October 13, 2008

Discussing a Demigod: Q&A With Lead Designer Mike Marr
By Louis Bedigian

"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.

Can you talk about some (or all!) of the different Demigod types?

MM: Each Demigod is unique and plays completely differently. We have the Rook, a huge powerful living castle who specializes in destroying waves of enemy troops and tearing down structures to demigods that focus on buffing and protecting their team-mates, shielding them from harm and empowering them to deal even greater devastation.

Demigod is being made with the goal of having a few Demigods that are very customizable, as opposed to several that are not. How is this going, and in what range do you anticipate the final number of Demigods will be?

MM: The process of making each Demigod customizable is both enjoyable and challenging. You have to start really push the boundaries of imagination and what is achievable by engineering. With each Demigod we’re getting better at the process and it definitely shows, as some of our later Demigods have very unique gameplay mechanics. For ship, we’re anticipating eight Demigods with more available for download soon after release of the game.

What does this mean for the player? I get the game, pick a Demigod? now what? What options are available to make this Demigod my own?

MM: After you’ve picked your Demigod and begun the battle, you’ll need to decide what build you’ll be taking with your Demigod. This plays out in the skill choices as you level and the items that you acquire. You might go for a very fast attacking Demigod and capitalize on that choice by purchasing items that activate on weapon swing and have life leech. Or instead, you might focus on a very ability centric Demigod, who needs lots of mana and mana regeneration to support frequent casting.

Layered on top of this will be the Achievement items your Demigod has available, which will offer another way to customize how your Demigod is played. Maybe you’ll supplement your support Demigod with an Achievement item that provides a passive bonus to all nearby Demigods, or maybe you’ll choose to take an item which causes all of your spells to be free for a short time.

From what I've heard, only the Demigods are controllable. There are dozens of minions on the battlefield but none can be influenced by the player. What made the development team take this direction?

MM: We found the Demigods so compelling and interesting to play that we elected to play to our strengths and focus on what made the game fun and standout. Rather than go horizontal with our design, including tons of secondary features and methods of play which would “water down” the feel and design of Demigod, we elected to go vertical, striving for every aspect of fighting with a Demigod to be extremely polished and rewarding. The result is a game with epic feel and a level of polish that is true to its original design; fast-paced action combat with strategic elements.

Have you settled on the number of Demigods that can be controlled at one time?

MM: A player controls one Demigod at a time.

Demigod is very much a strategy game, but what makes it an RPG?

MM: Demigod is an RPG in the sense that we offer 25 levels, 30+ skills per Demigod, a host of items and a meta-game achievements system which allows your Demigod to grow and acquire new items over many matches.

What will the single-player campaign be like?

MM: Single-player will be a mixture of gameplay elements possessed by fighting games and racing games. Each demigod will features a single player game where they fight to ascend to the Pantheon.

Will there be different battle types available in multiplayer, or is the primary goal always to crush the opponent?

MM: There will be one battle type offered on ship – team death match. However, we offer a plethora of ways to change how the game is fought, from enforcing unique demigods, to death penalty, gold income, troop strength … the list goes on. Tons of options to change the way the game plays.

Why 10 players for multiplayer? Is that the perfect number for this game?

MM: Ten players was a technical limitation of the engine, our networking model becomes exponentially more expensive with each player. However, we’ll be looking to increase this number in future patches to the game.

Is multiplayer a free-for-all experience, or can you team with others as well?

MM: Multiplayer is a team based experience, where one squad of Demigods faces off against another.

Thank you for your time.

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