Hi everyone. This special edition of Indie Roleplaying features an interview with the developer of Diver Down, the indie RPG reviewed by this column not long ago. For more information on Diver Down, read the review or check out the game's homepage at http://diverdown.grenideer.com.

INDIE ROLEPLAYING INTERVIEW: DIVER DOWN

JustRPG: Thanks for agreeing to do this interview. Please introduce yourself and your team.

Grenideer: I'm Grenideer (Brant Bassart) and I'm the head developer for Diver Down. I coded the entire game and made the story, world, characters, and almost everything else. A lot of the art in the game is mine as well since this whole thing actually began as a solo project. Metro (Patrick Doan) joined the team to do portraits and art cels and I immediately knew he was the right man for the art lead position. Arias (Hendrick Sukardi) is the third team member and did a lot of the art also. I was fortunate to have two very talented and dedicated artists on the team.

JustRPG: How did you first conceive the idea of Diver Down? What drove you to create this game?

Grenideer: A lot of things, actually. The funny thing is that I never decided to make an rpg *and then* begin thinking about what to do, but rather the opposite. I developed a world for a story I was writing before and loved the setting. The actual sci-fi plot was based off another storyline I had mostly in my head. I loved rpg games in the vein of Phantasy Star and always thought it would be cool to design something like that. All these factors were just floating around until one day I discovered verge (the rpg engine) and everything just clicked. All of a sudden I had an outlet for all these ideas.

JustRPG: What were the major influences on the game? (books, films, music, other games, etc)

Grenideer: First and foremost I would have to credit Phantasy Stars I and IV. Many of the elements of Diver Down borrow heavily from their style rather than going the Final Fantasy-clone route. But more than that, it was the feeling that there was a big world in which smaller locales were connected and influenced by each other. Fantasy novels like Dragonlance or Death's Gate, as well as the Star Wars movies, reinforced my belief that in order to have a good game you need to first have a believable, fleshed-out world. With the touch of modern elements and the dark storyline, Nine Inch Nails seemed to inspire some of the music choices, but I also went for moody and orchestral tracks similar to what's used in movies to provide emotion.

JustRPG: How hard was it to find a good artist to work with you?

Grenideer: This is a large problem plaguing indie developers and I didn't have it any different. I worked on the game for a year and a half before Metro came aboard. I talked to artists, released a sample demo and tried just about anything I could think of to get people to help me with the project but it wasn't easy. The problem is that many people will agree or even volunteer to help but not understand what a commitment it is. Many times you'd be lucky just to get a single contribution, incredibly so if there's a regular stream of submissions. After Metro joined up and I saw that he actually liked the game idea and wanted to be a part of it, I decided that's the type of people I wanted on the team. Arias came soon after and showed stalwart dedication time and time again. I got lucky at the last second with XMark composing the original theme of Diver Down.

Diver Down took many years to complete. How did you manage to keep on going for so long?

Grenideer: The bottom line is that this was my hobby, and I enjoyed doing it. I can name a number of reasons for why it took so long ranging from the scope of rpgs to the fact that I went out a lot, but no matter how much time off I took I would always come back. Having artists on the team inspired me to work harder for sure. And unlike some developers who are making tech demos to learn programming, I was more concerned with telling a story. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I learned how to program along the way :) .

JustRPG: Why did you decide to use the Verge engine?

Grenideer: Like I said, I didn't decide to make an rpg first and then look into options for the game. I found the engine and that sparked the idea to make the rpg. Of course, I would have been stupid to not look into other rpgmakers at the beginning of development, but the community of verge and a few inspired demos were unmatched. When the verge2 engine came out I was happy that I could move away from the cookie-cutter look of an rpg engine and basically do anything I wanted. This hiking up of the required skill level to use the more complicated engine also matched my progress as a programmer.

JustRPG: Tell us a few things about the process of programming Diver Down.

Grenideer: Many long and frustrating nights. The first part was fun - learning the engine and getting things onscreen. You get excited when you see a guy walk up to another guy and get him to talk. That leads into all the event scripts you write to get things to happen and move the game along. This is where you start to see the possibilities of the code and you need to start making some game design choices. And that's where the structure comes in. Writing routines that buffer memory that images get blitted to just to draw a speech portrait. To a new programmer, everything at this stage seems daunting and you can only do it one step at a time. When verge2 came out I spent the better part of a year just writing this engine alone. It was a relief to be able to get back to scripting the game and marking actual play-length progress.

JustRPG: What kind of programming problems did you face over the years? What are some of the things other programmers should look out for when working on such huge projects?

Grenideer: I can't say that there were any real programming issues. These tend to come into play more when multiple people have a hand in coding and everyone needs to integrate their stuff together. The great thing about being the only programmer is that if something needed to be updated I would just go ahead and fix it.

JustRPG: What kind of design and writing issues came up during the creation of Diver Down?

Grenideer: Design issues are another story and tend to be amplified by the length of a project. I'd say the biggest design problem with Diver Down was that the player is alone for too long at the beginning of the game. I wanted to convey to the player that he was alone in a strange place, and it worked, but the battle system doesn't care about story and rpg battles rely on the fact that different characters can help each other. I learned these things along the way and in some cases I had to bite the bullet and move forward. Other times, like when I added journal functionality or changed a character's motives, I was forced to go back to the beginning and redo stuff. Writing for this game was a constant process of reworking plots and subplots. Having an idea for the ending of Act 2 is great, but a year and a half later when I actually am working on that part - well, let's just say that things can change. I was obsessed with giving everybody in the game a believable standpoint and sometimes I had to make sure there were no loopholes caused by this. In the end I'm very happy with how Diver Down ended up and I challenge anybody to find a plothole :) .

JustRPG: How did you design the game world? Some designers prefer to make the world first and then write the story and the game, others prefer to design with the game in mind, and others yet prefer to design "on the fly". Everyone has their own way. What is your approach?

Grenideer: For the main world and background I had access to a story I had written before. I had a good amount of work put into that and I made sure to spend time before that developing the world. For smaller rpg subplots or tasks I mostly just made it up as I went along. Even the individual towns and places I would pretty much just create as I needed them. I always made sure that nothing conflicted with the world and that the story was never compromised, however.

JustRPG: Why did you decide not to have music (with the exception of the theme song) composed specifically for the game?

Grenideer: Decide? Heh, I never said that. Remember how hard I said it was to find artists? Well, I never found a full-time composer. I spent so long picking out public mods and playtesting Diver Down with them that I grew attached to the music. I would have loved for a composer to sign on to redo the entire soundtrack but it just never happened. XMark literally agreed to make the theme song when the game was about to be released, so there was never any talk of him doing more at that point.

JustRPG: What was the role of the internet community in the creation of Diver Down?

Grenideer: For this project specifically I know I relied on the verge community a lot for help in the early days. Countless questions answered on the verge-rpg boards, emails to regulars for pointers and the like. But other than this I kind of did a 180 from what most indie developers do. I didn't constantly release demos for people to play. I wouldn't post about the game or show off anything I did often. There wasn't even a web page for a couple of years. I kept my focus on the development of the game rather than the buzz. This all changed when Diver Down was getting released, of course, and the verge community has supported me strongly. I love reading emails with feedback and I don't think I've left a single one unanswered. Ultimately, I'm glad the internet community can enjoy what I've accomplished, and I hope they have fun.

JustRPG: What are your thoughts on the current state of the indie RPG scene? What are the major problems, and how could they be solved?

Grenideer: The good part is that there's no shortage of people who play and develop indie rpgs. There are enough indie sites around to help create a community and support a game. Unfortunately, this large number of developers and tech demos doesn't equate to a large number of games. It is always almost the case that eventually a game project will be canceled, and there's no real way to stop this. Rpgs take a long time to create and people have so many real life obligations that there usually just isn't enough time. It's hard to put so much consistent work into something when you need to make a living. Diver Down had many ideas cut from it because I had to move on to other things, but I'm happy I was able to complete it. I didn't do it by ignoring everything else but rather by taking my time.

JustRPG: What are your thoughts about the future of indie RPGs?

Grenideer: I really don't think a whole lot will change. I'm surprised there aren't more 3D rpg engines around, but the learning curve for this type of thing is a lot higher and the average hobbyist probably wouldn't go for it. Unfortunately, there's a chance that the growing gap between professional games and what an indie developer can realistically produce will lead to a decline in the scene.

JustRPG: What would be your favorite indie RPGs, and why?

Grenideer: There are a few that come to mind because they have stood out from the crowd. The Curse of Dragmoria is an obvious choice because it has dark themes, a great atmosphere, and moody music. Fenix Blade has a lot of gameplay and nice maps. Years ago, Saga of the Stars and The Silver Circle were the first great rpgs that I had seen because they had depth to their stories. None of these games have been completed, though.

JustRPG: What are some indie RPG projects that you're looking forward to?

Grenideer: All of the above :) . I link to The Curse of Dragmoria from my site because it's one of the longer demos I've played and I'm confident that it will eventually be released. If I had to pick a game that hasn't been released in any form yet, I think The Changeling would be a good bet. The good news is that I'm so busy nowadays that these games should be out before I know it.

JustRPG: Any suggestions for people interested in making their own RPGs?

Grenideer: Too many! First and foremost, it's very important to realize what a huge undertaking making an rpg is. Even with a good amount of spare time and resources I couldn't see anything decent being completed before 1-2 years. Focusing on story is obviously important, and developing a world will make storytelling easier. Getting good help is hard, and keeping in touch with the team is the best way to keep it together. Also, don't fall into the classic trap of wanting to redo the engine, add crazy new features, or switch to another game idea (or developing multiple games at once, for that matter). Any of these situations will greatly reduce the chance that your rpg will get done. The best ways to avoid even considering these options are good preplanning and simply focusing on completing the game at hand.

JustRPG: Now that you've finished Diver Down, what are your plans for the future?

Grenideer: No more indie rpgs in the works, if that's what you mean :) . As cliche as it sounds, I'm going to try my hand at going pro. I'm about to graduate with a gaming degree and I hope to find a good company to work for.

JustRPG: Thanks for the interview, and good luck with everything that you set out to do - and with everything that you don't.

Grenideer: Thanks a lot, man. It's definitely been fun.

I hope you enjoyed this interview. If you have any comments or suggestions for future interviews, feel free to email me.

Jonas Kyratzes
http://www.jonas-kyratzes.net