Aderyn’s Cradle Interview – Bringing Back Free Will

I was able to get in touch with Mojo Game Studios about Aderyn’s Cradle, the action RPG currently trying to get funded on Kickstarter, and ask a few questions about gameplay, story, and progression.

We know that the current gods of Anora aren’t your greatest friends; the player starts off being hunted by a god of hunger. But how big of a role will the Five Gods of Anora play in the plot? Are they some nebulous bad guys or tangible enemies players will eventually have to defeat?

As far as the role the Five play in the plot, you could either say they play an extensive role, or a minimized one. The Gods don’t have physical manifestations to be conquered; so in this way, their role is small. On the other hand, the threat of living outside of their favor is tangible, real, and omnipresent. After all, we see what Ostia does to an entire forest in the pursuit of you, a single heretic! There are many ways you will fight the power of the Gods, and their influence over the world is felt even though you never confront the Gods directly.

While more difficult to judge without a leveling system as a ruler, how quickly would you say that players progress to new weapons? And how does that transfer to where a player is able to go once he/she starts Aderyn’s Cradle?

Character progression is heavily linked to exploration, so players who prefer not to explore will end up weaker. However, your progression through the game occurs independently of your character progression, and we do not use a leveling system. In short, no, it is not possible to advance your character without exploration; but you do not need to progress your character to complete the story.

Let’s say, for example, there is a powerful enemy to conquer in order to reach a new area in the story. You can confront your enemy right then, compensating for your weaknesses with skill and some very well-planned moves. On the other hand, you can choose to back off, exploring the land and harnessing its resources. The more of the world you exploit, the more powerful you will become. The same enemy you would have had to gruel through a punishing battle (and a few rounds of trial and error) with before, will be more easily overpowered. The choice is with the player.

To be clear, players also receive upgrades and rewards for progressing through the story alone, with no exploration. However, these yield only a bare-minimum power increase compared with what can be harnessed through exploration and side quests.

And, continuing on the thread of exploration, what are some specifics of the movement system you intend to implement? Will it simply lend to a more fluid experience when using a keyboard and mouse? Or is it leaning towards a free-running system (vaulting over low-objects, sliding, etc)?

We are similar to free-running systems in that we provide more options for how the player can explore/move throughout the world physically than traditional systems, which stick to only walking and jumping mechanics. However, we are different from what you might traditionally picture a free-running system to be, in that we don’t aim to provide a fast, parkour style movement throughout the world. There will be moments for that style of movement, however our world design is not set up to have that be something the player will encounter outside of rare circumstances.

[…]if all goes as planned with implementation, it will be the best on the first-person RPG market, on par with a game like Mirror’s Edge.

To return to the question, yes, our movement system achieves a very high level of fluidity; if all goes as planned with implementation, it will be the best on the first-person RPG market, on par with a game like Mirror’s Edge We accomplish this by introducing several mechanics not typically implemented in first-person RPGs. This includes a push-off mechanic, designed for melee combat, which allows for more precise and rapid repositioning by allowing the character to back quickly away from an enemy that’s gotten too close. Another mechanic is our enhanced dodging, which allows for more evasive combat styles to be valid. The combinations you’ll be able to pull off in battle thanks to this are almost endless. In addition to this, each class will have their own unique movement features for the player to discover!

The hypothetical puzzles listed on the Kickstarter page are very interesting. I’m sure most people can agree that “spin the shape until it fits into the slot” puzzles can grind down the fun. I was wondering how numerous the puzzles will be? And how integral the puzzles will be to progression through the game? Are they mainly side quest fare?

Environmental puzzles are numerous. They occur frequently throughout the world and are necessitated by the game’s progression. Exploring the environment and its resources, however, is not confined to puzzling. The player will have to use similar creative problem-solving to conquer other obstacles, but I would not necessarily label these “puzzles”. Archaeology puzzles, on the other hand, will occupy key places throughout the story. Some of them will be necessary to do in order to discover all of the pieces of information needed to advance. The rest are all side quest and exploration related, and are mostly optional.

For more on Aderyn’s Cradle check out our Under the Radar spotlight, and follow the Kickstarter campaign.



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