Oh, it figures! Less than an hour after we published our Skara Hands-on in which we lamented that the Skara devs were clearly too busy to respond to our Skara dev Q&A questions that went sent to them, I received an email with the answers (or perhaps the article was the catalyst). In any case, today is clearly Skara Day here at DBB! Check out the Skara dev Q&A below to get more information about the game. Don’t forget that the Skara Kickstarter is coming to a rapid close as you read this, so you won’t have much time to mull over the decision to support the game. So check out the answers below and our Skara Hands-on article quickly!

How would you describe Skara to someone who has never heard about the game?

A versus game in 3D with 16 playing at the same time. We call it “Multiplayer Online Versus.” It’s a combination our favorite elements of games—versus fighting, multiplayer, with RPG level story taking place in an action game.

The multiplayer has depth to it too. Players can team up and fight to control the arenas: their success will be shown in the overall map of Skara, where the successes and failures of groups will make Skara’s history. Most successful players and characters will be named Heroes and Kings, and remembered in the future as the people who ruled Skara.

What will Skara offer to gamers over other arena based third/person games? Why should they play Skara over these other arena games?

Our goal is to offer the combat experience of a versus game in a multiplayer environment: skill, timing and accuracy will make the difference in Skara. Characters don’t level up, so the only way to win battles in Skara is practice, good reflexes and knowing your combos.

At the same time, Skara is designed to be a collaborative game. Players can choose a race and band together into unions, or factions, to see who can dominate what’s left of the world torn apart by cataclysm.

That means team attacks and team defenses in a versus type setting. Teamwork will be very important: A well-coordinated and balanced team will have more chances to win a battle than a bunch of uncoordinated players. It will be frantic, and unbelievable fun when it is done well. I don’t think any games have quite got it right yet.

How will you tie an arena based game, which is inherently limiting in terms of players size, to an overarching game with factions and territory control? Why should players care about the territory aspect of the game?

When creating a faction, you choose a spot in the Skara map and defend it against the enemy´s raids. Depending on how many battles you win, your faction will ascend in the rankings and expand your faction´s territory. The battles take place in the arenas, and as we develop more arenas, these will be used to make the territories more nuanced.

We will reward the best factions, allowing them to unblock special Game Modes. Exclusive features will allow the most successful teams to be remembered as the ones who ruled Skara, and they will even get the chance to build their own arenas and invite players and factions to fight in them.

As you can see we have a big vision of what this game will become!

How much customization will players have for their characters beyond choosing one of the five races? Will the choice of race affect how a player must approach combat during a match?

Customization is going to be huge with us, but there will be some natural limits imposed by the player’s choice of race, like you mentioned. Race choice affects your weapons and combat style. For instance the Khärn will be naturally strong and slow and the Shinse naturally weak but quick. However, as your character progresses after every battle you will be able to become a specialist in certain areas through the skill tree, focusing on ranged weapons, heavy armour, close combat or quick ranger movements.

It is important to mention that players will also be able to customize not only their appearance but their combat style, unblocking new combos and fatalities that will differentiate them from others.

Will there be any cast-able skills in the game, or any type of upgraded skill that affects a player during combat?

We have always said, “trust your skills, not your stats” and we mean it.

That said, we are working on new in-game features and game mechanics that will allow players to use special attacks during the battle, but those features will be limited, so it will become a kind of strategic element. Choosing the best moment to execute the movements, and coordinating your team to always have special attacks available will be very important.

Our incoming features also include Team Actions, special combined movements that will allow members of the same faction to execute dangerous strategies to control determined points of the arenas. That way, team work will become very important in Skara: The more players collaborate in a team action, the more powerful it will be.

That will of course take lots of practice!

The Kickstarter updates mention that combat will involve taking your time and using well-timed combat. How will that work? Will players be able to take on two other players that gang up on them using skill and timing?

Skill will be the main key in Skara, and different attacks inside a combo can be aimed at different targets to fend off enemies even two or three at the same time. We are currently trying to perfect these elements, which is as you can imagine a major challenge.

But anyway, It is very difficult to confront two or more enemies at the same time, if you get surrounded it´s going to be hard to stay alive. Cover your back and always stay near your team mates, otherwise your death will be the most common result of a battle!

What is there to stop the match from simply devolving into a big pile of players swinging their weapons around in a frenzy?

That’s a very intuitive question! We have worried about this for a while, but what we have seen from our in-studio game play is that having a big arena with lots of different locations for players to “spawn” helps keep the combat separated out.

Once players gain experience on Skara, they will be able to dispatch players who are simply berserking with relative ease, which should help keep that down to a minimum.

But we must say, as a new game and a new concept, we do not have all the answers. That’s partly why we want to deeply involve our community that we are growing on our website and on Kickstarter to be able to test and perfect the game. Even once it is live, we will continue doing that. Skara will in that sense never be finished, which we find to be very exciting!

So there you have it! More information about Skara for you! So, once again, check out the Skara Kickstarter and if you like what you see consider supporting the game. With only three days left as I write this you don’t have much time left. Get on it!

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