Review Fix chats with Phi Dinh, Project Manager, Programmer and Founder of Phigames and developer of “TinyKeep†about the last leg of the recently-release game’s development cycle and how the game was able to progress with more enemies, levels and upgrades than were originally planned.
Review Fix: What was the last leg of the development cycle like?
Phi Dinh: Really intense. The last 3-4 months was the longest crunch time I’ve ever done on any project. 20 hour days, 7 days a week, no evenings off and no weekends. But it had to be done, our Kickstarter money was running out, and if the game wasn’t released by September I’d have to seek alternate means funding. I don’t think my wife was very pleased with me during these crazy times :P
Review Fix: Were there any big changes made since the Spring?
Dinh: Since I last showed the demo in April, we only had a handful of monster types (I think 3, the archers, the guards and some skeletons). Now the game has over 22 levels spread over 4 environment types, over 30 monsters including Orcs, Skeletons, Demons and Bosses, over 20+ upgrades and a ton of secret areas and abilities. Content is so important in a game like this, so we wanted to make sure we filled it as much as we could.
Review Fix: How much time and effort went into the game’s AI?
Dinh: The monster AI is one of the unique selling points about the game. Individually, the monster behaviours are seemingly basic, they attack you, and run away if they think they’re going to die. The magic comes when you get two or more different races in the same place. In one late level, you’ll find yourself in the middle of an all-out war between Humans, Skeletons, Demons, Orcs and Rock Monsters. It’s incredibly chaotic and frantic, you end up feeling so small and insignificant as you try and survive amongst the epic battles. I don’t think there are many games out there that have scenarios like this.
Review Fix: Where did the idea for the visuals come from?
Dinh: We wanted to experiment with a contrast between friendly/cute looking graphics and incredibly difficult and often harrowing gameplay. We’ve found players quickly get comfortable with the childlike graphics, and lower their guard to what they think is an easygoing game, only to suddenly find themselves caught on a spike trap or overwhelmed by a horde of skeletons. Then the permadeath kicks in and we see players gradually take the game more seriously. Watching people die on TinyKeep at live events is one of my favourite pastimes.
Review Fix: Should we expect any updates after release?
Dinh: We’ve had a lot of constructive feedback after our launch on Steam, so we’ll be adding a few minor features to the game that will hopefully improve it for first-time players. Other than that, we’d love to add DLC’s such as monster and level packs, and maybe one day we’ll be able to add local co-op. Although, that requires serious budget and time, so is a pipe dream for me at the moment.
Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself as a developer through this process?
Dinh: When I was estimating how long things would take to implement, I’d normally double my initial estimates just to be sure. Now that the year is coming to an end, in hindsight I should have probably tripled them. Games take a long time to make, and often longer than most people realize. I’ve definitely learned this the hard way.
Review Fix: In a perfect world, how do you want people to look at this game?
Dinh: We want people to see TinyKeep as a simple hack and slash action game on the surface, but on further inspection realize the amount of love that has been put into the game. There’s a lot of content, secrets and depth to TinyKeep that is not apparent at the first glance, and I would love for players to eventually be able to discover these.
Leave a Reply