Thorvalla Interview with Guido Henkel

Gamers.de is offering up a lengthy five-page interview with Guido Henkel, whose name has been in the news quite a bit lately after the launch of his brand-new Kickstarter campaign for Thorvalla.  In addition to discussing plans for the game itself, Henkel also has some choice words for videogame publishers:

Gamers.de: You probably hear that frequently but “Thorvalla” reminds many people of the Thorwalians from the “Dark Eye”-Games. But that´s not intended isn´t it? Why did you choose this name?

Guido Henkel: It was intentional to a degree. I wanted to make sure it is like a wake-up call for all (Realms of Arkania) fans. I wanted to immediately activate that old fan base and get them excited about the project. Having said that, however, that is truly where the similarities end. The game has nothing to do with the (Dark Eye) universe that the (Realms) games were based on. It is an entirely different game world, different class system and game rules. It’s truly an entirely different kind of game.

Gamers.de: You aren’t the only famous name who reappears on the screen lately. Neal Hallford, who´s going to work with you on “Thorvalla”, Chris Roberts, David Braben or the “Shadowgate”-Devs David Marsh and Karl Roelofs to name but a few. All of these respective projects have one in common. According to publishers, the chosen genres (all traditional PC-Genres) are all unprofitable in popular opinion. Do you personally see a change in the current industry? If yes, how do you judge/value it?

Guido Henkel: Let’s face it, most publishers wouldn’t know a good game when it bit them in the behind. I mean, your question already provides the answer (unprofitable.) Well yes, if all you care about is the dollars, sure you need to stay away from it, but truth be told, I am glad they are not interested in what we are doing because they would just once again ruin the entire affair.

Fortunately there is a group of people who still care about games for their own sake and do not share the fat-cat Wall Street mentality that has possessed every publisher in the industry. Fortunately for all of us, they are on their way out, already becoming relics as the world moves on to creator-owned distribution, and I will not shed a single tear for them. They have been the bane of the industry for too long.