Dungeon Kingdom Interview

Farflame talked to Frederic Duval from Hydro Games about their dungeon crawler Dungeon Kingdom.

RPGWatch: Hey there! Could you tell us about your studio? How did you get the idea to found a studio and start developing a dungeon crawler?

Frederic Duval: Hydro Games is a group of freelancers dedicated to game development. We have all known each other for a long while (15 years for the most ancient members). In fact, we started to work on RPGs a very long time ago, before we thought about creating Hydro Games. We started development on Atari and Amiga computers, and dungeon crawlers have always been our favourite genre of game to make.

RPGWatch: What do you like or dislike about modern RPGs (and dungeon crawlers)?

Frederic: Nowadays, games obviously tend to have nicer graphics. Anyone can say it's not the most important feature, and as a lover of oldschool games, I definitely appreciate that; however, it's always nice when we can have great gameplay in a graphically awesome and immersive world. On the other hand, I'm not so fond of cartoonish styles like in World of Warcraft; I prefer more realistic details/shapes like with artists such as Larry Elmore, Keith Parkinson, etc.

We are not really MMO players as we really prefer solo RPG games. We don't have any strong dislikes, but we could maybe argue that players have too much assistance nowadays. Because of this, players don't get the same satisfaction as they would've had 25 years ago when finishing a game like Dungeon Master, where you really discover all the game by yourself: drawing maps on paper, spending more time analyzing the environments, the effects of items, etc.

RPGWatch: What are the strongest elements of Dungeon Kingdom? Why should players play your game instead of other crawlers?

Frederic: In Dungeon Kingdom, we tried to not only offer great graphics, but also innovate with interactions. That's why we've used a real physics engine, and have added other features like being able to burn parts of the environment. The advanced interactions open the way for new kinds of puzzles. We've shown this a bit so far in the Early Access, but there's much more to come in the next chapters of the game. Also, we didn't want to send the player into the dungeon, wandering around without any plot. That's why we have a strong backstory. In fact, we have already planned several Dungeon Kingdom games. It's too early to know how many games we'll release, but we have designed the story and background in a way that makes it possible.

And last but not least, we work very hard on each dungeon's conception, with replayability in mind, as well as freedom in exploration. There are often several ways to explore our dungeons. Simple examples are the abandoned area in the temple of Adwij with the multiple ways to access to it, or the Junction of the Ages, allowing the player to proceed with tests in any order. We are big fans of Chaos Strikes Back or EoB2 level design and some players during the Early Access have already confirmed that we are on the right track.

RPGWatch: The opening sequence of Dungeon Kingdom is simple, but pretty effective in setting the mood. Does the story evolve throughout the whole game unlike most other Dungeon Crawlers? Also, NPCs are not common things in dungeon crawlers. Do you meet NPCs throughout the whole game or will you find them only in the first town?

Frederic: Yes, that's one of the biggest differences with other recent crawlers. There is a real backstory, characters, important places, a living world... and we are only scratching the surface with the Early Access content so far. Later on, we'll meet even more characters and experience more of the story while playing the game. You'll also meet NPCs that you can recruit to your team. In the end though, the game remains a dungeon crawler; we won't break the action at every turn, we work hard to make sure the balance is right.

RPGWatch: You advertise better AI for enemies. Could you describe the difference between enemies in other dungeon crawlers and enemies in Dungeon Kingdom (DK)?

Frederic: The behaviours of the encountered enemies so far in the Early Access are quite basic, because early testers of the game reported that the combat was too difficult for the beginning. However, as the game progresses, the difficulty will increase. Our system allows us to create unpredictable behaviours for the creatures. Their brain can add controlled randomness to their decision making, so if we want to, we can have two similar creatures that behave very differently. The system makes it easy to set up variations, and is very flexible; for example, smarter creatures will position themselves around you to attack you from different sides at the same time and you will meet creatures that can attack you from the ceiling above or the walls at your sides. All of these possibilities and more!

RPGWatch: You probably know the Ishar trilogy very well. Were there any ideas in Ishar that inspired you? For example, the need to buy some special items (animals) to solve problems. Or group dynamics dictated by the story (when you had to take some hero with you until he/she leaves at some point). Is there anything like that in DK?

Frederic: Oh yeah, Ishar is the first dungeon crawler I ever finished and I had the chance to finish the 3 chapters as well as its prequel, Crystals of Arborea. We've added a few references in Dungeon Kingdom as a tribute to Ishar. However, we are closer to real time crawlers like Dungeon Master / Eye of the Beholder than to the Ishar games. However, we do have a story and yes, sometimes some characters will join the team as guests, like Meltor after the introduction, when he brings you to the Inn and the Temple. Angie will be back later in the adventure and there will also be others NPCs that'll join. And as said above, there will be some meetings that lead to the player being offered the choice to recruit a new character and force other heroes to leave the team.

RPGWatch: Character development seems to be pretty simple. Is there a way to raise your basic attributes? And do you learn new spells by finding the scrolls?

Frederic: Indeed, we decided to have character progression that was driven by the player's actions. The engine supports player distribution of points, and all of the UI is in place for that; it's simply hidden at the moment as we decided to make it all automatic and see what players think about it. So far, we've had no complaints about that, and players seem satisfied with it. We'll keep listening to our players, so it could change, of course. And yes, there are scrolls that you can find spread throughout the game with spell formulas :)

RPGWatch: You have great hero portraits. Could you briefly describe the creative process? I mean do you have careful plans [about] which types of faces are needed for the game or is it just free imagination of your 2D artist(s)?

Frederic: Something I've always loved very much in crawlers is the choice of heroes! When playing Ishar, it was always exciting to visit inns to find awesome new adventurers to recruit. Great portraits are part of the immersion. As mentioned above, we love artists like Larry Elmore, DKS, Keith Parkinson and many others, and we could not create a crawler without awesome 2D portraits; it was very important for us. As for the creative process, most of them are well thought out beforehand, with detailed descriptions, photos, and any other resources to drive the 2D artists in the right direction. Some characters are designed specifically for the story, others are just to create diversity in the characters that the player can choose for their team.

RPGWatch: You stated [that] you plan a trilogy for DK, but do you have also other plans for the future? Would you like to develop crawlers [later], or do a full-blown RPG, or something else?

Frederic: There are two things worth mentioning: the game engine, and the IP. We have lots of plans, of course, but it is still too early to say too much about them. Concerning the engine, we would like to use it for different universes; we love Fantasy very much, but we also think Sci-Fi and Steampunk universes are definitely something we would like to explore in future games using the Dungeon Kingdom engine. As for the Dungeon Kingdom IP, we hope there'll be at least one sequel with the same grid-based movement system. However, most of the engine's features such as creature AI and navigation already support full 3D freedom of movement. Given that, if we feel the public want us to make another game closer to the likes of The Elder Scrolls series, it would be feasible using the same engine, and it's something already in the works for the planned Virtual Reality headset port of Dungeon Kingdom. That's all for the future, however, even after the game is fully released and leaves its Early Access state, we'll keep adding features, such as a level editor and a random dungeon generator (ala Dungeon Hack).

Thank you so much for your time, and we wish you all the best!

Dungeon Kingdom is currently in Early Access on Steam and you can check it out here.