The Age of Decadence Interview

The folks at The Existential Gamer have asked a few questions about The Age of Decadence, his influences and his plans for the future to “Vince D. Weller”, the driving force behind Iron Tower Studio. As usual, expect a load of dry wit and a generally pessimistic attitude on the future of RPGs:

TEG: Is the brutality and level of dishonesty present in the game a reflection of your views on the world?

VDW: The brutality and dishonesty aren’t a social commentary. They fit the setting. Our next full-scale RPG will take place in a different (world) and have different societies with different defining traits.

TEG: What role, if any, do literature and art play in your creative process, and what are some of your major influences in these domains? What else inspires you?

VDW: Um. you do know that I’m an indie game developer, not a Nobel prize winner, right?

TEG: Replaying Age of Decadence is a very rewarding experience, because of how different the game is when played as a thief, mercenary, merchant, etc. How difficult was this to implement?

VDW: Very time-consuming. Towns are the hardest, most time-consuming locations because of the multiple interwoven questlines with double-crossing and multiple solutions. The amount of scripting that goes into it is huge and it takes a long time to sort it out. It took more than a year to do each town.

…

TEG: Now that the game is out, how do you feel about the project? Relief? Post-partum depression? Pride?

VDW: It’s kind of like this. You trek through a desert, having a destination in mind (let’s call this destination (making games for a living and never having to wear a suit again)). You know that there is a well up ahead and you pray that it has some water, otherwise you can’t continue and will have to turn back.

You get to it and discover that the water is there, which is a relief, but at the same time you haven’t reached the destination yet. So you refill your flask and hope that you can make it to the next well.