CaptainD Interviews Laurens LeFebre of DodgySoft Jan 18 '11    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in PlayStation 2 Games Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 : PlayStation 2 for PlayStation 2 From $15 Shaun White Snowboarding - PlayStation 2 for PlayStation 2 From $4 The Bottom Line My interview with freeware RPG creator / designer Laurens LeFebre, author of Dark Disciples and Dark Discples 2. After recently playing the excellent Dark Disciples 2, I thought I should contact DodgySoft's owner, Laurens LeFebre, to see what went on behind the scenes at a freeware game developer.  Here is the resulting interview: 1/ What first inspired you to make your own RPG? As a kid I was really into D&D and when my folks bought us a C64, I started playing games such as Pools of Radiance which absolutely captivated me. At around the same time, I started teaching myself some basic programming – I dreamed of being a games designer/programmer (year I was –am- a nerd). I studied computer science and learnt Turbo Pascal and C++. Ultimately my aspirations became a hobby rather than a career (I work as a scientist in a pharmaceutical company). I always loved that game design/programming combined technical/problem solving with creative design. 2/ What challenges did you face in creating the first Dark Disciples game? Prior to DD1, I’d spent a lot of time writing games (text adventures, simple CPGs) but never quite finished anything. DD1 started out as a true rogue-like (random dungeons, permanent death etc) but as I added more and more ‘features’ it eventually morphed into more of a CRPG. Easily the biggest challenge I faced with DD1 was time – I had plenty of it since I was then unemployed, but my design had become way too ambitious. It got to the point where I was putting in several hours a day, but it looked like it was never going to be finished. I kind of despaired and give up for a while but later came back to it and greatly simplified the design. I stripped back the magic system (this is why it’s a little unusual), the skill system and removed several uncompleted features that weren’t really adding that much to the game but creating a lot of extra complexity. These changes allowed me to finish the game before I got completely burnt out by it. 3/ According to your own download figures and estimates, how many people do you think ended up playing Dark Disciples? Actually, I really have no idea – it’s not something I ever tracked, although it would be interesting to know. All I can say is that the website index page counter is currently over 63000. At the end of the day I’m just happy that anyone is playing it at all! 4/ Did any commercial games particularly influence you? (You've said previously that the inventory system was inspired by that in Might & Magic, anything else?) Although not commercial, the initial inspiration was the various roguelikes out there such as Nethack and Angband. As DD1 morphed into a more traditional CRP, a lot of the inspiration came from old c64 CRPGs that I grew up with – the gold box games, the Phantasie series and a bunch of others. I wanted to recreate the sense of wonder and exploration I felt as a kid playing these games. J For me, that was the key mantra for making DD1 and DD2 – exploration. I wanted the player to always be thinking ‘I wonder what’s around that next corner’ and be excited by that thought. I wanted them to just go off exploring random areas just for the fun of it and to see what’s there. That’s why there is a lot of optional/secret areas in both games. I hope I at least partially succeeded in achieving that sense of exploration. 5/ How long did it take you to make Dark Disciples, and then Dark Disciples 2? Each game took several years to complete. In terms of hours of work – I have no idea. I suspect, though, that if I’d done overtime at my work instead of writing DD1 and DD2, I’d probably be kicking back in the Bahamas now instead of writing this! I did a text dump of DD2 to check for spelling mistakes a few months back and discovered there was as much text there as in a modest sized novel. It’s an incredibly time consuming task but I loved doing it, so it rarely felt like ‘work’. However programming a CRPG doesn’t have the instant gratification of, say, song-writing where you have something to show for your work pretty quickly. 6/ What programming language / game development tools did you use? C++, Direct X 5.0. I bought a ‘games development kit’ with all the software I needed. 7/ Do you have any plans for releasing a commercial RPG one day? Not really. I’ve had several people comment that I should try to sell DD2 for a small fee – but to be honest I really don’t have that kind of entrepreneurial spirit. Also, I’ve had so much great help from gamers (bug reports, constructive criticism, spelling checkers!) that I don’t think it’s fair to then turn around and try and make a profit. Having said all that, if I ever got the chance to work for a gaming company, I’d gladly take it. 8/ How many expansion packs do you plan to release for DD2? I’m currently messing around with DD3 which is being written with the DD2 editor. After that, I think I’ll pretty much have run out of ideas. And I don’t have that as much free time these days. ;) 9/ How important do you think freeware is to the PC gaming market as a whole? The obvious advantage of freeware if that because you’re not trying to make a profit and don’t have employees to pay, you can try more novel game ideas. Sometimes freeware can change the course of the gaming industry – without the freeware roguelikes, there wouldn’t be Diablo and it’s descendents. 10/ What is your favourite RPG of all time? (You can't choose one you made!) Hmmm, for it’s time, probably the gold box games on c64. After that, Baulder’s Gate 2 (still the best D&D experience of PC). In terms of more recent games, I really enjoyed Oblivion but only when it was overhauled by fan modders to fix that stupid ‘monsters level when you do’ system. 11/ If you could give aspiring game developers just one piece of advice, what would it be? If you want to design dungeons / scenarios and get the biggest possible audience for your creation, you’re much better off using a game editor for a professional game such as NWN2 or oblivion. If, however, you want to program a game from scratch like I did, pick one or two good ideas to make your game in some way different or unique and keep the game design relatively simple. The first thing everyone does (I did this) is make a huge laundry list of cool game features, collected from their favourite games. They then start programming and realize that it’ll take them 20 years to complete and give up. When you estimate how long it will take to complete, times that number by a factor of, I dunno, 20. Also be sure to encourage lots of constructive criticism and take your playtesters suggestions on board! DD1 and DD2 are much better games then they would otherwise have been because of all the feedback I got (and acted upon). Many thanks to Laurens for agreeing to this interview, and his interesting answers to my questions.

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