I was able to contact the head honcho, Hepari, through Twitter, and asked some questions about the Pixel Princess Blitz project and how it’s developing thus far.
GameSkinny: Could you please introduce yourself and Lanze Games?
GS: In the summary part of Pixel Princess Blitz on Indie DB, it was mentioned that Pixel Princess Blitz was inspired by D&D: Shadow over Mystara, FTL: Faster Than Light, and The Legend of Zelda series.
Could you briefly explain what influences those games had on Pixel Princess Blitz?
GS: If there is a unique trait of Pixel Princess Blitz that would be appealing to the gamers, what would it be?
For example, I wanted to make a beat’em-up style action RPG because of my childhood memories of D&D: Shadow over Mystara, and The Legend of Zelda inspired me with its fun and memorable dungeons and its art direction. And - for me - FTL: Faster Than Light was the first game I’d played that was built around random encounters.
I ended up craving for more of the same, but so far, there hasn’t been a real alternative.
We have come a rather long way, and as the game started to shape up, those initial inspirations have taken a back seat.
GS: What do you consider as the most important factor in the development of Pixel Princess Blitz?
Among many features of the game, one thing that sets PPB apart from other roguelikes is the narrative.
One may argue that roguelike RPGs don’t need a story. But in my opinion, story is one of the main pillars of any great game. Sure, you can build a good game without a story. But it would be even better with a story.
So, what do we have? We have short random encounters, big plot branches that feature a series of events, NPCs, romance options and even multiple endings that really take your actions in that playthrough into account. I think that we are breaking new ground with this.
The other thing I’d like to mention is the high amount of randomization.
You will travel through a randomly generated world, engage in randomly chosen plot branches, encounter random events, interact with other NPCs that make different decisions in each playthrough, and randomly generated dungeons. Even the layout of each town is random. Will the next town have a blacksmith where you can reforge your broken sword? Will it feature a guildhouse with a wide range of quests? You can never be sure of anything.
But ultimately, our goal is to present the player with an authentic RPG experience. I think that in a real RPG, the player should assume the role of a fictional character, and be allowed to influence the world that character lives in and the people it meets.
I want to capture the fascination that I felt when I engaged in a session of Tabletop RPG the first time, and to reach that goal, we are just doing our best.
GS: Mobile game development is popular along these days, but Pixel Princess Blitz will be released for Windows/Linux/Mac. Why is Lanze Games focusing on PC release? Is mobile version being considered?
GS: You have developed games before Pixel Princess Blitz. Did the past experience in developing help the development of Pixel Princess Blitz? If it did, how?
Mobile and static platforms are vastly different gaming environments, and trying to bring the game to all those platforms would result in something that can’t please anyone.
GS: As the team leader, how are you designing the future of Lanze Games?
GS: Last question. Is developing indie games fun?
So I would be lying if I said that I’m not having any fun being an indie game developer.
But the hard truth is that it’s a job like any other. It requires determination and effort, and there is no one to compensate you for your sacrifices if your game flops. (And believe me - if you are going to make games, you will face lots of flops.)
For more information and updates about Pixel Princess Blitz, check out Hepari’s Twitter!
