Legend of Grimrock Interview

If you enjoy taking in any shred of Legend of Grimrock information as much as I do, then you’ll want to pay a visit to zConnection for a new article-style interview with Almost Human’s Olli Pelz. In it, Olli talks about why they think Dungeon Master is the greatest video game ever made, the challenge of retaining old school gameplay while meeting modern expectations, the importance of interacting with their growing community, and more.

He tells me that the team’s primary source of inspiration was Dungeon Master, even going as far as to say (in our opinion, it is perhaps the best game ever made), and that the (grid-based movement enables mind-bending puzzles and tactical combat in a way that is very welcome to modern games). We can’t say we disagree: certainly, games in this vein have been missing from the mainstream market for over a decade, despite the legendary status of many classics of the genre.

(We are not sure why this style of game has declined in popularity after the ’90s,) Olli admits, although he suggests that perhaps (the arrival of real 3D graphics made the grid-based games look old). The impressive visual fidelity of Legend of Grimrock may put this hypothesis to rest, however; screenshots and video from the team show a gorgeous game which may just have what it takes to revive the genre.

Naturally, it’s Olli and Juho from Futuremark that are in charge of the visual aspects of the game, with their background at a studio well known for crafting computer-intensive, ultra-attractive graphics. Olli is in charge of rigging and animations, while Juho creates the monsters and environments; Petri is responsible for programming and the project’s core vision, while Antti works on level design, items, and sounds. It truly is a team effort, and the group have had to overcome many challenges in the game’s development.

(The biggest challenges have been in merging the old-school gameplay with modern expectations. Most of the old gameplay mechanics had to be reinvented in order to match the expectations of the gamers of these days. On top of that, the GUI had to also be reinvented. We did a lot of iterations and testing to finally come up with a concept that works well and feels natural. These challenges have basically been present through the whole development of the game and the guys are still polishing it as I write these words.)