We at Mana Pool are all looking forward to the release next year of Realmforge’s Dungeons, and we were excited to have the opportunity to ask them a few questions about the game!

As Dungeons is clearly influenced by Bullfrog’s Dungeon Keeper games, what are your favourite features of the Dungeon Keeper games and how do you intend to incorporate them into Dungeons?

The construction of your own dungeon with different rooms, the general mood and setting of the game were great features, which we want to fully embrace. We even went into more detail in the construction aspect and allow the player to place single items instead of fully furnished rooms.

Imprisoning and torturing heroes was also an “interesting” aspect which will also be available in Dungeons.

What are you least favourite aspects of the Dungeon Keeper series that you intend to improve upon/do away with in Dungeons?

Personally I was disappointed what little impact heroes had in the game. They never seemed to be a threat. Most of the time it was more a 1 on 1 against a different keeper.

Another aspect I didn’t like was entertaining my monsters. It seemed wrong to me, that I, the mighty Dungeon Keeper had to build training rooms, casinos, hatcheries and so on in order to keep my monsters happy. I even had to pay them. I didn’t feel like a mighty and evil dungeon keeper.

Hopefully, we changed both of these things for the better.

Whilst you have previously stated that multiplayer won’t be in the release version, do you have any plans/hopes to introduce it later?

Yes, the code is completely client and server based, so multiplayer is an option. It rather depends on our publisher, Kalypso. If they say “make it multiplayer” then we make it multiplayer! After all it depends on how well Dungeons is received.

Well we would strongly encourage Kalypso to go down the multiplayer route. In our opinion it’s a must for a game like this! On a similar note, will there be a map editor or random level generators in addition to the campaign missions? If so, can these maps be shared with the community and your friends?

We have a map editor but it won’t be in the initial release, because it’s simply not user-friendly. We plan to release it after some reworking. Of course sharing maps will be possible then.

Sounds great! So moving on to the gameplay itself – how much control/influence will the player have over their minions?

Little, very little. Monsters in our game design are more for entertaining heroes than for attacking so they stay at their spawn point and wait for their demise.

Are there any RPG-like elements across the main campaign part of the game, e.g. will your Dungeon Lord become more powerful throughout or only through each level’s acquisition of Prestige/Soul Energy?

Your dungeon lord has attributes and skill points which he can raise during the campaign. So yes, you will become stronger and learn new spells as the game progresses.

Can you explain a bit more about Soul Energy, the items that can be created using it and how the whole system works?

The vision of Dungeons was to create a game that explains why Dungeons look the way they do in typical (Action-)RPG’s. Why is there loot lying around, why are the monsters only tough enough to be challenging, and so on.

In Dungeons the player tries to make a typical RPG dungeon and entertain the heroes. The happier the heroes are, the more beneficial it is for the player. This is represented by Soul Energy. With Soul Energy the player can buy prestige items. These have different positive aspects.

Prestige items increase the player’s prestige and prestige gives a bonus to his attributes. Also, heroes are impressed by those items and tend to stroll around in your dungeon and admire them. So you can use prestige items to have limited control about hero movement in the dungeon. Last but not least, they make your dungeon look much more impressive! ;-)

Can you give us some insight into the different hero types? How do they differ and does torturing different hero types in your dungeon have different effects?

Dungeons has three different levels, each of them looking very different. The first looks like an old tomb or catacomb. The second is inspired by Aztechian design. The third and last level is, of course, hell. Each of those levels features different heroes (and monsters) and of course they get mightier with each level. Heroes have different needs. For example the thief likes to disarm traps and find gold while the fighter wants to take damage from monsters (tank) and find new weapons and armours. The mage wants to hurt monsters (Damage dealer) and collect new wisdom.

Torturing them has no different effects at the moment, but we will think about it!

Great, it would be cool to see that having an effect in the final release! :) How did you come up with the idea of making Dungeons focused on the Heroes and their happiness rather than on the player’s minions?

As said before the vision behind Dungeons was to explain why dungeons look like they do in Action-RPGs. With this thought in mind everything fell into place.

We know that the goblins act as workers within the dungeon, but what about the other creatures? Do they have a function within the dungeon other than fighting with the heroes that you lure in?

They are mainly for entertainment of heroes but they also increase the area that is visible for you and your influence (where you can build). A couple of them can also defend your dungeon heart. But keep in mind, that they attract heroes, so this might be a disadvantage!

Monsters have special advantages and some are more fitting for a hero class than others.

What’s your favourite aspect of the game – the one you think will really attract people to play if they know about it?

The chance to be an evil dungeon lord and to create your own dungeon is what I like most. It’s fun to see those greedy heroes entertain themselves while lurking in the shadows and wait for them to become ripe …

What kind of hardware are we going to need in order to run our evil dungeon empire on maximum (or close to maximum) settings?

Maximum settings should need something like 2.6 GHz Dual Core, 3GB RAM, 512MB NVIDIA 9 or Radeon 4000 series.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer our questions on Dungeons. The game looks impressive and we’re all looking forward to its release date!

Thank you. It’s been a pleasure to answer these questions! :-)