Cheese Talks To Digital Arrow (about Dilogus and other things)

Sorry about having so many interviews packed so close together. This month has been crazy for me!

Hot on the heels of my recent interview with RLK about the Open Source game Neverball, I am proud to present a discussion with Nerbert Varga of Digital Arrow, creators of the sci-fi racing platformer inMomentum and the in-progress RPG Dilogus: The Winds of War.

• What it's like to release a title as an independent developer
• The story and setting of Dilogus: The Winds of War
• Their experiences with trying to find a Linux friendly publisher for Dilogus
• The value of cross platform development

Some choice bits from part one:

QuoteLast year saw the release of Digital Arrow's first title, the sci-fi themed first person racing platformer, inMomentum. What kind of impact has releasing inMomentum had on you and the way you work?

Releasing inMomentum was our primary objective once we established our team. It was a product that we wanted to see through from start to finish before we go into any other, bigger projects. We wanted to see through a release of a game, improve our development cycles, polish our communication within the company (both in-person and with people that work off-board) and so on. In general, the release of inMomentum had a very positive impact on Digital Arrow.

QuoteThe in-progress title Dilogus: Winds Of War is regarded to be an ambitious project for an independent developer. How did the project first come about, and how has that concept evolved over time?

Being independent brings along the fact that we have to fund our projects ourselves. That is, obviously not an easy thing to accomplish, especially in the case of a bigger game such as Dilogus - The Winds of War. We currently have no publisher or investor backing.

The project was originally a mod back in 2008, after which we decided to make it as a standalone game. The original concept aimed to tell a story within the game world at a different time - before the war that ravaged up the lands. The evolved, current concept of the game however, plays about 1200 years later, past the war itself when the landscape, cultures, technology and in general almost everything in the world have changed significantly.

And from part two:

QuoteIn what ways do you think Linux gaming can be improved?


There are many-many ways. Steam coming to Linux will encourage more developers to dip their feet in Linux game dev, the same way Desura has already done. The Humble Bundle guys have also done a great job in encouraging Linux development.

Linux gaming can be also improved by raising general awareness of investment/publishing parties towards the possibilities Linux can offer. Once there are 5 or 10 big game hits on Linux, they will probably move easier towards the platform.

QuoteWhat kind of reception has the game development industry given your plans for Dilogus?

So far we have not managed to receive any kind of support for the project, mainly due the fact that we wish to support Linux. It’s something that many investors and/or publishers don’t seem to show interest in, which is understandable if they do not deal with the platform. However, for us, it is something that we do not wish to drop. We’re hoping to find an investor/publisher who shares our interests in being a cross-platform (Windows/Linux) developer.

A lot of us here at Digital Arrow are Linux users. Also, a part of me as a gamer has had a dream of a great RPG running natively Linux for a while now.

In particular, I find the implication that publishers are shying away from Linux support as being quite eye opening. If this type of discrimination does exist, it could explain a lot of things, and is something the industry should be called out on. It'll also be interesting to see how the publishing landscape changes over the next year or two, with Unity4 and the rumoured Steam Linux client (until there's a press release from Valve, I'm going to continue to call it rumoured) opening up markets that I suspect many developers will be keen to make their mark on.

Enjoy!

P.S. Each part of this interview contains one never-before-seen piece of Dilogus concept art. If you care about such things, see if you can spot them both! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.