The Villager's Tale - An Interview
Brian 'Dhruin' Turner, 2006-03-13

RPGDot: Please introduce yourself and tell us about 3D Kingdoms.

Jonathan Kreuzer: Hi, I'm Jonathan Kreuzer, Technical Lead & Co-Designer of the Villager's Tale. 3D Kingdoms is an independent game development company that hopes to create good 3D games.

RPGDot: Can you give us a summary of The Villager's Tale and the gameplay it will offer?

Jonathan Kreuzer: I consider The Villager's Tale an action adventure RPG. The closest example to the type of game we're shooting for that I can think of is the old Quest for Glory series by Sierra, although we're also influenced by modern action RPGs.

The Villager's Tale is still at a relatively early stage in development, so some of the gameplay details may change. I'll give my best answers based on the current state of the game and future plans.

RPGDot: What can you tell us about the story and setting?

Jonathan Kreuzer: The story overview is on the web page ( here ). Players will discover a deeper (and darker) story when they play the game. The setting is Shadow's End, which based on medieval towns, but in our own fantasy world.

RPGDot: According to your site, the gameworld consists of "separate levels, but together they form a coherent single level". How large are the levels, how are they connected and how much freedom do players have to explore? What sort of locations will players discover?

Jonathan Kreuzer: The levels are connected in a natural way, like entering the Lord's Manor from the streets through a doorway. Right now the levels are rather small, but in the final game the size of a single level will be determined by memory needed & load times.

There are three main areas, the currently inhabited portion of Shadow's End, the countryside in the immediate vicinity, and the dangerous and decaying "Old City" where the demons are concentrated. There are locations within each of these areas, like the church, shops, certain houses, dungeon, gardens, or the crumbling debris-filled ruins of the chapel in the old city.

RPGDot: Players will take on the role of a knight of the Kingdom, sent to investigate the village of Shadow's End. Is there any initial character creation and does this role imply a character with some established skills, or will players start off as the typical 1st-level neophyte?

Jonathan Kreuzer: While this may change, there's no initial character creation, either for abilities or player-look, (although you can rename him. ) Sir Edgar is already trained so as to be much stronger than a typical guard or soldier, however when the game begins he's lacking any magical artifacts or ability. Also he has no history in the area, so you'll discover everything as he does.

RPGDot: What about character development? Can you provide an overview of the system and some detail on the skills or abilities characters will be able to access?

Jonathan Kreuzer: Sir Edgar is the only player-controlled character. There are a some statistics and abilities that increase as you gain fighting experience, that allow for more damage or new battle techniques. Any major advancements though, such as new spells, come from completing game quests to find them in the game world.

RPGDot: Can you describe the type of NPC interaction players will experience? How does the dialogue system work?

Jonathan Kreuzer: The number of characters important to the story you'll interact with isn't large, though a few will be introduced in the game that are not on the www.3dkingdoms.com/vtale/characters.htm page. At times NPCs will be involved in the battles. For conversations there are dialog trees like in Knights of the Old Republic.

RPGDot: What sort of quests will the player encounter? Are they mostly focused on the main story or is there a large range of side-quests? Do quests have different solutions and how linear is the game structure?

Jonathan Kreuzer: Quests include unlocking new locations with items or spells, or discovering what a character or group is planning and using it to your advantage in conversations. From NPCs you can learn about how to get to new areas to explore or find some items of power, in addition the NPC interaction directly advancing the story. The quests are focused on the main story, although many don't need to be completed in a specific order.

RPGDot: Combat is described as "real-time action in any mode" - would you expand on this? What is the role of character stats versus player reflexes and what sort of attacks are possible? Your website also mentions strategy - how does this come into play?

Jonathan Kreuzer: In combat you control the player's movement and attacks, so it's fast action, like Fable for example. Both better reflexes and better stats will help, the game should be winnable whatever style you choose. We're playing with some specialty battle situations, that work differently from the standard battle mode, but are still fast action. A few battles, used to close off areas, will require possessing a certain spell, or a non-fighting solution. There are ways to avoid or ease general battles, and spells that work better against a specific foe.

RPGDot: What sort of enemies will players discover? Is combat typically against small or large groups of foes and how diverse are the battles?

Jonathan Kreuzer: There will be an array of varied demon monster types and also human foes. The combat is sometimes against one enemy at a time, but there is also combat against small groups, or with NPCs, like village guards, helping you. Currently no combat against large groups is planned.

RPGDot: What is the balance between combat and other elements such as exploration or NPC interaction? Is there a focus on any one aspect of gameplay?

Jonathan Kreuzer: The focus is less on combat and more on exploration than a typical RPG, as the Villager's Tale is strongly influenced by adventure games. We'd like to do more with NPC interaction if time permits( like changing the story and orchestrating events by influencing characters,) but currently NPC interaction is rather basic.

RPGDot: How does magic work? Are there different schools or circles and can you provide some examples of interesting spells?

Jonathan Kreuzer: There are no schools or circles, the emphasis is on gaining and using single spells. You gain spells by completing game quests. There are some items and methods to minorly customize the spells themselves, attributes like power, range, and enemies affected. Many of the spells themselves are still being developed, we hope to get more creative with them later. I've included a screenshot of one spell, where holding an ensorcelled gemstone allows Edgar to grow a fireball in his hand and send it flying towards his enemies.

RPGDot: Are there any "world simulation" systems such as NPC schedules or behaviours or other elements designed to increase immersion in the game world?

Jonathan Kreuzer: The engine allows the lighting and levels to be completely dynamic, so there are aspects that change with time and game state. For instance there's a night and day cycle, and some characters move about the world over the course of the day. Also locations can change to reflect major events.

RPGDot: How important is equipment and items such as weapons and armour? Is there anything like a crafting or alchemy system?

Jonathan Kreuzer: Acquiring new equipment and items is one of the main ways to increase combat effectiveness. There aren't a lot of items, but the ones that there are will be different enough to be important upgrades. There is no crafting or alchemy system planned.

Jonathan Kreuzer: The game itself is still in the early stages. The engine/level editor is much further along, though also under development. We've been working on The Villager's Tale game for a couple years, but it didn't start as a full-time project.

With the current state of 3D graphics, it really isn't realistic for us to create all the art, animation, and levels needed for the complete game. Our plans have been to create a good demo that reflects our vision for the game, then once that's done look for funding to expand enough to complete the full game. We've had to make compromises even just working on the demo in the quality of art and the scope of the levels to speed development, ideally we'd have larger more detailed levels and spend more time on some of the character models.

Once we're satisfied with the state of the Villager's Tale, we'll try to find funding to complete it. We want to create something we feel is a great game, not just a satisfactory one, so there will only be a Villager's Tale release if we're able to meet our vision.

RPGDot: Is there anything you'd like to add in closing?

Nope.