“We expect indie projects of a larger caliber at the end of this year”: King on when to expect hits on Defold

Hi! The last time we talked closely with you about the engine was in April. How has the engine changed during this time, what new and interesting things have appeared in it?

Oleg PridyukHi !

We release a new version of the engine every two weeks. Both internal and external users receive it. Everything is fair. You can track all the changes since April on our forum.

And I would like to note the full support of WebGL within Facebook. Everyone’s favorite Blossom Blast Saga, which is just made on Defold, has no backup option on Flash and will not. The game works even in a mobile browser.

Yes, the more I talk to platforms and industry people, the more I see the point in micro-games for a mobile browser. An example of the future that we support today.

And what to expect in the coming months (is it worth counting on visual scripting or is the engine still only for big boys)?

Even during the job interview, I was impressed by the leaders of Defold, who very clearly see and feel for whom they are developing Defold. The work goes forward without looping and without looking back at the change of vision.

Defold
To get the best result with Defold, there must be at least one smart tech guy in the game team who is ready, so to speak, to open the chakras.

Here I want to note that we do not sell the engine, we do not monetize it. We need teams that support the philosophy of our engine.

It is clear that when the engine was first introduced, the number of teams that were seriously developing something on it was calculated in units. How things are now. How much are developers worth under the banner of Defold?

We released the engine to the public in mid-March. Now we have September. More than 20 small games from indie studios have been released on Defold – teams are trying out technology, experimenting. We expect indie projects of a larger caliber at the end of this year and the beginning of next.

A good example is “Sukhov vs Zombies” (working title) from the wonderful Smash Bash team. The guys are making this little game on Defold, they quickly released a demo version. And for a large desktop strategy, Smash Bash, the development technology is still in the process of being selected.

“Sukhov vs Zombies”
We look at the results of technical tests, openly discuss our roadmaps with external teams.

And in no case do we encourage you to use our engine – it must be a conscious and cold-blooded choice of the team.

Now I am actively communicating with at least 5 teams only from our region who are testing Defold for large projects.

As for specific projects… I will try to pick up games of different caliber and quality:

• Hammerwatch Coliseum is a mobile remake of the popular slasher from Swedish indie Hammarhaja.
• Pomenia is a game based on a popular Finnish fairy tale with art from the original artist. Developed by the Finnish Seepia Games.
• Robo is a beautiful jigsaw puzzle from Lithuanian Sneaky Box.
• Bring Me Cakes is an interpretation of the famous fairy tale about Little Red Riding Hood and pies from Belarusian developers.

And here’s what the young guys from Chelyabinsk did in a couple of days. It’s an inspiration for other young guys to get together and do something cool.

Bring Me CakesWhat is King itself?

We all know very well that Blossom Blast Saga was made specifically on Defold, but as for other games? Since the beginning of 2016, the company has released enough projects, but we have not heard that they were made on Defold.

Currently, several teams are working at Defold in Stockholm and Malmo. Barcelona, Berlin and London are conducting technical tests.

You play our “Sagas”, you see how much attention to detail and work there is. It takes years of development. And the season is coming soon, when big companies like to release new games, right? Maybe closer to White Nights I will be able to share specifics on our new games.

The Defold game jam has just started, and you told us that Russia is in second place in terms of the number of registrations. And can you show the general statistics (the top five countries with percentages), how many developers are in which region?

The numbers need to puzzle our marketers. Find and puzzle. I promise to prepare the numbers for White Nights. By the way, this will be a very rare conference where the bizdevs from King will be present.

Hammerwatch Coliseum
But there are figures that you can see for yourself.

Now there are 59 projects in the jam of the Russian-speaking community. 15 prizes have been prepared for them, including a grant for two years of study at Scream School, brand new iPad Pro, invitations to White Nights and many other wonderful things.

There are 79 people in the Russian-language Defold chat in Slack now – they are actively working, sharing tips, helping each other, communicating with King employees in neighboring public places. Is it a lot or a little? The chat was created together with the beginning of the jam on August 27. The dynamics are excellent, in my opinion.