GamingNexus: The Dungeons and Dragons rule set is fairly complex, which is great for the hardcore players, but it can be intimidating for new comers. How are you making the game accessible for the non-hardcore D&D player? Did you feel like you have to "Rob Peter to pay Paul" (i.e. less complexity to make it more accessible) at all or is there a way to make both audiences completely happy?
Eric Grossman: D&D’s rule set is complex but it is also wonderfully refined. As I mentioned above, we did have to drop some things and alter others. We could not fit or use all of the spells in the game, but we still have over 220 of them. The main challenge was the interface. Creating a D&D game of this depth for the PSP required a different approach to the interface. Radial menus, icons work just fine on a large PC monitor, but as slick as the PSP’s screen is, it’s still not that big. Kuju came up with a spinner interface that uses words instead of icons. This makes the game far more accessible. The player doesn’t have to memorize all sorts of icons and our tool-tip at the bottom shows the action in more detail. We also included a lot of in-game information, so let’s say if you’re brand new to D&D and do not know what a Magic Missile is, you can press a button and get a description in-game. If you’re hardcore and have all the books, you can use those too!
GamingNexus: Can you talk about the character creation process in Dungeons and Dragons Tactics with regard to customizing the look of the character as well what mechanism you are using to edit the starting attributes (are they randomly generated or do you have a base attributes that you add points to)
Eric Grossman: Character creation in D&D Tactics adheres to the rule set is rather robust, particularly for a handheld game. You get to pick your gender, race, class, and then allocate your ability points (for strength, dexterity, etc.). You’ll also get to select your alignment, deity and then allocate points to your skills and feats. We have a variety of portraits that represent your character but you also choose from an assortment of various heads and clothes to give them a unique look in-game. We have options for automatically selecting the skill points, so if you don’t know much about D&D, you’ll still be able to create an effective character. Finally, if you don’t like creating characters, you can use the pre-generated ones.
GamingNexus: Do you have a feel yet for how big the game is going to be? About how long do you think it will take the average gamer to play through it?
Eric Grossman: The game has 41 missions. Some are optional, but you’ll most likely want to explore them to get more loot and experience points to help you out in later core quests. I can see this game taking at least forty hours for an average gamer, maybe a lot more, especially when you add in multiplayer. I wouldn’t be surprised if gamers spend 80-100 hours on this title.
GamingNexus: Can you talk about the different multiplayer modes in the game? How many players can each mode support?
Eric Grossman: Each mode supports six players. First there is the coop mode, where up to six players can play through the campaign together. There is also a Dungeon Bash mode, where players play cooperatively in a random dungeon. In addition, we have deathmatch multiplayer, with a variety of modes. Last Man Standing is a deathmatch where the last one left is the victor. Treasure Hunt mode is all about collecting the most loot, but to win, you’ll most likely need to take out the other players. Dragon Kill is a game where the point it to take out a dragon and be the last man standing. Last but not least, we have a gladiator mode for one on one combat.
GamingNexus: From what I saw at the Atari Spotlight event you're really squeezing everything out of the PSP's hardware, can you talk about some of the cool things you are doing graphically in the game? What kind of constraints did you run into with developing for the PSP?
Eric Grossman: The PSP is a great machine, but like every platform, there are limitations. Kuju is pushing the PSP to the max with dynamic lighting in the dungeons for torch-lit adventures and expansive, atmospheric outdoor levels. The particle effects for the spells look great. But implementing these bells and whistles is no easy feat. Perhaps the biggest challenge is fitting all of these items and the many animations we have into the PSP’s memory footprint.
GamingNexus: What feature or features are you most proud of in the game? Was there any one thing that you wanted to do but couldn't due to time or capability?
Eric Grossman: For me, it is the faithful reproduction of the 3.5 rule set. This game was fun to play even as a prototype. The multiplayer is going to be great and having the atmosphere helps a great deal for immersion but for me, gameplay always comes first and D&D Tactics has that and then some. If we had more time, I would have wanted to include Prestige Classes. We made a choice to have psionic classes instead because they rarely get their due in D&D interactive games, but yeah, Prestige Classes would have been great. We just didn’t have enough time.
GamingNexus: Is there anything we didn’t cover that you want gamers to know?
Eric Grossman: Just that this game truly is a labor of love for everyone working on it. We hope that tactics and D&D fans will enjoy this game for many, many hours, playing on their own and with friends and saying to each other, “now this is D&D!”
We'd like to thank Eric for taking the time to answer our questions as well as Laura and Emily for hooking us up with the opportunity.
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