Ruzar: The Life Stone interview

Ruzar - The Life Stone is currently in Early Access on Steam. Couchpotato caught up with the developer of the game and asked him the below questions.

Couchpotato: Can you introduce yourself to our readers?

Well, I have been in the game industry for quite a while now. I was looking for a new challenge and I decided to create a game on my own. At the beginning, I had no plan of doing a game, but I slowly started to work on what would become Ruzar, a grid based dungeon crawler game. I remember spending nights playing Dungeon Master when I was young and I always wanted to make a game like that (Almost Human was just faster than me!).

So I learnt Unity and C# and I asked some friends to help me in the development of the game. Ruzar - The Life Stone is the result of a small talented team that has always been passionate about games. I'm glad we were able to get that far!

Couchpotato: How did you get started in game development, and decided to make your own game?

I have always been passionate about video games since my youngest age. I had the chance to work in the industry for quite a long time and then I reached a point where I wanted to make my own project. Like I mention in the paragraph above, the dungeon crawler genre is something that I really loved playing. So I said, why not making a game similar to that? I should try it!
I reached out some good friends (some didn't have experience at all but they had skills I didn't have) and with their help I started to work on Ruzar.
I had to be careful with what I wanted to achieve, because a production can become out of control really quickly if you don't manage your design and your intention correctly.
I though a dungeon crawler game would be a good fit for that (even if the game become quite challenging).

In the end, we all know that making a game is full of surprise, good or bad :) but we managed to go through!

Couchpotato: What are top five RPG's that you have played over the years?

This is not fair! There are so many good rpgs... But here is my top 5. I know, some games are really old, but I'm not young either!

• Ultima Online
• Might and Magic (s)
• Baldur's Gate (s)
• Skyrim
• Dark Soul (all of them - sorry I have to cheat)

Couchpotato: Can you give a short description of your new game Ruzar - The Life Stone?

Ruzar - The Life Stone is a dungeon crawler RPG game in which you play an adventurer who needs to discover the powerful Life Stone. Do you have the skills to survive in the deadliest dungeons of the Mountain of Ruz and recover the legendary artefact?

Couchpotato: Was the game inspired by any classic dungeon crawler RPG games?

Yes, absolutely. Mostly inspired by Dungeon Master, Lands of Lore, Black Crypt and Eye of the Beholder. Legend of Grimrock has also been an inspiration, it wouldn't be fair to say that it wasn't :)

Couchpotato: How many hours of gameplay can be expected in the final game: Also if possible the number of locations and monsters you can encounter?

The first playthrough of Ruzar - The Life Stone will give you around 8 to 12 hours.
The range is wide but it really depends how you play the game (if you decide to rush through or if you try to unlock every secrets).
The game will contain 13 levels (You have 5 themes : The Mountains - The Temples (x2) - The Mines and the Caves ) and a minimum of 7 different creatures. We might add more creatures but it will depend on our capacity to produce more content.
To reach the maximum level (which is level 50), you will need to play the game in New Game +. When you start the game in NG+, you will collect stronger gear, fight stronger creature and be able to increase your stats, boost your skills and find new spells.

Couchpotato: Do you have a final date for release yet, or will the game be in Alpha for a while yet?

We don't want to stay in Alpha for a long period of time. We would like to move in Beta within the next two months. At that point all the levels should be in with the creatures and the gameplay.
Before releasing the game, we want to make sure we have a good and polished game. We also want to take into consideration the feedback we receive from the community.
This should slightly impact our release date (depending of the scope for the new content). Our goal is to ship the game before Christmas.

Couchpotato: Seems dungeon crawler RPG's are getting popular again. So I have to ask what makes your game different then the rest?

If we only take into consideration our genre (LoG, Dungeon Master, etc.),  Ruzar - The Life Stone has unique and new elements that are not available in the other games.
Some people might say we are not true to the genre (we don't manage four characters for example and the spell mechanic is not the same) and they are right. Our game is different in many ways.
For example, in Ruzar, you have an economy system that is not existing in the other dungeon crawlers (you have plenty of loot to collect from the creatures you can sell or use to customize your character).

You have quests that helps you progress in the game and that can give you narrative hint on the story. We also have a gameplay that helps you travel in the different dungeons without the need of walking from one place to the other. Spells and skills have more variety than the usual grid based dungeon crawler too.

Finally, as you can see, we only manage one character. The reason is simple. We wanted to have a deeper experience by giving more skills, more spells and a better progression.
Ruzar - The Life Stone has a lot of interesting gameplay we hope people will enjoy!

Couchpotato: What makes a good dungeon crawler RPG in your opinion?

A good progression with a variety of gameplay. If you can't provide a sustaining experience, you can't keep your players interested in your game. The game should be challenging :) Dark Soul is probably too challenging (even if I love it), but a good challenge will always bring you satisfaction when you beat it.

Couchpotato: On the topic of dungeon crawler RPG's what do you think about the modern versions? One example would be Legend of Grimrock.

Well, if we talk about LoG, I would say that the game stayed true to the original with a super high quality standard. Frankly, the game is really good. There are no real innovations in the game (and this is not in any point a critic to the game), but I'm pretty sure that was not the goal. It was made to bring back to surface the genre which has been successful!

Couchpotato: Thank you for answering my questions.  Do you have anything you would like to add before we finish?

If you enjoy this genre, you should give Ruzar - The Life Stone a try. Our game is different in many ways and has a lot of interesting challenges and gameplay to offer.