the start; we just could not afford the cost of implementing it. Multiplayer has always been this big scary boogeyman of game development.

It is a topic so complex that even experienced game developers often shy away from it. After the release of Hellfront, by pure chance, I started working as a network engineer at a startup called Coherence.

The promise of Coherence is basically top-tier, scalable multiplayer without all the hassle. So, last year, when we rolled out Coherence 1.0, I decided to test if it held up as we promised. It was basically me “eating our own dog food,” and I have to say it tastes delicious!

Mathias: Players are super happy with the online mode and have been very supportive even since we started beta testing.

The 4-player PvP mode, in particular, has been very engaging, especially with the new PvP leaderboard and skill system. It feels awesome to bring new life into the game and the Hellfront community!

Mathias: Yes, absolutely! Since the initial release of Hellfront, there’s been a global pandemic and a transition to working from home. For me, personally, I don’t meet my friends in person as often as I used to, especially since becoming a parent.

So, transitioning to online play has been a fantastic way for me to reconnect with friends and colleagues and have fun like we used to back in the day. This is definitely the direction we’ll want to keep going.

Mathias: Yes, right now, we are working on a new Team PvP game mode that is currently in beta. Team PvP has been the most requested feature by our players since online multiplayer.

We’re also considering to add new upgrades, weapons, and structures to the game. There are tons of more features and content that we’d like to work on, but right now, Team PvP is our main focus.

Mathias: We have a couple of things under wraps, but nothing we are ready to talk about right now 😉.

Mathias: I just want to give a big THANK YOU to all the players who are sticking around with us for all these years. Indie gaming is a big and lovely ecosystem of gamers, developers, streamers, and writers with one shared passion.

So, a huge thank you to Tech4Gamers for spreading the word and supporting indie games!

TB: Frequently, the topic of recreating SMITE 2 from scratch on a new engine was discussed. Every time, we found ourselves doing the math on the investment it would take to get that project up and running. Every time, we determined that the best path forward was to continue to modify the UE 3 version of the project.

A little over a year ago, we decided to unpack UE 5 and deployed a small team to build a prototype that recreated, as true as possible, the SMITE Conquest experience with 5 playable gods. In 1 short month, the team had built that prototype, made significantly easier by utilizing the core Gameplay Ability System found within UE 5.

Because the team was able to move so quickly, combined with the confidence that we had to enhance that GAS-powered prototype, we truly felt like now was the time to lean all the way in and build out SMITE 2 for the future.

TB: Seeing new projects get released that are built on the latest UE 5 engine has been amazing.  Every time, I am excited to see just how these newest games have utilized the engine in ways that could be applicable to the SMITE 2 project.

That’s not to say that the engine solves every issue. In the 5.3 version of the engine, for example, we still struggle with the performance impact of entirely using Nanite for our multiplayer gameplay experience, where every downturn of the dial can give you a framerate advantage.

But Lumen and Nanite are the future, and they are getting better with each release, so it’s only a matter of time before these technologies allow developers to make games unlike anything before. And I want to make sure we are ready for it!

AC: I think it’s less that PC has grown significantly as a platform than that its size has become more visible.

SMITE started as a PC-only game, available only through our own launcher. So, only we really knew how big the PC player base was. Over the years, we phased out that launcher and eventually discontinued it, and now people can watch the CCU numbers on Steam tracking websites and get a more reliable estimation of our player base there.

I would expect the majority of the SMITE 2 player base to continue to play on the console. SMITE feels great on a controller as a third-person MOBA, and that’s still a strong focus for us in SMITE 2; I literally just finished reviewing some controller improvements before this interview.

AC: We don’t expect a major impact. Our internal tracking suggests about 4/5ths of our active SMITE player base has already migrated to current-gen consoles. But for those people still on old-gen platforms, SMITE 1 will remain available and updated so they can get their third-person MOBA fix.

AJ: Players have been very understanding of the limited roster. They understand the game is in the early stages of development and that each god takes a lot of time and effort to reconstruct entirely from scratch, and we aren’t doing just that. Most SMITE 2 gods have new features or reworked abilities as well.

SMITE 2 brings a lot of new systems to learn between the item changes, stat changes, and map changes, so even with a limited roster, people are far from bored. The smaller roster also helps players get back into the game and learn the characters at a reasonable pace. Jumping into a game with 130 characters is very intimidating.

AJ: We can’t give a definitive answer to this question, as our goal isn’t to just port each god over as is but rather to refine and reimagine where it makes them better.

What we can say, though, is that during the initial 24/7 alpha this summer, we will focus on launching a core roster of fan-favorite gods, likely starting with a limited number of around 20-30 gods to ensure quality and balance. We’ll then aim to release new and rebuilt gods regularly, adding around 10-15 gods by the end of the year.

AJ: Definitely. The change increases the number of possibilities for each god, and those all need to be considered individually when thinking about balance.

For example, Neith is now a hybrid god that can play a traditional Strength build with more Physical Damage in the duo lane, or she can play Intelligence build with more Magical Damage, which generally works better in the mid lane.

These 2 versions of Neith need to be treated like 2 entirely different gods in the balance discussion, with the added constraint that balancing 1 could accidentally affect the other in an unintended way.

This added complexity for the balance team but added creativity for the player. We think that’s going to pay off in the long run, and we think the 10+ years of SMITE 1 experience will help as we continue to improve our balance processes and philosophy through SMITE 2’s lifetime.

AJ: SMITE 2’s systems are designed from the beginning to help us with this challenge. It absolutely will still be a challenge, though. SMITE 2 has no class labels on gods, instead opting for a more detailed summary of the gods’ stats and strengths.

This is intended to tell players through the game’s core design that we don’t intend to force and lock each god into a specific spot in the meta. SMITE 2’s new item systems and role flexibility also make the settled meta harder to find.

Even with those in place, we do expect that settled metas will develop at various times. Our experience from the last decade has taught us to go ahead and disrupt those metas through changes.

We will already be introducing new items and gods at a more rapid pace than SMITE 1 was used to, which will definitely keep things interesting. On top of that, we plan to heavily iterate with balance changes as well. Alpha 1 to Alpha 2 already have sweeping changes to the map, item store, and all gods.

AJ: We have! Although a traditional “New Player Experience” isn’t in the game yet, there’s a lot of small features that help players learn. New players will definitely be interested in our core game improvements, such as the entirely new graphics engine and entirely new backend multiplayer platform.

SMITE 2 has fewer gods at the moment, which makes it easier for new players to get into. There’s also a variety of small features to help callout information, such as updated god ability descriptions, map help tips, role definitions, and an auto-item builder with multiple options per god.

SMITE 1 has a massive upfront knowledge barrier to the beginning of each match. The Relic system, starter item system, and tree items all contribute to that daunting experience. SMITE 2’s core changes to items and gods make this a lot more straightforward.

Every player will start with an ability that can cleanse CC and wards for free. The starting item selection is tied directly to specific stats, and the starting items can upgrade into many possible options.

The beginning of a match will still include a huge amount of skill expression due to how you play your god and your role, but it will be more about how you play and less about what you know.

AC: I don’t think those developers would necessarily agree with the premise of this question; those games you referenced both have significantly more players than they did before launching their sequels.

But I think the big difference in how we’re approaching SMITE 2 is that it is a true sequel, rebuilt from the ground up. We’re not updating a game in place; we’re making an all-new game, and SMITE 1 will continue to live on as a separate game.

Because we’re starting from scratch, we’re approaching this project like any new game. We’re building the game alongside our community, getting them involved at an early Alpha stage, and listening to their feedback on how we can make the game better. We aren’t just developing a sequel in a silo: We’re making sure we’re making the game our players want to play.

AC: Our plan is to maintain our current release schedule for the foreseeable future, with a major update monthly and mid-patch bonus balance.

AC: I’ve said it before, but MOBAs are kind of like the Dark Souls of multiplayer games. They’re hard. There’s a big knowledge gap when you start playing. But every time you die, you learn. And you get better, and you find this immense, deep, enjoyable, incredibly rewarding multiplayer experience that no other game can compare to.

So, I would say approach a MOBA with a student’s mindset. It’s okay to lose! It’s okay not to be great in your first minute of playing. Enjoy the ride and take pleasure in the small accomplishments.

On a more micro level, I would recommend new players pay attention to their positioning. It’s really easy to get carried away chasing enemies and putting yourself in a bad position. Treat the point where the waves of minions meet as the line of scrimmage; if you’re past the line, you’re in enemy territory, and you need to have a good reason to be there.

AC: SMITE 2 is a decade-long dream for us. We’ve learned a ton from making SMITE 1, but the most important thing we’ve learned is that we’re nothing without our community, and SMITE 2 is nothing without our community’s feedback.

If you want to be a part of a great journey, to learn and play and guide the development of one of the most rewarding multiplayer games out there, then please join us in Alpha. Join our community and help shape the future of SMITE 2.