Grotesque - Interview @ gry.o2.pl

We haven't heard much about Grotesque lately but Polish site gry.o2.pl has an interview with Silent Dreams Here's a bit on the inspiration:

Klecha (Gry.o2.pl): Approximately how long has the game been in development and how did the idea for the game come about?

Rayk Kerstan (Silent Dreams): Uhm... we started a few years after Duke Nukem 4 I think. We never worked at the game fulltime, because we also started a new company. So time runs, we had 3 or 4 new graphic versions, different storylines etc. The whole idea begins in the NWN 1 Mod AlwaysSummer Days where I tried to do a parody and adventure RPG Game. I wanted to get a new Monkey Island feeling in a RPG with cool characters, interesting story combats but also adventure puzzles. zzles.

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More information.

i really hope the game does indeed finally get released in 2009. thanks for the interview.

Several things concern me. I think he might be targetting the wrong market. Rockstar type who loves metal????? That is SO not me, or others of my vintage. They are going to produce OTHER famous RPG's on their engine?? Isn't he a little ahead of himself!! WoW type combat, you don't play your own character, but his creation?? Sorry, but despite how reasonable it looks, nothing much else appeals to me and if an Indie doesn't appeal to the core players it will have an uphill battle.

Just to let you know an adventure/rpg game wouldn't work with self made characters and you need to have pre-generated characters. You should be able to modity stats and if class isn't important to the character or storyline then that should be able to be changed also. With an adventure game the main character needs a pre-existing personality except in the case the company wants to spend a huge amount of money and time creating storylines and dialog for every type of character that you could possibly create.

In a rpg the storyline and dialog doesn't need to be catered to each specific type of character. Quests are usually either specifically catered to a certain type of character and you do the quest if you are that type, have small variations to give variety on how you do it to cater to your character type, or are generic so that all character types fit with the quest.

PS. The main difference bettween adventure and rpg games is that adventure games are more like interactive movies with little need for an imagination and rpgs are mainly based on having a structure to use your imagination in. When it comes to this game it is an adventure game that brings in parts of the rpg genre. The game has far less use of your imagination but unlike standard adventure games there is more. For example your stats are just numbers in the game but when you apply your imagination you imagine you high strength little of everything else fighter as a muscle bound fighter. The character may be something created by the creator of the game but the stats you gange yourself make that character into what you want him/her to be.

I know you probably know all of this already but unless you didn't read that they want this game as a Quest for Glory styled game with a Monkey Island twist the concerns about not being able to create your own character didn't apply to this game since this is an adventure/rpg and has different mechanics then a standard rpg.

PS. If I am wrong please disregard this post.

I hope you're right, QfG and MI are 2 of my favourite series of games!!

That description sounds like me, although I don't actually play guitar (no, not even the various guitar games, despite being a huge fan of hard rock/metal). However, when a game has been in production almost as long as Duke Nukem, it takes a lot more than a main character I can relate to, to get my hopes up. I'll be watching it though.

Corwin said:

Rockstar type who loves metal????? That is SO not me, or others of my vintage.

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He's German. For Germany (and I think also many other european countries) metal and fantasy is oftenly consumed by the same target groups. Nuclear Blast (biggest european metal label, e.g. Nightwish, In Flames, Hammerfall, Dimmu Borgir) is advertising regulary in several german fantasy game releases (Legend, NWN2, Drakensang, etc.). So for the european market this will surely find resonance. Of course I can't speak for the rest of the world.

They are going to produce OTHER famous RPG's on their engine??
Isn't he a little ahead of himself!!

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It's not his own engine. Vision 3D engine is a license engine from german developer Trinigy. It was often used e. g. by Spellbound, the guys who now make Gothic 4. They used it for Desperados 2, Helldorado and Airline Tycoon (what engine they use for Gothic 4, I can't say. They afaik didn't tell). I think Ubisoft also used it for an installtion of their settlers series. AFAIK Vision is free to use for developers as long as they don't have a publishing contract. They have to pay when they make revenue out of their product. The engine is also approved for XBox and PS3.

http://www.trinigy.net

indie ?? that is an indie titlte?? I could never have guessed judging from the screenshots....

GothicGothicness said:

indie ?? that is an indie titlte?? I could never have guessed judging from the screenshots....

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Not every Indie game has to have mid 90s boring and eye cancer creating graphics *run for cover*

Avantenor said:

He's German. For Germany (and I think also many other european countries) metal and fantasy is oftenly consumed by the same target groups. Nuclear Blast (biggest european metal label, e.g. Nightwish, In Flames, Hammerfall, Dimmu Borgir) is advertising regulary in several german fantasy game releases (Legend, NWN2, Drakensang, etc.). So for the european market this will surely find resonance. Of course I can't speak for the rest of the world.

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Yes, sadly, from my point of view. It isn't my personal taste at all.

I think a similar thing can be said for "Brütal Legend", a game by the "Psychonauts" makers. http://www.brutallegendgame.com

Alrik Fassbauer said:

Yes, sadly, from my point of view. It isn't my personal taste at all.

I think a similar thing can be said for "Brütal Legend", a game by the "Psychonauts" makers. http://www.brutallegendgame.com

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Well, Brütal Legend is a little different, as it is fantasy mixed with metal for story reasons. From what I've seen it doesn't look half as corny as, say, the Sacred 2 intro video... I'm not very fond of "standard" fantasy with rock guitars slapped on it for no apparent reason.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

Yes, sadly, from my point of view. It isn't my personal taste at all.

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What's so sad about people having a different taste?

Nothing, but don't expect me to buy your game if it doesn't appeal to my tastes in some way or other!!

Still not sure what to make of this - surfed over to their site and read the game description...promised an RPG that will give you all the things that the 'big boys" are not (yes, I though *R*pg!) And then they start talking about combat like Guild Wars, WoW, with combo moves etc etc.. I was almost sold until that point. I like stats, strategic combat (that you can pause!), an intriguing, inmmersuive storyline or failing that something extraordinary like the Witcher, which (oops) I thoroughly enjoyed (barring 1 or 2 irritating combats), CoC etc. We already *have* tons of games with real-time pointy-eared elven archers, mages throwing around fireballs etc etc. Unless they really differentiate themselves, how will they compete with existing offerings in the "action" RPG segment, which is where they seem to be headed? I hope Vince W get's AoD out of the door quickly, not sure I can survive on recycling my old games much longer :-(