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If there's one genre that can resonate with older gamers it's the simulation of being gods, and that's part of what Broken Empire's upcoming game, Traces of Gods, aims to capture. David interviewed 2D artist Ana Andres and asked her about previous inspiration, synergy with other titles of similar concept and her clean, schematic game design.
"Hi friends, I'm at the BCN Game Fest, formerly known as the IndieDevDay.
I'm here joined by Ana, who's telling me a little bit more about Traces of Gods, which is a real-time strategy god game."
"Yeah, that would be a perfect description.
It's kind of a mix between a tower defense, an RTS game, and a little bit with a reference of the classics, which are Black & White games, which are really loved by nostalgic gamers, I think."
"I think they will find something really interesting here.
I think something interesting about this game is the art, because it looks very clean, very schematic, it's very easy to see what you're doing.
It's not realistic, it's not cartoonish in the way we are used to, at least in the way we are used to."
"So what can you tell me about the approach?
What do you want to pursue here or to achieve?
At first it was a more simplistic game, because the focus was to be able to fit a lot of units inside of the game, and to be able to perform really big battles, and to be able to draw the formations and be really specific about where you place your units."
"But then a really good artist, the lead artist, started in the project, and everything changed, because the art became one of the main focuses.
And we want to achieve a really stylistic game.
In a way it's very simplistic, but it's also really, you could say, cute, because we are based on toys."
"Hence the name of the last game, which was Toy Tactics.
And we wanted to really achieve that look of toy figures being moved in a tabletop game, inside of a scenario, I think.
Okay, it's cute, it's toys, but there's also some splatter to it."
"There's a lot of blood.
So then you have this little bit of, you know, humor touch to it.
Yes, a lot, a lot.
This game and its predecessor are really based on chaos, on being unable to have fun in the middle of a brutal war."
"So there's blood, but it's pain.
But there's brutality, and you can place your hand and smash your enemies, but also they can fly away, and you can do it to your own units if you're not careful.
So I think the humor is really important in this game."
"And you mentioned another game, so are they two related to each other?
Is it the same universe, if I'm correct?
Yeah, exactly, it's the same universe.
They are placed in a never-ending war between fallen soldiers, and there are five different factions."
"They are fighting for the power in Erebus, which is this land of, you know, kind of the Valhalla of the Vikings.
They feast on the night, and they fight on the day.
So it's kind of like that."
"What's the status of the project?
You guys showed it at the Out of Bounds event, so when can we expect to get our hands on it, on which platforms?
At the moment we have not really made some dates for now, because we are experimenting on the game, and we brought it here to be able to see what worked, what didn't work."
"But we are planning on a one-year cycle, more or less, and we hope to be able to deliver that.
But if the game becomes bigger, we are not committed to that one year, because we want to deliver the best game possible."
"What is the feedback you're getting from players trying it out here?
They are having a lot of fun with the hand of the god, because it's really interactive.
The point is you are able to plan and strategize, but you can also intervene, and it's kind of the most chaotic part of the game, so that's really, really fun."
"You mentioned before Black & White, of course, and Peter Molyneux is about to release a new god game, finally, after so many years.
So how do you think that sort of helps you, or the genre being trendy again, or do you think it's going to affect you in any way?
I think we can benefit from each other, because the announcement was really big, so now fans are going to look for it again, and they are going to find us."
"So that is really good, and we are going to mention them, and of course the game is so relatable to Black & White.
I think we are going to attract more emotion and more interest in them, and then they are going to send us more fans, because when they do it, they are going to lift us."
"Fantastic.
Okay, thank you so much for your time, Ana. Enjoy the show.
Thank you so much for everything."
