Dmitry Mitrofanov from Red Winter told us about the new Dungelot, the dangers of App Annie and SteamSpy, as well as what it takes to be a successful indie.
The first Dungelot was the debut project of Red Winter, the second was largely an experiment.
What has Shattered Lands become for the team?
A dot. My desire has always been to make good toys that people would love to play with. If something goes wrong, you need to fix the situation.
We have been discussing for a long time what can be done for the second Dungelot. It became clear that all our plans, suggestions and thoughts on this matter were reduced to a new part, that it was impractical to make them an update for the second one.
What else made you take up the third part?
A sense of responsibility to your audience. And the understatement. TouchArcade described this moment best of all. The new Dungelot is not a sequel, not a sequel, but exactly the game that I wanted to see the first part of.
According to my own feelings, the game has changed a lot globally. A lot of new features have appeared, features from the original have returned, a campaign and events have appeared. But from your point of view, as the author of the project, what is the fundamental difference between Shattered Lands and previous projects, what makes it different for you?
Completeness. Despite the presence of endless modes, this game can be played from beginning to end. It is much larger than the first two parts, huge bosses appeared in it, and of course, I personally really like the heroes’ mansion, where the trophies are stored.
By the way, I really liked the events, something like text quests from “Space Rangers”. Is it worth counting on big quests in the future or, alternatively, on the support of amateur ones?
Yes, I was inspired by them. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to make them more difficult or more. Support for amateur quests is not provided, while everything is written “hard”, but the idea is interesting.
In general, how do you feel about the idea of releasing DLC or big updates to the game. Will they? Or have you brought Dungelot to the ideal, now it’s time to take on something fundamentally new?
The answer to this question can be seen in the end of the game.
Yes, we have a big update planned. To say that I have brought Dungelot to perfection would be presumptuous. Ideals are only in the imagination. There is always something to strive for, there is always a place to polish and there is always something to edit. However, a new project is already a priority for us. We will definitely talk about him in due time.
When we talked two years ago about the release of the second part, you mentioned that publishing independently was “one of your big desires.” However, the third part came out with a publisher. What made you change your position?
Fatigue. With the release of the work does not become less, I would say, it is added. You need to count your strength. After all, these are games that two people are working on full-time.
Separately about desires. My desire to publish independently is invariable.
But are you happy that you focused on development and gave marketing/PR to the publisher’s share, would you advise other indies to follow the same path? Will you go this way yourself now?
The most difficult question.
Yes, I’m happy that I’m focusing on development at the moment.
You need to choose the path that meets the needs at a given time. If you are a novice developer, you don’t have the money to finish the product, you don’t have enough experience/vision how to finish it, then why are you generally useful, then working with a publisher may be a good option. But this is not a panacea. Nowadays, no one knows what’s best.
We live in a time when the game Undertale, developed on Game Maker by one person, a self-taught musician, is stunningly successful.
Did its developer think about the publisher? Hardly. Just doing what he liked. If he showed his game to publishers, what would happen? Nothing. Fritupley? No. Publishers who publish paid games? You can count them on the fingers of one hand. What? Would such a game suit them? Also not, or with a bunch of edits and changes, which would make it a completely different product. Could Undertale have gone unnoticed? Yes, but the price of success is always higher than the price of failure.
Nowadays, absolutely anyone can enter the market with their own game and that’s fine.
Game development is often a creative process. Selling your games is a business. That’s all.
If you can combine this and afford to do marketing, promotion, communication with the press, players and platforms on full-time, you don’t need a publisher.
And now let’s approach the question differently.
If a small indie team, whose earnings range from 0 to $ 100 thousand a year, looks at the statistics of projects earning millions in App Annie or SteamSpy, this is fundamentally wrong. There is no greater evil than these resources :)
I’m talking with a smiley face, because, of course, I’m joking. It just breaks people’s psyche. At some point, they start thinking no longer about the product, but about the fact that “this earns, we will do it”, forgetting that games are a FAN. And the mistake of some indies, including me, is that we are doing bare mechanics, not a game. Doing naked mechanics in 2016 is suicide. Games come out like mushrooms after the rain. And you can be sure – 99% of the ideas have already been thought up before you. Every day, all these experiments settle in the vastness of the network in the form of imperfections, failed projects, small inconspicuous games…
In my opinion, it is possible to be a successful indie only by being able to convey to your audience some idea, meaning, experience, putting it into a high-quality and understandable shell.
In this regard, I really liked the game This War of Mine or the domestic Naval Action project, which, although built on the same mechanics so far, but does it realistically, qualitatively, you believe in it. The Corsairs of my dreams. Or here’s another good example – the Kingdom game.
If you don’t have such ideas or experiences that you would like to share with people, then why become that noise and sand? And there is absolutely no difference whether you are with the publisher or not. There will be no audience.
Answering the last question about yourself. In the near future, I am not considering options for cooperation with publishers on new projects.
But if there is someone willing to work with a publisher with their paid game, I can recommend tinyBuild. They’re not bad guys, they’re cheeky, they want the best. And they work.
Well, the last question. I understand that the game has just been released, but there is already something to brag about in terms of indicators?
This is not a question for me, but for the publisher.
I see. Thanks for the interview!