Fatsharks Vermintide har sålt över en miljon exemplar och de publicerade nyligen en Q&A med sin Creative Director Anders De Geer. Du kan läsa den nedan.
How did the idea of making a Warhammer game come up?
We had a meeting regarding what the next “big” project could be, and a lot of ideas were thrown around. We knew that we wanted to make a first person co-op game, but had yet to nail down a setting. The world of Warhammer Fantasy came up as something that would be really fun to work with, but since we are a small independent studio, the idea felt far-fetched and almost impossible to achieve. However, after the meeting, I could not simply let the idea go, so I sent an email to Games Workshop, and as it turned out, they loved the idea, and the ball started rolling from there.
What was the most challenging – or even overwhelming – part of making a game in an “already invented universe”?
The first thing you need to do when working with an existing IP is to learn to love it, and that can be a bit of a challenge sometimes. In this case, we were already massive, long time fans. We wanted to make everything and go everywhere in this amazing universe, so our biggest challenge was in terms of scope. ‘How much can we do, and still do it justice?’
What was the biggest challenge with Vermintide and how did you go about solving it?
From the beginning we knew that one of the biggest challenges would be the melee combat in first person view. We spent a lot of time with representatives from all departments prototyping that. We needed a system that would work both versus singular enemies as well as hundreds.
The melee combat system involves a lot of different features that needs to work together to feel just right.
Why did you structure to story the way you did?
Since Vermintide is a co-operative four player game designed for replayability, we did not want to structure the story in classic videogame form with cutscenes etc. We needed a story that could be told mostly during gameplay, so we built the narrative around in game VO and with simple story concepts like survival and fending off an invasion, where the overarching goals are very clear. It was important for us that the hero characters would represent the diverse world of Warhammer Fantasy, in the shape of their heritage, personalities and outlook on the situation. To add to the narrative, we wrote extensive backstories for all the characters, and structured the game in acts to represent the progression of the war against the Skaven, as well as character development. Our dysfunctional group of heroes do not really know each other at the start, and their relationships evolve through the acts of the game.
Did you have a point where it simply “clicked”, and the gameplay of Vermintide came together during development? How long did it take to get there?
We had many small moments where it felt like we were on the right track (and some where we were off-track too), but around the time for our first showing of the game at GDC (Game Developer Conference), the whole team came together and set up the first short demo, and I think that’s when it clicked for most of us.
Vermintide sold over one million units, when did you actually exhale and realize that people liked your game?
Me, personally, I haven’t exhaled yet! To twist a famous saying: With a million units sold, comes a great responsibility!
What is the thing you are most happy with in the game?
This might sound like an easy question to answer, but for me it is really hard to pick one thing. I am really happy with how things work together, the visuals, the gameplay, the levels, the characters, the sound, the music. I’m really happy that it feels true to Warhammer Fantasy..
Anything you didn’t expect the players to achieve?
The players surprise me often, but I have to say I didn’t expect players to finish all the levels on the highest difficulty with white weapons (lowest tier weapons).