作者：Erik Kain

《颓废年代》是一款艰难的游戏。我都记不清自己在游戏中死了多少回。游戏中的战斗是我所遇到过的最具挑战性的任务，甚至是基于文本的游戏环节（例如潜入城堡）也充满挑战，甚至有可能将玩家引向最终的死亡。

《颓废年代》并不像是一款现代角色扮演游戏；既没有戏剧化的内容，也未具有快速的游戏节奏。它提供给玩家大量的文本内容，更不用提反复加载机制。

从根本上来看，这是一款以罗马为背景的回合制战术奇幻RPG。这是一款带有深层次故事，间接选择，并且未提供任何任务暗示的单人玩家RPG。换句话说，它便是MMORPG的对立面。

作为独立游戏工作室（Iron Tower）所创造出的独立游戏，《颓废年代》与市场上的其它游戏有所不同。从技术上来看它便是特别的，我们可以尝试它的演示版本去感受游戏所呈现出的体验。

我有幸能向开发者Vince Weller询问一些有关这款游戏的问题，以及他为何决定制作一款如此特殊的RPG。

Forbes：请跟我们分享一些有关《颓废年代》的内容。游戏的背景是什么，为何你会选择这样的背景？这款游戏的名字源自哪里？

Weller：这是一款奇幻角色扮演游戏，其背景世界的灵感是源自罗马帝国的衰败。“奇幻角色扮演游戏”并不能透露任何内容，所以我将进行详细描述，从未而为你呈现出最逼真的游戏画面。

这是一款硬核游戏。这意味着什么？如果可用性意味着“任何人都能玩游戏，包括你的祖父，邻居家的猫等等”，那么硬核便恰恰相反。这是一款面向特定市场（因为太过利基性小众化而在很早之前便被遗忘了）的游戏。甚至在一些偏远的地方？不管朝哪个方向前进都是一片空旷，只有一个废弃的加油站和一间简陋的路边餐馆。这便是我们的利基市场。我们来到了这里并将“销售点”设置于此。

传统意义上，许多奇幻RPG都是关于打打杀杀，在地牢中探索，并成为英雄。当然，提供不用动脑的娱乐并帮助玩家实现愿望并没有错，但是我们想要尝试不同的内容。引用一个评论者的表述来说就是：

“如果你想玩一款能够带来巨大挑战的重金属角色扮演游戏体验的话，那么这款游戏便是你的最佳选择。如果你不是这么想的话就算了。因为这也是一款较为‘邪恶的’游戏，不仅缺少道德元素同时还拥有残忍的系统。如果你想成为故事中的英雄，那就不要考虑这款游戏。如果你想成为阿蒂亚（游戏邦注：凯撒的侄女，势力，任性且狡猾，毫无道德观念）或一名强大的玩家，这便是你的最佳RPG。”

在我们的游戏中，玩家并不会专注于杀死怪兽，而是更倾向于应对同伴和同派系的人，并努力获得生存（说起来容易做起了难），为自己争取荣誉。为了适应这些计划，情节和背景，我们提供给玩家各种选择，包括各种任务选择和各种不同的前进道路。你（和你的行动）将决定自己的朋友和敌人。并不存在任何默认的好人和坏人。

而关于背景，我认为一个文明的衰败便是很有趣的题材。文明社会总是努力向前发展着。

当我在研究游戏的材料时，我想到了一个很有趣的理念，叫做“守法主义”。这算是古老的中国哲学原理，即认定人的本性是“邪恶的”，拥有一些自私的行为，因此需要设定一套规则去约束他们，并确保人与人之间的友好相待。《颓废年代》是发生在一个没有法律和道德约束的世界，这里的人可以自由地做任何想做的事。

这款游戏提供给玩家一个非常有趣且丰富的空间进行探索，并伴随着相关的故事叙述。

而关于游戏名称，“颓废”仅仅只是在描写世界的状态，即道德衰退的一个时期。而“年代”则是关于关于时期——就像启蒙时期，复兴时期等等。

《颓废年代》是一款带有实时冒险和各种文本选择的回合制RPG。你能否跟我们说说有关游戏的设计决定。是什么原因激发你去创造这款游戏？它与其它RPG相比有何不同？

早前的游戏，如《黑暗之地》便广泛使用了文本选择。它们通过在特定时刻呈现出各种可能的行动而营造出更逼真的游戏氛围，并提高了游戏的沉浸式体验。

我玩过Black Isle的一款经典RPG，即《异域镇魂曲》，在游戏的早期玩家需要应对一个巨大的骷髅，即太平间的向导。

你可以与他们抗击或者向他们学习（学习盔甲和咒语的使用），然后尝试着去破除结界（游戏邦注：将摧毁骷髅）。你需要足够聪明才能够想出解决方法，或者你也可以在布满灰层的书籍中寻求帮助。如果没有文本选择或细节描述你便不可能做到这些。我想我就是在那一时刻爱上了这款游戏，而它也成为我后来创造自己游戏的重要灵感来源——我说的不是背景或故事，而是游戏开发者用于丰富游戏内容的方法。

还有其它值得提及的设计元素则是战斗难度。这是一款复杂的游戏。

战斗难度是与背景整合在一起的。你不能说这是一个残酷的世界，然后让玩家按照自己的想法去滥杀无辜。游戏必须具有一定的难度，并且让玩家能够选择自己的战斗。

你并不是一个能够击败任何人而拯救世界的强大英雄，但是我们却很难去强化这一理念。如果只是创造出一款简单的游戏，我们便等于再次回到强大的英雄设置中。

这是一款单人游戏吗？或者你想要在游戏中添加一群同伴？

出于故事原因，这算是一款单人游戏。玩家将尝试着与一群伙伴从世界最底层开始奋斗。

你是如何想出这款游戏的规则系统？你的目标是什么，并且你是从哪里汲取灵感的？

我们设定了许多目标：

不存在任何无意义的属性和技能，即使是对于战士而言。举个例子来说吧，Perception能够提高玩家的击中率，而Intelligence能够帮助玩家更快速地学习；不同的武器类别将起着不同的作用（不只是外表上的不同）。这些具有独特的被动能力能够与玩家的技能一起发展。例如，长矛虽然对空间具有更大的要求但是却能够有效牵制敌人，阻止他们的靠近。

宝剑便是一种很棒的武器，能够与Critical Strike技能一起使用。比起保守的剑与盾的组合，你可以变成“剑圣”而专注于进攻（暂且不顾防御）——这主要是得益于较高的击中率。十字弓虽然要求手动加载，但却能够提供给玩家各种各样的功能（游戏邦注：如单手射击，双弹射击或者反复射击等等）。

行动点。玩家将获得行动点并决定在每个回合中应该做什么或不应该做什么。

战术型战斗。通常情况下，在RPG中扮演一名战士是很常见的体验。玩家必须在每一轮游戏中展开近身攻击，并在敌人分享你的挫折与死亡时点击他们。我们希望玩家能在游戏过程中做出各种决定，进行各种不同的攻击（能够带来不同的利益），并将不可能的战斗变成真正的战斗。

所以我们拥有3种基本的攻击，即快速攻击，正常攻击和力量攻击。然后玩家需要瞄准那些以特定身体部位为目标并具有不同效能的攻击。例如，射击腿部能让敌人走不了路，即减缓他们的前进速度。瞄准手臂能够让他们放下武器，瞄准头部能让他们毙命等等。除此之外还有其它特定的武器攻击，如刺穿身体，引起恐慌或制造爆炸等等。

我们还拥有网，套牛绳以及各种炼金术混合物等，所以玩家拥有许多战术选择能够快速改变事态发展；但同时他们也需要花些时间去精通各种系统，并尽可能发挥各种工具的功效。

权衡。这是系统的基础。玩家可以以防御去换取攻击，以破坏力换取速度，以命中率换取破坏力等等。

举个例子来说吧，假设你拥有12个行动点（基于你的灵巧度），并且最擅长使用剑。你拥有3种类型的剑：短剑（罗马短剑和埃及扣派刀），长剑（波斯弯剑和大夏阔剑）以及双手剑。

短剑的标准攻击范围是4AP，长剑是5AP而双手剑则是6AP。也就是玩家使用双手剑和长剑（拥有更高的击中率）只需发动两次进攻，而使用短剑则需发动三次进攻（拥有更更高的击中率）。现在你也可以使用上述所提到的快速攻击和力量攻击（以命中率换取破坏力），所以现在你的攻击范围为3-7AP。

你可以使用双手剑发动力量攻击，然后再发动快速攻击，或者你也可以使用短剑发起4次快速攻击等等。这都属于玩家可以自己定制的内容。

轻装上阵的快速战士vs.全副武装但却行动缓慢的战士。比起“盔甲会保护你不被击中”的传统观念，其实盔甲会放慢你的移动速度从而让你不能有效地避开敌人的攻击，但是它也能消除更多破坏力。因此你可以用移动性和躲闪去换取更高的保护性，反之亦然。

玩家也可以用破坏力和更高的武器技能去换取炼金术和锻造系统。锻造系统能够完善你的装置，让你更好地创造定制武器和盔甲。炼金术更加万能，既能提供各种各样的毒药，同时还能发射更加奇特的燃烧弹和黑火药。

选择和结果。所有的一切都是以这种方式而形成的，即选择某一事物便会产生相对应的结果，不管好坏，并让你希望能够从中获得更多。游戏中没有什么内容是属于装饰品，任何属性和技能都会对游戏玩法产生各种影响。

所以当你知道自己想创造什么时，你的前进方向便更加明确了。而关于灵感，我便不得不提《Fallout》等PnP游戏以及我们所玩过的每一款RPG。它们都教会了我们一些东西：好的想法，错失的机遇以及各种不能做的事。

但是我的意思并不是我们所创造的系统便是“最棒的”，因为它体现出了这些经验教训。这是一种较为主观的看法，也许在某些人眼中是糟糕的设计，换成在其他人眼中便是最棒的理念。

所以游戏到底有多大？玩家每次所获得的游戏体验是否都会不同？

多大？游戏中设置了2个地点，并包含了3座城镇。城镇中具有各种派系，任务和战斗中心。而其它地点中还设有废墟，较小的定居点以及站前的各种设施。

是的，玩家每次所获得的游戏体验都会不同。因为玩家可以在游戏中做出各种选择并朝着不同方向前进，所以将大大提升游戏的重玩性。玩家将作为雇佣兵开始游戏，而比起作为商人，Noble House的长官或者刺客，加入帝国卫队将带给玩家完全不同点体验，不同的任务，不同内容和看法。

游戏中共有7种背景选择，即长官，刺客，雇佣兵，小偷，商人，博学士和骗子，以及7种不同的任务线，3间Noble House和4个派系：商人，刺客，小偷和军人。

游戏中的任务线是相互交织着的，并且组成了一个更大且更重要的故事，所以只玩一次游戏的玩家将只能从单一的视角去看待其中的种种事件，即受限于默认设定。玩家需要多次玩游戏才能真正理解怎样的选择才是最好的，并将所有内容整合在一起，而做出最具影响力的选择。

这款游戏使用的是哪种收益模式？你是如何想到这种模式，并且为何要使用这种模式？

我们使用的收益模式其实很简单：让玩家尝试演示版本（游戏邦注：大约包含25%的游戏内容），如果玩家喜欢的话便可以购买游戏。其中并不存在任何微交易。我们全靠自己出资，也就意味着多年来都制作游戏都是我们的一种兼职工作。

现在我们已经完成了演示版本的制作，玩家可以进行尝试，并感受我们所提供的内容。游戏已经开始接受预购了，如果有任何读者想要尝试我们的演示版本的话，就请行动起来吧。

你可能会想说为什么不选择Kickstarter去募集资金。老实说，这就像是一种攫取现金的方法。我并不是在指责像inXile和Obsidian等工作室—-我支持所有的3个项目。他们都需要资金去维持工作室的运行并给员工发放工资。

比起那些试图再创Klondike淘金热潮的人，我们更希望采取不同的玩法。我们需要先证明自己，即创造出真正值得游戏的作品，然后才开口向玩家要钱。

之后还有什么完善？是否就是让玩家生成各种内容？

这一点我们目前还没有计划。不过就像其它环节那样，我们也需要多花点时间去做好这一点（如让玩家能够制定冒险模块而不是添加新盔甲模式），而我们也很乐意在历经多年时间完成游戏后再花时间去完善它。

游戏现在正处于公测阶段，接下来你有什么打算？

需要纠正的是：是前3个地点处于公测阶段。我们希望玩家能够进行尝试并提供相关反馈，告诉我们哪些内容是无价值的。从那时以来我们就已经更新了2次演示版本，即基于玩家反馈做出了相应的改变。

而现在我们正致力于剩下的工作，即完善任务和战斗。当你让玩家去杀死潜伏于山洞附近的怪兽时，你不需要附加任何故事。当你提供给玩家一些更复杂的内容时，你便需要确保自己是尽最大的能力在执行（有可能你的最大能力也不能带来更好结果，所以你需要回到之前的阶段再次尝试）。

我们将面向那些在在这几个月内预购了游戏的玩家发行第二个城市及其周边位置的内容。如此我们便能够尽早获得反馈并确定游戏的最终发行日期。

创造一款独立游戏的最大挑战是什么？

坚守信念。创造一款独立游戏就意味着多年来致力于兼职工作。即拥有第二份苛刻的工作，不能带给你多少利益，并且会让你怀疑自己是否能够走到最后。你必须对自己所做的事充满信心，相信自己有能力去完成它，最重要的是，你必须相信自己的眼光，即使游戏不能给你带来多大的收益，但至少你能够感受到它的价值。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

‘Age Of Decadence’ Developer Talks Indie Game Design, Old-School RPGs

By Erik Kain

Age of Decadence is a hard game. I’ve been killed so many times I’ve lost count. Combat is among the most challenging I’ve ever encountered in a game, and even the text-based portions of the game—sneaking into a castle, for instance—are rife with challenges that often lead to your untimely demise.

The game isn’t like most modern role-playing games. It’s neither cinematic nor fast-paced. It requires you to read a great deal, not to mention reload.

Basically it’s a tactical, turn-based fantasy RPG with a Roman-inspired setting. It’s a single-player RPG with a deep story, consequential choices, and no hint of “Kill Ten Goblin” fetch quests. In other words, it’s basically the antithesis of the MMORPG.

As an indie game developed by an indie studio, Iron Tower, Age of Decadence is unlike any other game on the market. And while technically it isn’t actually on the market yet, you can play the demo and get a pretty good feel for what it has to offer.

I’d only recommend doing so if you’re up for a challenge, however. This is not a game for the impatient or the action-minded. Quite the contrary.

I had the opportunity to ask developer Vince Weller some questions about the game, and why he chose to make this particular type of RPG. His very in-depth answers are below.

Forbes: Tell me a little bit about Age of Decadence. What’s the setting and why did you choose that setting? Where did the name come from?

Weller: It’s a fantasy role-playing game set in a world inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire. Nowadays, ‘fantasy role-playing game’ tells you absolutely nothing, so let me elaborate to give your readers an accurate picture.

It’s a hardcore game. What does it mean? Well, if accessible means ‘a game that can be enjoyed by everyone, including your grandma and the neighbors’ cat’, then hardcore would be the exact opposite of that. It’s a game made for a very specific market, a market abandoned long ago simply because it’s a niche within a niche. Even been in the middle of nowhere? Endless empty land stretching out in every direction, an antique gas station, and a diner that says, “I bet you a silver dollar you ain’t man enough to eat the special and live to tell the tale”. Well, that’s our niche. We’ve moving in and setting up shop there.

Traditionally, many fantasy RPGs are about killing things, clearing up dungeons, and being a hero. Now, there is nothing wrong with mindless fun and wish fulfillment, but we serve a different meal here. Quoting from one of the reviews:

“Well, if you want a hardcore, heavy metal roleplaying experience that challenges you, this is the ticket. Otherwise, take a pass. The game is vicious, both in its lack of morality and its merciless systems. If you want to be the hero of a story, run and don’t look back. If you want to be Attia of the Julii or be a power player, this is your RPG.”

The focus of the game is not on killing monsters, but rather on dealing with fellow humans and factions, trying to survive – easier said than done – and making a name for yourself. Naturally, to accommodate all that scheming, plotting, and backstabbing, we give the player plenty of choices, from multiple solutions to quests to different paths you can take through the game. You (and your actions) will determine who your friends and enemies are. There are no default good and bad guys.

As for the setting, I believe that the fall of civilization is a very interesting period. I see civilized society as an attempt to get along. What happens when the artificial restraints fail?

When I was researching some material for the game, I came upon an interesting concept called Legalism. It’s an ancient Chinese philosophy that teaches that people are inherently “evil” (for the lack of a better word) and inclined toward selfish behavior (big surprise there) and thus, a set of laws is required to keep them in check and make sure they play nice with each other. Well, the world of the Age of Decadence is a lawless and amoral one, where people are free to do what they do best, apparently.

It provides an interesting, in my humble opinion, and rich canvas to explore, tell stories, and just have fun with.

As for the name, decadence merely describes the state of the world – a period of moral decline. The Age of is a play on other ages – reason, enlightenment, renaissance, etc.

Age of Decadence is a turn-based RPG with real-time adventure and many text-based choices. Tell me about your design decisions for the game. What inspired the game? How does it compare to other RPGs?

Old games like Darklands, for example, used text-based choices quite liberally. They add a lot to the atmosphere and immersion (assuming one likes reading) by greatly increasing the number of possible actions at any given moment and enriching a game.

I remember playing Planescape: Torment, a classic Black Isle’s RPG – don’t forget to check Brian Fargo’s Kickstarter for Torment’s spiritual successor – and there was a moment early in the beginning, when you had to deal with giant skeletons, animated as guardians of the Mortuary.

You could simply fight them or you could study them, study the armor and spells on it, and then try to dispel the enchantments (which would cause the skeletons to collapse). You needed either very high Intelligence to figure it out or a dusty old tome you could consult for help. You can’t do such things without text-based options and detailed descriptions. I think I fell in love with the game at that very moment and Torment was certainly one of the inspirations – not the setting or story, but the way they used writing to enrich the game.

Another design aspect that’s worth mentioning is combat difficulty. It’s a hard game.

Combat difficulty is integrated into the setting. You can’t say that the world is harsh and unforgiving and then allow the player to kill everyone who looks at him or her funny. The game has to be hard, dying should be easy, and you should have reasons to pick your fights.

You aren’t a powerful hero who can defeat anyone and save the world and it is the difficulty that reinforces this notion. Make the game easier and we’re back to the powerful hero setup.

Is this a solo game, or will you be able to build up a party of companions?

It’s a solo game for story-telling reasons. You’re trying to work your way up in the world and doing it with a bunch of buddies and romantic interests wouldn’t fit into what we’re trying to do.

How did you devise the rule system for the game? What were you aiming for and what did you draw on for inspiration?

We were aiming for quite a lot:

No useless stats and skills, even for a fighter. For example, Perception increases your chance to hit, whereas Intelligence helps you learn faster (bonus skill points for every 20 points);Different weapon classes should play differently (i.e. more than a cosmetic difference). They have unique passive abilities that grow with your skill. For example, spears require room but can keep opponents at bay, preventing them from getting close.

Swords are a good weapon to use with Critical Strike skill. Instead of going for a conservative sword n shield combo, you can play a “kensai” – sacrifice defense and focus exclusively on offense, boosted by high “to hit” and critical strike chances.Crossbows require manual reload but offer versatility (one handed, double shot, repeater, etc), and so on.

Action Points. You’re given action points and you decide what you have and don’t have time to do during your turn. Works well with the next item:

Tactical combat. Quite often, playing a fighter in RPGs is fairly uneventful. You have your melee attack(s) per round and you click on enemies until they share your frustration and die. We wanted you to make decisions on the fly and be able to do different attacks that offer different benefits and can turn an impossible fight into a fight where you actually have a chance (there are no easy fights).

So, we have 3 basic attacks: fast, normal, power. Then you have aimed attacks which target specific body parts and have different effects. For example, shooting at legs can cripple your enemies and slow their advance. Targeting arms will disarm your opponents, targeting heads will knock them out, and so on. Then, there are special, weapon-specific attacks, like impale, flurry, burst, etc.

On top of that we have nets, bolas, various alchemical concoctions, so the player gets a lot of tactical options that can change the odds (that are usually stacked against the player) very quickly, but it takes some time to master the system and grasp the full effect of tools at your disposal.

Trade-offs. That’s the foundation of the system. You trade defense for offense, trade damage for speed, trade to hit chance for damage and vice versa.

For example, let’s say you have 12 action points (determined by your Dexterity). Let’s say that you specialize in swords. You have 3 types of swords: short swords (Roman gladius and Egyptian khopesh – the sickle sword), long swords (a Persian curved sword and a Bactrian broadsword), and a two handed scimitar.

Sword sword’s normal attack is 4AP, long sword – 5AP, two hander – 6AP. So, you can attack twice with a two hander, twice with a long sword (but with a higher to-hit chance), and three times with a short sword (even higher to-hit chance). Now, you can also do the above mentioned fast and power attacks (trade to hit chance for damage), so now your range is 3-7AP.

You can do a power attack with a two-hander and follow up with a fast attack, or you can do 4 fast attacks with a sword sword, or anything in between. There is a great degree of customization there.

Fast, lightly-armored fighters vs slow, heavily-armored fighters. Instead of a more traditional “armor makes you harder to hit” approach, armor actually reduces your mobility and thus makes it harder to evade attacks, but it absorbs more damage. Thus you trade mobility and dodge for higher protection or vice versa.

Alchemy and crafting system are alternatives to raw damage and high weapon skills to justify investment. Crafting improves your gear and allows you to create custom weapons and armor. Alchemy is more versatile, ranging from good ol’ fashioned poison to more exotic liquid fire and black powder bombs.

Choices & Consequences. Everything was done in such a way that choosing something will have consequences, good and bad, and make you wish you had more of this or that stat. Nothing is cosmetic, every stat and skill has a noticeable effect on gameplay.

So, when you know exactly what you want to create, your path is more or less clear. As for the inspirations, I’d say Fallout, various PnP games, and to a lesser extent, every RPG we’ve ever played. They all teach you something: good ideas, missed opportunities, even what not to do.

Mind you, I’m not saying that the system we’ve developed is “the best ever”, because it reflects all these lessons. Such things are subjective and what one would consider bad design, another would consider a great idea.

So how big is this game? And is it an experience that will differ drastically from one play-through to the next?

How big? Twenty locations, including 3 towns. The towns are faction, quest, and conflict hubs. Other locations are ruins, small settlements, and pre-war facilities.

And yes, your experience will differ drastically from one playthrough to the next. Replayability is actually a feature here due to the number of choices you can make and paths you can take. Starting the game as a mercenary and joining the Imperial Guards will give a completely different experience, different quests, different content and points of view than, say, playing the game as a merchant (less buying low and selling high, more scheming and plotting to gain advantages for the guild), a praetor serving a Noble House, or an assassin.

Overall, there are 7 backgrounds: praetor, assassin, mercenary, thief, merchant, loremaster, and grifter (con-artist), and 7 very different questlines: 3 Noble Houses and 4 factions: merchants, assassins, thieves, and the army.

The questlines are interwoven and form a large, overarching story, so playing the game only once will be like witnessing events from a single perspective, which is limited by default. You will have to play the game several times to understand what’s going on better, piece everything together, and see the full effect of the choices you make.

What sort of revenue model will the game use? How are you funding it and why?

The model is a simple one: try the demo (roughly 25% of the game’s content), if you like it, buy the game. No micro-transactions and the likes. We’re funding it ourselves, which means that we were working on the game part-time for years.

Now that the demo is out and people can play the game and see exactly what we’re offering, we’re taking pre-orders, so if some of the readers want to give the demo a try, we’d certainly appreciate that.

Why not Kickstarter, you mean? Feels like a cash grab more often than not, to be honest. Mind you, I’m not talking about established studios like inXile and Obsidian – I backed all 3 projects. They truly need the funds to keep the studios in business and people employed.

At the same time, way too many people are reenacting the Klondike gold rush and jumping on that wagon, hoping to get some too. We simply prefer a different approach. Prove yourself first, deliver something playable, then ask for money.

What about modding? Will there be player generated content?

Not planned at the moment. Like with anything else, doing it right (i.e. allowing players to make adventure modules rather than adding new armor models and aesthetically pleasing breasts) takes time and we pretty much ran out of that after spending years on the game itself. Maybe for our next project.

The game is currently in open beta. What happens next?

Correction: the first 3 locations are in open beta. We wanted people to play it and offer their feedback, which has proven to be invaluable. We’ve updated the demo twice since then, tweaking the system and making quite a few changes based on the feedback.

Right now we’re working on the rest of the game, tweaking and polishing quests and combat encounters. When you send the player to kill monsters lurking in a nearby cave for no reason, you don’t need much of a story. When you offer the player something more complex, you have to make sure that you’re doing your absolute best (and often, even your best isn’t good enough so you have to go back and try harder).

The second city with a number of surrounding locations will be released to those who have pre-ordered the game in a couple of months. This would allow us to get feedback early and make sure that we’re on schedule for the end of year release date.

What’s the biggest challenge about making an independent game?

Keeping faith. Making an independent game means working on it part-time for years. It’s like having a very demanding second job that doesn’t pay you anything but makes you wonder if you will ever see the finish line. You have to believe in what you’re doing, you have to believe in your ability to do it, and most importantly, you have to believe in your vision and that even if the game fails commercially, it was worth it.(source:forbes)