Right before Gamescon we received word that BIGMOON, creators of Trapped Dead: Lockdown, were working on a new RPG Demons Age. Read on to find out what Paulo Gomes CEO of BIGMOON had to say about the world of Demons Age, party dynamics, and what they consider to be their core gamer.
MMORPG: What can you tell us about the world of Moragon?
Paulo: Moragon is a peninsula located in the northern regions of the Abidon Sea, a fictional universe created by Bigmoon to be the basis for our video games like "Demons Age". The history of this place has a terrible connection to the Lord of the demons. In the beginning, for a long period of time, Elves, Dwarves and Halflings lived their lives peacefully in their communities, with little or no interaction between each other.
When Humans arrived in their ships and gradually established their commercial routes from north to south of the peninsula, the relations between every race of Moragon changed radically, as mutual benefits were achieved.
However this thriving success also brought to Moragon influent men full of greed and thirsty for power, who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals.
As a consequence of this struggle for the dominion over the peninsula, Vazuhr – the Lord of Darkness, an ancient evil that was dormant for thousands of years in the depths of Moragon – saw an opportunity to rise once again.
Vazuhr found his herald in Zogalon, a powerful warlord who already had taken by storm one of the most important ports of Moragon and had aggregated the Orcs to his army.
Having Zogalon as his liege, Vazuhr managed to open the portals of Hell, unleashing his legions of demons to fight alongside the warlord and thus conquer the whole extension of Moragon.
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Yet the brave people of Moragon stood united against this threat and managed to defeat Zogalon and his ruthless army.
Vazuhr was banished to the depths of Hell and the portals were closed resorting to magical Monoliths that obstructed the further passage of demons into Moragon and it is in this universe that take place all events of "Demons Age".
MMORPG: What are some of your inspirations for Demons Age?
Paulo: “Demons Age” was inspired by the classic “pen & paper” board games such as “Dungeons & Dragons” and by classical computer games such as "Temple of Elemental Evil” and "Baldur's Gate".
From an aesthetic point of view, to create this fantasy universe, we were influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien's universe and therefore avoided the typical cartoonish style and preferred to follow a more realistic and dark style as in the "Lord of the Rings" movies and novels.
The video game was also highly inspired by the "Chaos Chronicles" project from the former "Coreplay" team, whom we admire and whose products we had the opportunity to know better, when we developed the port for "Jagged Alliance: Back in Action". There’s even a little homage in our first trailer that fans of Chaos Chronicles might recognize.
MMORPG: Why did you choose to go with turn based combat instead of combat with a real time pause feature?
Paulo: Before we started developing "Demons Age", we had developed "Jagged Alliance: Back in Action" for Mac and Linux (a real time tactical warfare with a "Plan & Go" system) and also developed our first isometric ARPG ("TRAPPED DEAD: LOCKDOWN") with a “Diablo” based gameplay. We experienced all the advantages and disadvantages of these combat systems.
When we started the internal discussion for “Demons Age” (to use Classic Turn-Based vs Real-Time with Pause), we made some tests and we obviously noticed that the gameplay experience was different and if we want to merge the experience of the classical “pen & paper” board games with the modern looking videogames, we definitively must keep the game’s combat turn-based with hexagonal cells.
MMORPG: Will cover and concealment be really important factors? How strategic is this game going to be?
Paulo: Cover and concealment is not really an important factor but strategy is, especially when we prepare for battles.
The player needs to take into consideration the story, rumors and dialogs, and become aware of the kind of enemies that he might find in each dungeon and then prepare himself before any combat. The player has to come up with his own strategy, leading suitable party members, with the adequate weapons and spells. You need to have a balanced team for each battle and a good strategy to win each one.
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MMORPG: Can you share with us a few tidbits on the game's story?
Paulo: I don't want to spoil the end of story, since we we’re focused on creating a story of alliances and betrayals, but I can say that the game’s story starts one century after the events that ended up creating Moragon’s kingdom, now ruled by the royal house of Lijak. And the kingdom lived through peaceful times, until a few years back of the game’s events. However, a fanatical army devoted to Vazuhr, the Lord of the demons, and led by a mysterious figure entitled as The High Emissary, are sowing terror and panic throughout Moragon.
Concerned with this alarming news, King Konrad gathered a squad of his most reliable men who initiated an investigation about the origin of these rumors.
Whatever news was brought by the court’s mage, Kaldulor, the royal mage, drove the King mad. Konrad disappeared without a clue and Kaldulor was accused of cursing the King with a maddening spell.
Now, with the kingdom in total disarray, Princess Pellora Lijak and her younger brother, Prince Karan, have upon themselves the arduous mission of fighting against what appears to be the resurgence of an evil of old times.
Word comes of the magic seals that protected the monoliths being broken by a mysterious sect called the “Order of Enlightenment”, and that demons have returned from the depths of hell and invaded the lands of Moragon once more, creating chaos everywhere.
It is in this land of chaos that the player suddenly enters.
After a violent storm wrecks the ship where the player was being held as prisoner, the player wakes up on the coast of Moragon, alone and with nothing, looking for a way to get his freedom!
