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An Interview with Dave Crooks - Part 1

Enter the Gungeon! From Dodge Roll Games is a dungeon crawler full of… well guns! I'm joined today by Dave who will help us answer the important questions, as well as give us an insightful look into the team's talent, design philosophy, and development history.

-Alpha: First of all, I love the name! How long did it take you guys to come up with that one?

Dave: Actually the title “Enter the Gungeon” was the first thing about the game we thought of. We are always coming up sometimes real, sometimes joking, ideas for games. But when I said, “What about a game called ‘Enter the Gungeon?’” the immediate response was “Yes, let’s make that game.” That was quickly followed with, “What is it?”

-Alpha: Now, enter the Gungeon seems to be your team's first go as a collective studio. Who makes up Enter the Gungeon, and what kind of guns do you guys own?

Dave: The full time members of Dodge Roll are Brent Sodman (Programmer, and the friend mentioned above), David Rubel (Programmer), Joe Harty (Artist) and Dave Crooks (Designer- that’s me). Erica Hampson works part time on sound design, and Dose One (Samurai Gunn, Gang Beasts) is doing the soundtrack.

The only types of guns we own are Nerf guns, but I think we lost all the ammo.

-Alpha: How has your relationship with Devolver Digital been? It seems that you guys don't have a Kickstarter, yet have been pretty successful with your development.

Dave: Until very recently the game was completely funded from our personal savings. We decided to not go the Kickstarter route because we just wanted to get to developing as fast as possible, and everyone we’ve talked to says Kickstarter is a full time job.

Our relationship with Devolver has been nothing short of fantastic, and has allowed us to continue focusing on development while getting some pretty great exposure. Also, the team at Devolver are some of the best people I’ve ever worked with. This is our first time making a
game together, and it has been very nice to be able to ask their advice whenever we need it.

http://i.imgur.com/RF3vusa....

-Alpha: Before we talk about the Gungeon itself, can you walk us through some of the gameplay elements that makes Enter the Gungeon so special? What is the ultimate goal of crawling through these gungeons?

Dave: The one major thing that everyone has to learn in order to do well in Gungeon is that the dodge roll has invulnerability frames in it, like Dark Souls or Bloodborne. We really wanted to make a marriage of a D&D adventure and a Shmup, and as you progress deeper into the Gungeon, the game becomes quite bullet hell-like. So to survive the firestorm coming at you, you have to master the timing of the roll to pass through bullets unharmed. This can be a little counterintuitive at first but, once you get it, it allows you to avoid damage in even the most dense bullet patterns. It gives the game a nice twitch element and allows us to create situations that would be impossible to beat in other games, and really put the pressure on the player. It also gives the fights a pretty unique cadence that I haven’t seen in other games in our space.

The other thing that we really wanted to do was provide opportunities for the player to take advantage of the environment. So you can flip tables to block bullets, jump over pits or knock enemies into them, ride mine carts, drop chandeliers and other fun stuff to gain the upper hand in a fight.

You are trying to reach the bottom of the Gungeon, to find the temple’s ultimate treasure: the Gun that can kill the past. In gameplay terms, the goal of exploring and clearing each floor is to become powerful enough to survive the most challenging final areas of the game.

-Alpha: Now, there are differences between the gungeoneers we choose to play as. Can you describe to us who makes up the cast?

Dave: Each gungeoneer begins the game with different starting equipment, and each one has different motivations for seeking out the past killing gun. All wish to use it to undo something that happened in their past, and completing the main progression of the Gungeon as a character might just give you the chance to grant them that wish. Gungeon isn’t exactly a story-driven game, but attentive players will be able to piece certain things together by talking to NPC’s and reading item descriptions.

When a player begins the game there are four characters available to them: the Pilot, the Convict, the Marine, and the Scholar. They each have a regret, but we want the player to learn about them and their motivations as they play, so I don’t want to say too much here.

-Alpha: Does co-op mode differentiate from the solo mode? Are there any special co-op modes one can expect to find?

Dave: Co-op mode is actually mostly identical to solo. The obvious difference being that the first player is accompanied by a Gun Cultist, which is controlled by the second player. We’ve tried pretty hard to make the second player a contributing member of the team, without totally unbalancing the game. You both can carry your own items and guns, though you do share money. If one player dies, the other will continue playing until they die or find a chest. The dead player will pop out of the chest, with their starting weapons and one less maximum health. There will be some co-op specific items, and a couple of specific scenarios that can only be done with two people, but for the most part the full Gungeon experience is available to play with two people, or one.

-Alpha: Can you explain how death plays a role into your game?

Dave: Enter the Gungeon is roguelike, so death is quite permanent. The player must master when to shoot, when and where to dodge roll, and when to use their items to survive in the Gungeon.

There is some persistence though! Similar to the way the Binding of Isaac’s progression works, the more you play, the more items, guns, and possible encounters are added to the pool of things you can encounter on a run. You can also unlock shortcuts, and new playable characters, but all of this is earned by accomplishing tasks in the Gungeon. Potential access to new and powerful tools, combined with the player’s natural skill progression, will hopefully keep things fresh, while still providing a consistent challenge.

http://i.imgur.com/lGf00SG....

-Alpha: With this being Dodge Roll's first go at a game together, there must be some challenges that you guys eventually run into. Has anything proven to be particularly challenging when developing Enter the Gungeon?

Dave: Scope. Gungeon was supposed to be a much smaller game than it is now, and it was supposed to be finished and out already. We had too many ideas that we loved, and have been pretty bad at cutting corners. Here is a simple example: When you flip a table in Gungeon, if there is something on the table (like a book for example), the closer it is to the edge of the table that will be going “up,” the farther the item will fly. This is an absurd level of detail, that almost certainly nobody would have ever noticed, but Gungeon is filled with stuff like this. I think when it is all added up, players will appreciate the attention to detail, but the only thing that really matters is gameplay.

-Alpha: Your boss fights are incredibly enjoyable! They are introduced with such style and feel like a meaningful test of skill. What's your philosophy behind designing a boss fight?

Dave: Thank you very much! Boss fights are probably the most fun thing to design in our game. In terms of actually coming up with the ideas for what a boss will be, we’ve mined D&D, mythology, and our favorite games, then taken those ideas and filled them with guns, and gun puns. One example is the Beholster: a monster styled after D&D’s Beholder, but instead of a bunch of eyes, he holds a gun in the end of each tentacle.

Pretty much all of our favorite games have these big, very memorable bosses. Zelda games, Metal Gear, and Dark Souls. So when we go to make a boss, we want something that is going to stick in somebody’s head and set itself apart from the other encounters in the game. We also want to make sure, more than anywhere else in the game, the boss fights demand excellence from the player. It should feel just at the edge of overwhelming, keep the player moving, and require the player to really use everything they have.

-Alpha: The 2D Zelda games are actually exactly what I was reminded of when I encountered these boss fights. But bosses aren't the only characters you encounter. Who are the other residents of the Gungeon?

Dave: The legend of a “gun that can kill the past” has drawn plenty of other opportunists and treasure hunters to the Gungeon. You’ll meet merchants you can trade with, or other adventurers that might need your help. One NPC will help you open shortcuts, and another will let you play a mini-game to potentially win prizes. Some characters are new arrivals to the Gungeon, but others have been there a long time and can tell you more about its history.

Day 15 | Dodge Roll