Vince D. Weller

The Alley has chased down Vince D. Weller of Age of Decadence for another delicious interview.

You can find out more about Age of Decadence at http://www.irontowerstudio.com/.

1. Let’s get the groundwork done – who are you? What is Age of Decadence? How did you get into indie game development?

Vince D. Weller, the lead designer of The Age of Decadence, an indie RPG.

The Age of Decadence is an isometric, turn-based, single-player role-playing game set in a low magic, post-apocalyptic fantasy world, inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire. The game features a detailed skill-based character system, non-linear gameplay, multiple skill-based ways to handle quests, choices & consequences, and extensive dialogue trees.

As for the last question, I'm a passionate gamer and I've always wanted to make games. Same goes for the rest of my team. Tools that are currently available to indie developers make it relatively easy to "get into indie game development". All you need is commitment.

2. Age of Decadence’s setting is a ‘fall of an empire’ scenario: what does this setting bring to the game?

Fall of empires is an interesting period. The old ways - laws, beliefs, ways of living, classes, even power - are falling apart to give room to something new or mutating into something new if they want to survive. Society is slowly reverting to the more natural, primal state. Power is starting to change hands, aided by assassinations, backstabbing, and plotting. As Glen Cook said: "Conspiracies and assassinations and naked power-grabs. All the fun of decadence.". All that forms a nice and colorful playground for your character. If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere.

3. You have previously described your team as “picking up Troika’s ball because somebody had to”. What is it about games like Troika’s that today’s RPGs aren’t providing, and why is it important to keep that flame alive?

I don't think that in the last 10-15 years anyone did as much to truly push the RPG genre forward as Troika did. Fallout and Arcanum are two of the best RPGs ever created. ToEE had the best and most faithful DnD turn-based combat and one of the best turn-based combat implementations in general. Bloodlines was probably one of the first successful attempts to fuse action with role-playing. Robust dialogue trees with skillchecks, focus on characters and dialogues, non-linearity, multiple options and paths, choices & consequences - that's Troika. We are influenced by Troika's games, by Troika's design philosophy, by Troika's ideas.

Troika's games were different. Troika's RPGs were actually ROLE-PLAYING games, not games with adjustable stats. Sure, they were buggy and often unpolished, but I'd rather play a brilliant, but unpolished game, than a well-polished, generic and uninspiring game.

Needless to say, we'll do our best to deliver well-tested and polished games for our audience.

4. What made you go for turn-based combat in Age of Decadence, and what do you have to say to those who believe that it is a relic of the past?

Real time and first-person view are as old as turn-based and isometric. Probably even older. See Diablo 3 "OMG! Why is it isometric?!" drama for more info:

“Camera is not technology,” says Wilson [Diablo 3 lead designer], clearly somewhat frustrated. “People associate the camera with isometric and say: ‘Oh, why didn’t you update the tech?’ Well, we did update the tech. The camera has nothing to do with tech, the camera is all about gameplay. Isometric gameplay is very different from FPS or over-the-shoulder third person – which is pretty much what the entire industry is moving towards. But then some of the biggest hits of the last year were Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and those were not high-tech games. Gameplay is what matters; it’s what’s always mattered to us.”

Similarly, turn-based isn't about tech, it's about gameplay. It can't be a relic because games like Civilization and Heroes of Might and Magic still exist and aint going nowhere. To understand what TB offers, let's imagine RT Civ. Imagined? Well, there you go.

Turn-based gameplay is about thinking, considering your options, and using tactical advantages. Real-time gameplay is about clicking really, really fast (hence the twitch gameplay name). The fact that when developers want to offer you a bit more depth in your RT cereal they pause it, should tell you everything you need to know.

Why AoD is turn-based? Because we like TB games and we spit on your RT crap. What? The mike is still on. Oh, shit! Now we'd have to issue a press-release stating that RT games are as good as TB games and that we are all huge RT fans. Thanks a lot!

5. What is Age of Decadence’s target market? Will it be able to attract new, or younger, generations to this kind of RPGs? Is that your goal?

I have no goal in this regard and I don't target anyone. I'm simply making a game I would want to play myself. If it turns out that there is enough people who are interested in such games, the existence of market will be officially announced and we'll continue making games we like. Otherwise...

On our forums you can find many young players and many seasoned veterans who've seen many gaming winters. I don't think it's a question of age. It's a matter of personal preference.

6. What kind of impact can an indie game such as Age of Decadence make on the RPG market in general, and mainstream RPG designs?

Well, call me overly ambitious, but I'm confident that the impact would be zero. We're working hard to turn this dream into reality!

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