That Which Sleeps Interview

Well hello everyone! Once again, it's time for another interview. This time I had the chance to interview King Dinosaur Games about their new game That Which Sleeps.

That Which Sleeps is a turn-based strategy game where the player assumes the role of an ancient being who was sealed away in ages past but has now returned to reclaim dominion over the world. However, when you waken you are weak and must lurk in the shadows to avoid a return to your demonic slumber.

With that that out of the way, the game's Kickstarter is already funded and on its way to making every stretch goal. The latest video released showcases modding.

So now that you read the Kickstarter and watched both videos, let's get started with the interview. After reading the interview, please leave a comment or a question.

Couchpotato: Thanks for agreeing to the interview! Your game looks really interesting - I always wanted to play the bad guy in a game. So to get started, can you share a little information about yourself and your game studio, King Dinosaur Games?

King Dinosaur Games: Our pleasure!  We love to interact with the community that has already been built up around the game - it is our firm belief that user involvement at all levels is the key to taking a good game and making it great.  As for King Dinosaur Games, the two of us have known each other for over a decade and during that time we've created over a dozen games for our own personal group's enjoyment.  We are huge fans of niche games like King of Dragon Pass and (Josh: The greatest game ever made) Space Station 13, and a lot of our influences come from the very vibrant board game community as well.  Innovative design is flourishing in that field and we have been routinely amazed at what people are doing with the limitations of board games whether its with cards, dice, or more traditional chits.  It has been our goal to try and bring the lessons learned from that community and apply them to video game design, while also taking advantage of the capabilities that a digital platform gives you instead of creating a direct board game adaptation.

Couchpotato: Can you share a few details about your game That Which Sleeps for new readers, or for people who never heard of your game?

King Dinosaur Games: That Which Sleeps is a turn based strategy game that puts you in the role of an evil vanquished in the distant past but now ready to return and reclaim the world.  However, you are weak and the world has moved on since you last ruled it - you will need to leverage a wide variety of unique Agents to disrupt, deceive, and dismantle the world all while trying to maintain a low profile.  The world itself is a dynamic collection of AI entities that follow their own agendas, even without your interference you'll find them warring with one another, founding guilds, and researching powerful spells.  Still, a little feud may be extinguished in short order - that's where you come in.  By manipulating the AI you can bring the world to the edge of chaos, and by the time your return is obvious they will be too weak to resist.  Be judicious in your use of power though, each challenge you undertake leaves behind clues to your identity and the identities of your agents - if the heroes get on  your path before you are prepared you may find yourself returning to a restless slumber.

Couchpotato: That Which Sleeps reminds me of a few older games like Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance, and the Dominion game series. What was the inspiration for your game?

King Dinosaur Games: I would say our main inspiration for the game is King of Dragon Pass - just the way it creates memorable experiences and narratives is second to none. I load it up and play it every couple of months. We also have a ton of influences from fiction series, Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time - a lot of standard fantasy but we try to make it a little more grittier and real like the Black Company did.

Couchpotato: Many of our readers will ask why we cover your game, as it looks more like a strategy game than an RPG. Can you share a few details on the RPG side of the game? I remember you said it has a few RPG elements.

King Dinosaur Games: I don't want to get involved in the inevitable "What is an RPG?" debate, but the game most definitely has an appeal to people who play RPGs.  The theme of the game speaks for itself, but your interaction with heroes and the narrative flow that the Agents possess plays out almost like a Tactical RPG.  Your choices will directly impact the stories that are unfolding on the world - from the grand scheme of kidnapping the Son of a King and framing a rival Kingdom to misleading a group of heroes bent on helping the dwarves return to their homeland.  On the mechanics side you'll face Heroes that level up, purchase magic items, and unearth rare artifacts while on your end you will imbue Agents with dark power and craft custom spells to overcome your foes in fast-paced, critical fights that mimic the feel of old school boss battles.

Couchpotato:  Let's talk a little bit about combat.  From what I read about the game, combat will not be the main focus. Can you explain how it will work in your game?

King Dinosaur Games: While heroes follow a traditional arch of leveling by fighting monsters, buying items, and learning new abilities your Agents are already at a respectable level of power.  However, you can augment their strength by having them recruit minions and by imbuing them with some of your Ancient Power.  Minions, while useful, are also expendable - a primary mechanic of combat is being able to overwhelm the heroes with your loyal minions so they can't group up to attack your precious Agent.  Knowing when to fight, when to flee, and when to let your minions fall on their proverbial sword is key to winning the game.

Couchpotato: Using agents and manipulating the world leaders does sound interesting. How will this work and how easy will it be to get detected?

King Dinosaur Games:  Agents have a selection of challenges they can pursue from a few high level categories such as Infiltration, Terrorize, and Ritual.  Inside these categories the possible challenges are determined by their skills, minions, and the unique opportunities presented at their location.  Challenges take time to complete, the more difficult the challenge the more time it takes - within that window Heroes may grow curious and begin to hunt down the cause of the problem.  Depending on your profile it may take them a long time to discover you, or no time at all.  Burning down the farmland with a famous hero and his goon squad of giants isn't the most subtle action and you can expect to be quickly confronted, but if your unknown Agent is subtly bribing guards in a large city you can safely assume you will emerge unscathed.

Couchpotato: The latest update for the game mentioned that the player will have to face other ancient rivals, and I have to say I'm intrigued with the idea of alliances. Can you briefly explain how this will work?

King Dinosaur Games: The Rival Old Ones stretch goal introduces the idea of peers whereas before all evil in the game could be considered just a pale shade of the player's darkness.  This original design allowed us to make the complexity of the game revolve around the clues and discovering that you are rising, once the realization of your existence hits them they clearly decide to prioritize your destruction.  Now we are introducing the big question "Which is the lesser evil?" This forces the AI to evaluate not just your existence but your impact on the world, they may determine that the myths are overstated and you aren't nearly as bad as the Old One that is slowly zombifying everyone on a continent far away.  Of course, they are mistaken and the joy of betrayal is quite firmly in your hands.  On the other hand, you may decide to aid your fellow Old One in his quest for destruction - keeping one wary tentacle ready in case his betrayal strikes before your own.

Couchpotato: Let's talk about customization. As you said in an earlier update, you customize your ancient evil's origins. How many options will there be for the players to choose from, since this is one feature RPG players love?

King Dinosaur Games: The settings are actually determined by the Scenario, which aids a lot of custom flavor to each game.  In general you're looking at 5-7 options at start that not only adjust your Old One but also the world itself.  However, if a player wants to continue that feel throughout the game some of the Old Ones have their own narrative arcs that emerge as you navigate your deceptions.  The RPG feel is strong with one particular Old One, whose fascination with the Chosen One may drive him to his own destruction.

Couchpotato:  My next question wold be to ask about the various paths to victory. How many will there be, and can you share an example of how they can be achieved?

King Dinosaur Games: You are evil, there's no escaping that, and the game will not end until you have remade the world in your image.  What form that image takes may depend on the Old One you choose as well as your personal strategic options.  One of the Old Ones wishes to merge the world of dream with reality and forever rule through his will, another seeks to implement his twisted Utopia in a world paralyzed without free will, but of course the more traditional "leave the world a pile of crumbling ruins and ash" is a popular path to a truly tragic victory.

Couchpotato: Let talk about the kickstarter side for the next couple of questions. Allow me to say congratulations on getting funded so quickly. Where you surprised at how fast it happened?

King Dinosaur Games: Yes and no, we're been talking to our fans and backers since we went public with the development of the game over on IndieDB a few months a go, so we knew we had a small but loyal following that would help us get started. We did not expect it to catch on as much as it did though, we became a Kickstarter staff pick and featured project of the day pretty quickly and I think that as well as all the great media coverage we got helped immensely.

Couchpotato: It looks if the stretch goals are being met quickly.  Do you have any plans to add a few additional ones?

King Dinosaur Games: If the game hits the procedural generation stretch goal (which is looking more and more likely) we are not going to do anything to drastically change the game. We polled our backers about what type of addition content they'd like to see and we're still collecting results, but more playable Old Ones or Scenarios could definitely be in the mix.

Couchpotato: Now that your game is funded, in your opinion, can you finish it and release the game on time? I only worry since games that get over-funded have a higher chance of content bloat, and various delays.

King Dinosaur Games: The game engine is fully in place and (mostly) working - we just need to worry about changing and updating the art style in a consistent and pleasing fashion. The procedural stretch goal calls us to make several map & graphics changes, so that WILL be a big hurdle, but we still think we'll get it out on time.

Couchpotato: What about DRM?  A few of our members prefer games to be released on GOG, or just Steam itself. What's your opinion on DRM?

King Dinosaur Games: We've sent out the request to be featured on GOG but no word on that just yet. We also plan to be on the Humble Store, and maybe a few other places. Generally I'm not a fan of DRM and I doubt we'd ever use something like that for our games.

Couchpotato:  Can you share your experience with crowd-funding, and give a few tips for smaller indie developer looking to use Kickstarter?

King Dinosaur Games: Kickstarter has been really fun but much more work than we anticipated. We went into it in what I would consider the "right way" - meaning we knew exactly how much we needed to get the game developed and the art assets updated.  We had some stretch goals but since we've been so collaborative with our fans and community during the development process, we already presented some of the options we could add to make That Which Sleeps a more sophisticated or polished game, so we knew what our fans wanted and stuck to that.

We didn't go crazy with physical rewards and we didn't do any Kickstarter only exclusives and stuff like that. Our goal is to get the game funded and get some serious folks to help us test it out and play with and the Modding tools during Beta - we don't really want to be t-shirt designers.

Couchpotato: That about wraps up the interview, since I probably asked too many questions already. So to finish, do you have anything you would like to add?

King Dinosaur Games: Not really, it's been (and continues to be) a fun process. I think at this time I can say that we have literally answered every single question or comment we've received from a fan, friend, or backer. We'll do our best to continue to do so as we put our heads down and finish this game. Look for a release early next year and the beta testers to get something much sooner.

Thanks for your time, and good luck with That Which Sleeps!  We're all excited to see more.