The developers of Armello are determined not to let their Kickstarter success be a burden.

When Armello raised over $300,000 last April, it was a bit of a watershed moment for Australian developers. Not only had Armello managed to raise a substantial amount of money for a locally-driven Kickstarter campaign, it's also a significant figure for a digital board game, a genre that lacks the wider following of first-person shooters, strategy games or even the groundswell of support space operas now enjoy.

So having raised so much money, what plans did the Melbourne-based studio, League of Geeks have for Armello? The game recently launched through Steam's Early Access program and after a few playthroughs, I decided to ask the company's founder and director Trent Kusters how it all came about.

What was the inspiration for the original setting [of Armello]?

There were a number of inspirations. Redwall is a big one and we always say the game is "Game of Thrones meets Kung Fu Panda." However, mostly it's the adventure stories from our youth that weren't afraid to get a little dark, like The Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Star Wars, the [Studio] Ghibli films and more. They knew how to contrast the magic and wonder of a journey with the perils and risks of adventure. Adventure stories and worlds with a sense of consequence, always appealed to that. I guess we're trying to bring a bit of that back.

You raised just over $300,000 through Kickstarter early last year. Is it better to not have broken your campaign goal by an exorbitant amount, as has happened with other campaigns, or would you have preferred the extra resources to expand the game's scope even further?

No, by all means. People can give us as much money as they want. We'll just make our games more polished. The issue that arises from Kickstarter campaigns overshooting their funding goals isn't having more money, it's adding things to the schedule that the money can't cover. For example, all of our content offered in stretch goals requires minimal work, but adds a large amount of value to the experience. This allows us to take those extra funds and apply them to the product we initially pitched, whilst offering rewards for backers helping us raise the extra capital.

What was the reasoning behind a six month window for Early Access, and how early in development was that decision made?

We know what still needs to go into the game and we've got a smooth, thorough and efficient production pipeline. It's an approximate, but that's looking like all the time we need to get in what's left and integrate community feedback as we go. If we need to be around a little longer, we will. We've got a quality bar we're shooting for and we won't compromise. Plus, we wanted the community to be aware we had a definitive end to this. That they could invest and see a full game soon enough.

What are some of the difficulties in making a convincing AI for a board game with so many variables?

Making them seem human. A player's opinion of what is and isn't human behaviour is incredibly subjective. For example, when a human does something you assume there is some grander motivation or strategy at play. An arguably-simple mistake for a human player could come across as suspicious or interesting to their opponents. Whereas we never give AI that benefit of the doubt.

Creating AI that seems intelligent is far harder than just making intelligent AI.

How did you convince Lisa Gerrard, someone who has only composed one other video game soundtrack (Deus Ex: Human Revolution), to work on Armello? It's a huge coup to have a Golden Globe winner helping the team.

Our audio director, (and [League of Geeks] co-director) Jacek has collaborated with Lisa on many projects. When we saw what Armello was going to be, he said "We need Lisa" and well, she loved what we were up to. So she said yes.

Armello currently has four win scenarios, although in most situations the prestige condition will be triggered, either because players are actively avoiding the king or because interference (direct attacks, royal decrees siphoning spirit stones, rot from banes) makes the castle too difficult to breach. Is there enough incentive in the game to pursue the alternative win conditions?

Yeah, sure. The prevalence of Prestige wins that people reported was surprising to us. The game needs some balancing - which we're doing, but it also takes a degree of mastery to actually enter the palace. So although we were all able to get the various victories internally, a new player base may find it tricky. It's only week two though, alternate victories have increased as more players learn the game's systems.

What makes for a good board game and what extra elements are needed to make that work on a tablet or computer?

It's debatable what makes a good board game, but I know for us, we love that sense of adventure, but also the treachery. That backstabbing and cut-throat play. We tend to like the games that ruin friendships. So we made one. When it comes to bringing that to the digital realm, the trickiest thing is communicating everything that's happening so that the treachery is apparent.

What are some of the favourite board and tabletop games amongst the team? Do you all get together and play something that's not Armello every now and again?

Yeah, we had a board game and design weekend down in Sorrento a while ago. We just played board games and a bunch of Armello, chatting design and solving some of the big issues in the game. It was super productive and a stack of fun too. As for what board games we love, well, Horus Heresy is up there, Talisman was a huge influence, Steve Jackson's Illuminati, Citadels, Tokaido, and more. A heap of pen and paper roleplaying games too.

Alex Walker is the regular gaming columnist for ABC Tech + Games. You can follow him on Twitter at @thedippaeffect.