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Interview The Broken Hourglass interview

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Tags: The Broken Hourglass

I decided to try something different and instead of asking 10-15 unconnected questions, I asked Jason Compton, the lead designer of <a href=http://www.planewalkergames.com/>The Broken Hourglass</a> only 3 questions, but studied his answers under a microscope.
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<blockquote><b>The difference is, dungeons tend to be more a bit exciting than storefronts and residences. Anyway, what do you have in the urban dungeon department? Discovering a well hidden, ancient door in some basement leading into unknown darkness somehow sounds more exciting then discovering a cave in the middle of nowhere, so tell us all about it.</b>
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There are three sequences in the main game which could be considered "urban dungeons." One is the old caverns beneath the Arena, where forgotten rubbish—and the occasional forgotten monster—is discarded. Another is an ancient tomb, cracked open by diggers hoping to tunnel their way out of the city. The creator of the tomb is still down there, so you can ask him all about how it was built, if you don't mind the smell. The third is a sequence which takes the player through a long-forgotten and roundabout path between two city districts, including a trip through the buried catacombs and a sewer system. The endgame also has aspects of "urban dungeon." All three certainly have their share of combat challenges, but the tomb and the catacombs sequences in particular are much more of a balanced adventure than a monster-bashing crawl.</blockquote><a href=http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=164>Click here to read the rest</a>, or if you've never heard about the game before, start with our first, <a href=http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=135>introductory interview</a>.
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Ivy Mike

Scholar
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
495
Location
Ground Zero
Good to see some news from you again VD. Interesting take on an interview. I like it, it gives space for the developer to articulate his/her thougts and does away with the market speak since the answers are followed through. All in all, I'm liking this game more and more. In particular I like the sentiment behind the one quest given as an example in the interview. Sometimes shades of gray are more important than the easy answers.
 

Durwyn

Prophet
Joined
Oct 29, 2006
Messages
1,132
Location
Erewhon
Great to see you still working VD... Good read... I Love the way how Compton reveals his design systems on his site. Broken Hourglass is in my Top 3 Indie incoming titles.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Ivy Mike said:
Good to see some news from you again VD.
It's my last interview. I started working on it before the latest events and simply had to finish it.

Interesting take on an interview. I like it, it gives space for the developer to articulate his/her thougts and does away with the market speak since the answers are followed through.
Exactly. The original answer to the urban gameplay question would have been misleading as Jason started with the candle-makers instead of something more interesting. I had to start digging to get the truth out.
 

Ivy Mike

Scholar
Joined
Jun 28, 2005
Messages
495
Location
Ground Zero
Vault Dweller said:
It's my last interview. I started working on it before the latest events and simply had to finish it.
I sure hope not. Either way, good job.

Vault Dweller said:
Exactly. The original answer to the urban gameplay question would have been misleading as Jason started with the candle-makers instead of something more interesting. I had to start digging to get the truth out.
We could use some more interviews of this type around here. I enjoy my news and reviews, but overal I find it both more interesting and enlightening to read the thinking behind the design rather than a simple statements of opinions/facts. Chris, or some other guy/gal behind MotB, and someone behind The Witcher would be prime suspects for this kind of interview.
 

aboyd

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
843
Location
USA
good interview. Really like the 6 paths to resolve the quest, which I only skimmed so that it might still surprise me when I play. It's a must-buy for me.
 

FrancoTAU

Cipher
Joined
Oct 21, 2005
Messages
2,507
Location
Brooklyn, NY
Nice interview. I like the inclusion of follow up questions, which was really the only critique I had of your past interviews. A shame that it's your last interview though. Hopefully one our new Polak guys are taking notes.

On paper, this still sounds like a really good BG2 inspired game with a unique magic system. Hopefully, all of you indy guys spread out the release dates a bit.
 

TheLostOne

Savant
Joined
Sep 5, 2007
Messages
770
Location
Limbo
I'm really intrigued by the urban gameplay. I like the attempt to make your character actually give a shit about the place he's mucking about in. I really hope they've got some good machiavellian interactions and politics. You could really dig into that with just one city to focus on. The quest with six outcomes was nice in its variety of solutions, but fairly prosaic for what kind of stuff you could put in a city pushed past its limits.

I'm hoping that he's saving some really juicy stuff for the game that he's not wanting to spoil.

I probably shouldn't get my hopes up too high unless they've got George R. R. Marting doing the writing for them.
 

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