The fantastical minds at Runic Games that brought us Torchlight return with Torchlight II. This action role-playing game is one to look out for as it carries its legacy in this bigger sequel that offers a lot. In this interview, HonestDragon talks to CEO Max Schaefer about the development and core features of Torchlight II. They also talk about the future for Runic Games' other projects and plans. Check out this game for Indie Month and get absorbed into the expansive world of Torchlight II. Don't forget about the panda!
HONESTDRAGON: When Runic Games was developing this sequel, were there any immediate challenges facing its development? For example, plot ideas or adding certain features?
MAX: Obviously the biggest challenge was implementing a multiplayer mode, with internet and LAN play, with centralized matchmaking. Aside from that, creating an overworld outside of the dungeons was both a great opportunity and relief for our artists, but also a whole new design challenge. It has to appear vast, without being tedious or confusing. It has to give you the feeling of a real space in multiple terrain types, but still offer strong pacing and narrative. The layouts had to be randomized and still fit together properly. It has to give you the feeling of exploring without devolving into trying to figure out where you are. And it has to get you to your destination before the player becomes bored or annoyed. So there was a lot more iteration than expected.
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HONESTDRAGON: I just want to say that Torchlight II looks amazing. For its development, did the team create environments from scratch on the engine or was some of it drawn out first?
MAX: Thank you! We do a good bit of concepting before we start making layouts, and the general ideas are discussed and decided beforehand. But a lot of the design work is iterative, so it takes place after the first roughed-in areas are built. I think for a game like Torchlight, your assumptions in development are always being challenged by the reality of the play-throughs. So you have to budget in time for lots and lots of iteration.
HONESTDRAGON: The character classes are vastly different compared to the previous classes in Torchlight. Did the team know what classes they wanted to add in the sequel? Were there any classes scrapped from earlier days of crafting the different classes?
MAX: Our character classes follow a pretty basic foundation, but evolve over the course of development. For characters, we use a theory that an old colleague termed "familiar novelty". Meaning we want to make characters that are all new, but whose characteristics are familiar to players seeing them for the first time. In other words, even though you've never played an "Engineer" before, just by looking at the character, you can get a sense for how he fights and what his skills are. Of course, as we go, we scrap a lot of skills and add new ones, but it should all follow the formula and the nature of the character.
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HONESTDRAGON: The Alchemist goes from hero (Torchlight) to villain (Torchlight II) in this world. Was The Alchemist the first to be considered the central antagonist?
MAX: When we made the first Torchlight, it was never in our minds to turn a hero into the villain in the sequel. We didn't even know what the sequel would be like yet. But once we decided to make TL2, it seemed like a natural decision. I think the Alchemist was an obvious choice, since he had just a little bit of mischief and ambition that the other characters didn't.
HONESTDRAGON: The return of pets came in a big way. Tripling the size of available pets from Torchlight, did the team have any other pets they wanted to add or was there a designated quota for pets?
MAX: Everyone loves the pets. Haha! We ended up with a lot more pets than we initially intended, because we kept coming up with new ideas. I think people's favorite was the little Papillon dog. It's modeled on our office mascot, Falcor, who is a very real dog who comes to the office every day. If you see the actual dog, it's remarkable how accurate the game version is, both in looks and mannerisms. Kudos to our animator, Matt Lefferts, and to Wonder Russell for having a delightful dog.
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HONESTDRAGON: Does Runic Games plan on developing any new games in the future?
MAX: Of course! We're doing so right now. Most of us have been making ARPG's like Torchlight for a long time. Some of us for VERY long. So we're changing it up this time and going with a whole new genre. I can't say much about it yet, but I will say here for the first time that we're designing the game from the get-go with controller input. I've already said too much. :)
HONESTDRAGON: Any future plans for the Torchlight series?
MAX: Yes. We love Torchlight, and have a lot of great ideas on new directions for the series. We still don't want to make a traditional MMO, but we'll infuse some new flavor into Torchlight's ARPG roots.
HONESTDRAGON: Can fans expect to see Runic Games at any conferences coming up?
MAX: One of our favorite things is showing off what we have at game conferences. Not only do we learn a lot about our games at conferences, but we get to communicate directly with our community. Apart from the PR and media attention, we feel like our development improves by showing our game in public. However, we have to have a proper, playable version of the game, so that limits when and where we show. We'll see how our development progresses, but chances are we'll be at some show in the next 12 months.
HONESTDRAGON: Anything you want to say to Torchlight fans out there?
MAX: Our fans are the best. Our whole community is positive, supportive, knowledgeable about our games, and they really make all the work worthwhile. So our message to them, is one of gratitude, and we want them to know we're working hard on the next big thing from Runic Games, and can't wait to let them in on it. They helped us a lot during the Torchlight development, and we look forward to doing the same with our new game.
Day 20 | Runic Games
Set in 16th century Japan, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will star Japanese shinobi Naoe, and real-life samurai Yasuke.
Microsoft is pushing for no "red line" for what games could come to PlayStation, and it all revolves around Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood's plans to increase every department's margins.
"The plan to move Xbox games to other platforms is codenamed "Latitude" internally, and I know there's debate and unease at Microsoft about whether or not this is a good idea. More upcoming Microsoft-owned games slated for PlayStation are already being developed. At least for now, they're potentially obvious games you'd most likely expect. And yes, while it's true Microsoft is a prolific publisher on PlayStation already, it has typically revolved around specific franchises like Minecraft. From what I've heard, Microsoft is pushing for no "red line" for what games could come to PlayStation, and it all revolves around Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood's mandate to increase every department's margins. "
Yeah, they are going to kill Xbox hardware.
"Yeah, they are going to kill Xbox hardware."
It's for the best.
Quit stringing along xbox fans and screwing over PlayStation owners.
i think it will kill off the xbox brand. windows will be fine.
but there is and would be a chance that xbox might be killed off in the future. if they fail to make the money they put in. imo.
They wont kill it, but they will go fully PC while keeping xbox as a brand, and go multiplatform for the most part. They will also work tirelessly to diminish console gaming’s importance.
"Microsoft is pushing for no "red line" for what games could come to PlayStation"
Forza and Starfield next?
Starfield would be no surprise and there's the rumor that it will come to Playstation after the Shattered Space DLC, Forza (along with Halo and Gears of War) I find less likely but I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually end up on PlayStation too, especially if Xbox give up on hardware and go the Sega route.
Not to worried about forza. I'd rather see others like what inxile and obsidian are working on. Starfield sounds like it needs more time in the oven so let it cook first imo. If starfield and it's a small if does release on ps it'll be in the fall around the time for dlc or right at the dlc and come packaged with it.
In the words of Phil Spencer when he was talking about Nintendo last year
“It's just taking a long time for Microsoft to see that their future exists off of their own hardware"
It's probably true though. What's fake about Ms releasing games on ps. It's not like it didn't just happen. 2 of the 4 they released were in Playstations top seller list.
Xbox has been leaving gaming and leaving hardware for 20 years according to Sony fanboys 😂😂
Bet you Blade is coming to the PS5. Disney probably insisted on it thats why they being silent on whether its exclusive. I'm more excited for the Gears and Master Chief collections though.
I hope blade does come to PlayStation. Gears and halo should too.
Let PS fans fund Xbox and gamepass. Xbox is dominating the PlayStation store 👏
Good for Ps fans too - PS don’t dev games anymore
ah yes, the classic "too big to fail" mentality. That served us well in the past.
This article is not all doom and gloom.
I highly suggest you read it before posting a comment here based on the headline alone.
are you Obscure user's child? or an alt account created today?
it's not doom and gloom for MS, it's for Xbox...Ms will be fine on it's own. when we will look back at the history of Xbox (hardware) from higher level, it will be marked as failure majority of the time.
It failed so much they got 69bn dollars to go shopping.
Damn, I wish I could fail so much someone would give me 69bn dollars! 😂😂
A trillion dollar company with a gaming division currently mired with controversy, layoffs, studio closures, an uncertain future, mismanagement and admittance they can't handle all the studios they've acquired among other things. I think the main focus of this news on this site called News 4 Gamers, would be focusing on that gaming division which IS looking kinda gloomy lately.
Layoffs and studio closures are whataboutism? Okay 😂😂
Imagine selling that many consoles and having to do layoffs at insomniac, your most successful studio 💀💀
Unhealthy business. I’m concerned for PlayStations future.
More whaboutism. On the topic of Sony, since you brought them up, remind me of when they spent billions on a publisher they later admitted they weren't equipped to manage, despite Phil Spencer saying acquisitions are good for the industry and resulted in mass layoffs and studio closures, even for a studio with one of their highest rated exclusives in years, which according to Microsoft themselves, met their expectations.
Making that much money and closing studios and doing layoffs.
PlayStation is doomed 💀
MS as a company will be fine. Xbox isn’t so secure though, as its status is dependent on how profitable its parent company thinks it is. Current trends suggest that MS sees more profit in making Xbox third party, and I’ve heard the box itself is actually losing them money.
If these things are true, the future of Xbox as a console manufacturer is certainly being called into question. Perhaps being a third party publisher instead would be a better strategy for them.
Cyan Worlds has confirmed that its remake of classic 90s puzzler Riven is coming to Meta Quest headsets this Summer.
The environments look amazing in this game
" We love Torchlight, and have a lot of great ideas on new directions for the series "
Oh My God !!
Torchlight 3 !!!
i'm sooo happy
So you got Max Schaefer but not Tim Schafer?? WHY YOU DO THIS??
"We love Torchlight, and have a lot of great ideas on new directions for the series" I'm waiting for Torchlight III.
It would be great to play in this.
cool