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| Our interlocutor
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Crpg.ru (Alexander Kulyaev): Greetings. First off, please introduce yourself.
Bernd Beyreuther: My name is Bernd Beyreuther - I am the creative director for Drakensang, which means I am responsible for the game's overall vision.
Crpg.ru: Could you tell us a bit about the Radon Labs devstudio and particularly about the team involved in the project?
Bernd: Radon Labs is one of the leading German development studios: we have 60 staff members at our two offices - and we're still growing. We design and develop both bigger projects (Drakensang being one of them), as well as smaller contract jobs - in 2005 alone, we completed 7 projects. We got our start more than 10 years ago; when Radon Labs was formed by a group of students, who developed Urban Assault, which went on to sell 400,000 copies worldwide.
Our team is made up of a lot of enthusiastic players of the pen & paper game that Drakensang is based on - in fact some of them still spend the occasional night in the dungeons of Aventuria.
Crpg.ru: So, what is the Drakensang project like? Could you give us a general overview?
Bernd: Drakensang is our attempt to take RPGs back to the roots, by offering gamers the chance to control a party of memorable characters within a deep story. It is set in a classic, medieval fantasy world, offering a skill-based rule system with pausable combat.
Crpg.ru: We know that the PnP RPG 'Das Schwarze Auge' is extremely popular in Germany, but I suppose most of our readers aren't familiar with that thing. What kind of PnP is it and what can you tell us about the Dark Eye universe?
Bernd: The Dark Eye (or "Das Schwarze Auge") is the biggest pen & paper RPG system in Germany and has been so for over 20 years. The world of The Dark Eye - called Aventuria - is based on classic low fantasy, so it has elves, orces, dwarves and all the usual suspects. Its setting also bears some resemblance to the historic European middle ages. Aventuria is a living, breathing world: pen & paper players can subscribe to its own newspaper, which reports on all the latest news from this parallel world. New campaigns and rulebooks are part of this ever evolving storyline, so players are closely connected to everything that happens.
Drakensang puts this extensively developed world to great use, as it can draw both upon a set of rules that is well balanced and tested thoroughly, as well as a vast environment and rich setting.
Of course, players who have never played The Dark Eye will also enjoy Drakensang as a classic PC role playing game, set in a breathtaking world, which will feel familiar almost immediately. We sometimes like to describe its unique feel as "European Fantasy from its source".
Crpg.ru: Why did you choose the title Drakensang: The Dark Eye instead of using the world-famous brand Realms of Arkania?
Bernd: We are all big fans of the Realms of Arkania games from back in the day, but that brand is owned by someone else. While Drakensang marks a new beginning for the world of The Dark Eye on the PC, we of course owe a great deal of inspiration to the RoA trilogy.
In addition, we wanted the title to reflect a strong affiliation with the pen & paper game which has seen releases in several languages and territories in the last dozen years - and in the English-speaking world this has been under the title "The Dark Eye".
Crpg.ru: What is the basic concept of the gameplay and what are the features that you see most appealing to the gamers?
Bernd: Drakensang is a classic party-based RPG, featuring tactical, pausable combat (so no button mashing), a skill-based dynamic dialogue system, unique characters and an epic story as one of its most important elements. And all of this set against the backdrop of this amazing fantasy world.
Crpg.ru: Did you take any existing games as guidlines?
Bernd: When we set out to design Drakensang, we came up with a simple formula to describe the basic idea of the game, which was: "Baldur's Gate in 3D, set in the world of The Dark Eye". Obviously, this is a very condensed description of the game, but it shows the direction we wanted to take Drakensang and the inspirations for it.
Crpg.ru: Can you already reveal some parts of the plot. Some general overview, perhaps? Does the plot play a major role in the game or the priority is given to the freedom aspect?
Bernd: The story is supremely important in Drakensang and is inseparable from the gameplay. It will have loads of surprises, many twists and astonishing turns.
The plot was written by 4 authors over a period of 6 months - and took up more than 1000 pages at one point… but at the moment we can only reveal little about it. Your party of characters sets out in the town of Ferdok, initially on a quest to obtain the Shield of Fendral. But a string of murders in the harbor city is just your first indication of something much larger going on…
The main quest is largely linear, but of course there is a multitude of smaller side quests. In addition, you won't be forced to complete all parts of the main quest in a set order, which means the story always waits for the player, basically. I can't really go into more detail for fear of revealing too much of the story, so I'm afraid I'll have to hold my tongue.
Crpg.ru: What does the game world looks like? What kinds of climate, geographical zone and historical age prevail? Are there any existing prototypes?
Bernd: Aventuria is a massive continent - and we want the player to experience that in our game. We can't give away where the game will take you yet - whether it's the icy cold glaciers of the North, or the steaming jungles of Kun Kau Peh in the South, maybe the dry and barren deserts of Khom or the magical, mythical islands hidden in the mist. What we can reveal is that players will not only roam the heart of Aventuria - the Middenrealm, where Aventuria bears some resemblance to parts of Germany back in the 14th century - but they will also travel far and wide throughout the whole continent. Deep woods, steppes, cities, castles, villages, vast dungeons, islands as well as daunting mountain ranges and jagged cliffs - it's all there, just waiting for someone to discover it.
Crpg.ru: What playable races and classes are there?
Bernd: Aventuria is a fantasy world that players will quickly recognize: we have elves living in harmony with nature and working mysterious magic, cantankerous dwarves that are as adept with the wrought iron as they are with the battle axe, a variety of human races, dangerous mages, wild orcs, honorable warriors, thieves and warriors. Some of the more exceptional races of Aventuria include the beautiful, battle-hardened Amazonians - who worship Rondra, the goddess of war - the Gyalskans - a fierce tribe of barbarians who practice animal magic - or the Thorwalians, a people resembling the Vikings, who call upon the god Swafnir to guide their fierce dragon boats.
Crpg.ru: Will the characters have some social skills like diplomacy or the like? Is it important for you to allow for the diplomatic playstyle? That is, using social skills like bluff and persuasion to avoid combat?
Bernd: We're using big parts of the P&P system, which offers numerous non-combat skills. Crafting skills, alchemy, science, trade and dialogue skills will guarantee that fighting will only be one of many ways for your characters to gain experience and advance. While combat will definitely be a central element of Drakensang, players also have tons of dialogue options and many opportunities to use their non-combat skills to solve puzzles and develop their characters.
Our biggest challenge in this regard lies in adapting the complexities of the pen & paper game to a modern computer game - without torturing players with row upon row of numbers and figures.
Crpg.ru: Okay, Drakensang is a party-based RPG. Will the players have to create the whole party in the beginning or we'll get to meet the premade companions during the course of the game?
Bernd: We tackled the question whether the player should create only one avatar or the whole party very early on in the project. We're trying to achieve the maximum of immersion for the player and the way players experience the story is an essential aspect for this. In order to make the player be a part of the story, we need him to identify as much as possible with a central character, which pulls him much deeper into the gameworld.
To this end, the player will only create one character himself and meet a multitude of interesting potential party members along the way, who accompany him on his adventures. The player has full control over the members of his party: he decides which attributes or talents to develop and level up.
Crpg.ru: If so, then will we be able to witness some sort of party interrelations? Quarrels, romances?
Bernd: This is one of the elements we were very keen on implementing in Drakensang. As you meet new characters and assemble your party, the interrelations of the group will come into play, including all the possibilities you mention and more.
Crpg.ru: What can you say about the combat system? Is it real-time or turn-based? How does it work?
Bernd: Combat has a very strategic bent. Choosing the right weapons, the right position for your fighters, the right spell at the right time - these things will decide whether you win or lose. We didn't want button mashing to factor into the outcome of a fight.
Our combat system builds on proven precedents - but we want to upgrade and modernize existing systems, which have gotten a little long in the tooth. Basically it is a turn-based system, built on the P&P rules, but it is displayed in real-time. This means that you will be able to pause combat at any time to change weapons or drink a potion etc., but it's our goal that the player will need to do this as little as possible. In order to achieve this, we're incorporating some innovative features like special party moves and quick shots, while also concentrating on providing the player with a very intuitive interface.
Crpg.ru: A few words about the magic system if you don't mind. How does it function?
Bernd: We're spending a lot of time on adapting the magic system of the pen & paper game to Drakensang. The magic system of The Dark Eye is quite different from that of other RPGs. A magic user in Aventuria is faced with spells that can be quite elaborate and sometimes very time-consuming. Some spells can be interrupted very easily; some are performed in a matter of seconds. So magic users will have to consider the right time to cast a spell and decide, how much time and energy to invest in it. The result is that the use of magic is very much a matter of strategy and tactics.
Crpg.ru: Great, and what about alchemy and crafting?
Bernd: We will have both alchemy and crafting in the game. But we don't want these talents just to be a way to make money - we want them to offer an addition to the game experience. We're trying to achieve this by adapting them as thouroughly as possible. Non-combat talents such as these will have a noticeable influence on the course of quests throughout the game.
Crpg.ru: Are you using some system of life simulation for the NPCs?
Bernd: We are taking great care in creating a realistic world that feels like a living environment to the player. One city that is a major hub of the game will have 3,000 inhabitants, who go about their daily business as players explore this town.
Crpg.ru: What graphic engine are you using?
Bernd: We're using the newest version of our NEBULA engine for Drakensang. This engine is currently being used by more than 40 studios for commercial game development around the world. We've been working on this engine continuously for more than 6 years now. The remarkable thing about NEBULA is that it is open source, so it can be used by anyone without paying licensing fees - we're just charging for support and tools.
This global community makes NEBULA the stable, powerful and modern system that it is. At the same time it is also very modular, so we will of course also be using well known middleware.
Crpg.ru: What kind of soundtrack are you planning for the project? Some instrumental music? Folk music, perhaps?
Bernd: We recently announced that we will be working with Dynamedion to create a sweeping orchestral score. Dynamedion have an impressive track record of working on AAA titles and they recognize the importance of capturing the unique The Dark Eye atmosphere in the soundtrack. The Realms of Arkania games are renowned for their soundtrack, and are a definite benchmark for Drakensang.
Crpg.ru: What's the development status?
Bernd: We're planning to release the game near the end of 2007 - currently the status of development is at about 20%.
Crpg.ru: Thanks a lot for your interesting answers. I hope this interview gets many people excited about your project. Is there anything you would like to add or say a few words to our readers?
Bernd: With Drakensang, we're aiming to create a REAL role-playing game - a game that we ourselves want to play. I hope you guys are all looking forward to it as much as we do :)
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