Since the beginning of KING Art Games’ Kickstarter campaign for Battle Worlds: Kronos iGR has been happy to help increase the exposure of the German developers dream project. We started by introducing Battle Worlds: Kronos on our first Kickstarter Spotlight article. Since then we’ve been happy to congratulate KING Art on achieving their initial goal, as well as their first stretch goal. The developers are now on their way to the second set of stretch goals that would include porting Battle Worlds: Kronos to mobile devices! Something that we can all get excited about.

Recently I had the chance to catch up with Colin Gilzean, Producer of Battle Worlds: Kronos at KING Art Games on Skype. Colin was nice enough to share a fantastic amount of details about KING Arts project, and the studio itself . This interview was conducted just after they had reached their initial Kickstarter goal:

We’ve abbreviated some of the longer terms, to make the interview a bit easier to read.

– Battle Worlds: Kronos (BWK)

– KING Art Games (KAG)

1. Why did KAG decide to fund BWK with Kickstarter crowd funding?

A: In 2007 we developed prototype of BWK with which we approached nearly every publisher in Germany, but unfortunately we were turned down. Some didn’t even bother to talk to us, as they believed that there was no need for a turn-based strategy game. But we and the community who were able to test that prototype saw this in a different way. It took a few years but as we found out about Kickstarter, and figured which projects had already been realized with this crowd-funding platform, we came to the conclusion that this will be the right tool to realize our project.

2. You’ve had a very successful run on Kickstarter. You were able to meet the initial goal for BWK within the first eight days the campaign was live. Were you expecting such an immediate response?

A: We knew that there were quite a few fans due to the 2007 prototype and also that we would catch the attention of a few genre fans, but we didn’t expected such a huge support.

3. What aspect of the turn-based strategy genre does yourself and the development team find so unique and appealing?

A: First of all it reminds us of our youth or childhood (depends on who you talk to here at KAG) as we occupied our parents old MS-Dos PCs to play games like Battle Isle and/or Panzer General.

And since we released the Point&Click adventure “Book of Unwritten Tales“ which was a huge success, even though many claimed that there was no need for game in this dead genre, we decided to take on the challenge to prove it to those spokesman of the industry once again.

4. What specific changes, or enhancements are you making to the standard TBS formula with BWK?

A: In BWK the player will take on the role of a Commander and will be directly involved in the story, compared to other TBS games where the game is mostly about a certain group of mercenaries.

Also commanding bigger platoons on huge maps isn‘t something you see these days in genre siblings.

5. We know BWK will release on PC, Mac, and Linux platforms, and there’s a stretch goal to bring BWK to iOS, Android, and OUYA. What specific challenges lie in porting to mobile platforms?

A: The challenge of Implementing and polishing the touch feature is something we are looking forward to. We’ve done a few touch tests, but building a whole game with this is something we are very excited about as we believe that the mobile version will enable a whole new multiplayer experience.

Editors note: A game like BWK on the mobile iOS and Android platforms would have us playing for years to come. It’s rare that you find a mobile game with the level of depth and challenge that BWK offers. FYI that’s included in KING Art’s next set of stretch goals, so check out the Kickstarter Campaign.

6. What inspired KAG to have such a solid stance against on disc, or later released DLC?

A: All of us are gamers and we, as many gamers out there feel deceived if finished features/content are held back on purpose. If it is developed it should be made available. There is nothing to say against later released Add-ons with post launched developed content, but those should be worth the dime in quality and quantity.

7. What influenced your choice to avoid DRM when it’s becoming so popular in the industry?

A: As mentioned before, we are gamers ourselves, so we wouldn’t want to force something upon another gamer. We do hope to get BWK on Steam, but then the people can decide how to purchase and play the game.

8. How many people are currently working on BWK?

A: Five people including myself.

9. Tell us about the prospect of a Steam Green Light release? What would that mean for the future of KAG?

A: Having BWK available would help us reach an even bigger audience. Even if the other two stretch-goals won’t be funded, with the potential sales on Steam (post launch) we might be able develop those (the stretch goal features) and maybe even beyond that.

10. We know that the multiplayer aspect of BWK will be handled via internet browser. What was the biggest motivation to go that route?

A: The browser version of the multiplayer is just one of many ways to play the game, but especially with it we can ensure a real “play anytime and anywhere” experience. A turn-based strategy game can go on for ages if the right opponents meet each other, just like in chess, but within our society not everyone has a lot of time available. Instead of cutting down the MP experience we figured that with the asynchronous system we can work around the time limitation.

11. Is there anything you’d like to say to your many supporters and fans?

A: Thanks a lot for supporting and believing in our project. Come to our forum and share your thoughts about BWK. Stay tuned for our updates on our Kickstarter-campagin page and keep on sharing it.

We’d like to thank Colin for taking time out of his busy schedule to speak with us. KAG’s Kickstarter-campaign will conclude on April 28th so there’s plenty of time to meet more of the stretch goals they had in mind. Slide over to Kickstarter and check them out, and don’t forget to head over to KING Art Games Official Page.