“When the scale of your creatures ranges from five stories tall to three feet, there are some very interesting problems with getting that to play well.”
Early next year, Stardock and Gas Powered Games will release a different kind of real-time strategy game: Demigod. With massive, lengthy battles and enormous characters storming the battlefield, Demigod features some of the most unique and interesting designs ever seen in a video game. But where did these ideas come from?
“We begin by individually brainstorming what we think are the most compelling epic characters we can imagine,” said Mike Marr, Lead Designer. “From there we all meet and discuss the ideas, narrowing the pool down to just a couple. At that point art works on concepts and design works on abilities and background information. At that point we’ll review and see which Demigod is speaking to us the most. The one that speaks the most to us is the one we’ll start actual creation of. The other ideas are filed away and reviewed again when we go to create a new demigod.”
When you have giant beasts walking around, wreaking havoc on the world in concept, how do you take that idea and bring it into a game? What are some of the challenges that came up?
Mike Marr: When the scale of your creatures ranges from five stories tall to three feet, there are some very interesting problems with getting that to play well. For example, The Rook, our largest unit, cannot cleanly attack things around his feet, which is the appropriate melee range for smaller units. So, do you push the smaller units out to a range that is appropriate for The Rook to attack them, or do you leave them near his feet? And if they are near his feet, how can a player see them when the Rook is between them and the camera?
Did you find that the camera had to be pulled further back than normal? Also, did this affect how the camera is controlled?
MM: For Demigod and the way our engine works, we allow for complete freedom of the camera. Zoom in or out as much as you like. The only changes we’ve made to our camera is modifications to the field of view and how far the camera looked to the horizon- but these camera modifications were made primarily to help accomplish the epic feel that is so much a part of what Demigod represents.
In trying to balance the Demigods’ gameplay mechanics, what issues have you encountered? Are they difficult? Too easy? Too big, perhaps? Or something else?
MM: The largest balance challenge with the Demigods is actually coming up with new and interesting mechanics for each one. We often have to go back to the drawing board multiple times on each Demigod to accomplish a completely unique and compelling experience. The Torchbearer for example has been an ongoing balance and design task for months now. Almost all of our Demigods have gone through two complete design iterations.
