Greetings Blogfishers!
With the release of Blackwind on the horizon, we were fortunate enough to sit down with Manlio Greco, a programmer and the co-founder of Drakkar Dev. You may remember the team from their well-received game, War Tech Fighters.
Blackwind is a top-down, sci-fi, action game that puts you in the shoes of a teenager trapped inside a prototype battle armour suit during an alien invasion. Face off against enemies, cut through their ranks, and fight back in a last-ditch attempt to stop a planetary invasion.
Find yourself a comfortable seat as we discuss what inspired Blackwind, challenges during development, and much more.
The Drakkar Dev team — proudly remote!
[Blowfish] - Hi Manlio! Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. Why don’t you start by telling us a bit about Drakkar Dev?
[Drakkar Dev] - The Drakkar Dev team is currently located in Italy with some of its members in Germany and Boston. Most of us are married with children and our hobbies range from playing instruments, reading books, writing, playing video games, drawing, watching movies and binging TV series.
There are many games that our team holds dear and they are a source of inspiration for all our games. Some of these games include Darksiders 1 & 2, The Witcher series, the Batman Arkham series, the Mass Effect series, Shadow of Mordor/War, Ace Combat series and the Crysis series.
[Blowfish] - What were some of the key influences that you drew from when developing Blackwind?
[Drakkar Dev] - In terms of video games, Darksiders 1 & 2 and God of War were the main sources of inspiration, at least for the gameplay. The Alien movies, and Avatar movie played a tremendous role in regards to the sci-fi settings and the storyline. Blackwind is full of references from many other movies, the players will be able to find these easter eggs scattered throughout the game. The design style was inspired by the Japanese anime "Gundam" and was one of the key sources of inspiration for the Battle Frame in Blackwind.
[Blowfish] - I can definitely see now how those games influenced Blackwind. What part of the development process did you enjoy the most respectively?
[Drakkar Dev] - One of the most rewarding yet challenging features we develop in Blackwind are the finishing moves. We enjoyed thinking of the most brutal actions you could do to an enemy using overpowered battle armor, however they were quite difficult to make because of the close interaction of two characters.
[Blowfish] - Some of those finishing moves are absolutely brutal! Speaking of brutal, what were some of the biggest challenges you faced during development?
[Drakkar Dev] - Well, the biggest challenge was dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. We're a small team but we had to work remotely for a large part of the development and that was quite hard for some of us.
[Blowfish] - I’m sorry to hear that. There really isn’t an industry that hasn’t been heavily impacted by the pandemic. On a lighter note, what are you most proud of, in regards to the development of Blackwind?
[Drakkar Dev] - We think we did a pretty good job with the hack n slash aspect of the gameplay. We love how it ‘feels’ hitting enemies and destroying objects in the game - it's quite satisfying and addictive. The destructible environments play a big role in that as well because while you're fighting some aliens in a research complex you might find many things have been blown up because of your actions and it's a really fun thing.
[Blowfish] - I wholeheartedly agree! It’s so satisfying destroying everything in your path! Is there any chance of giving us a sneak peek as to what’s next for Drakkar Dev?
[Drakkar Dev] - We'll soon start pre-production for a new project. Something a bit different and with a very intriguing setting. Unfortunately, I can't say anymore than that for now.
[Blowfish] - Ah, well! Thank you for your time, Manlio. We enjoyed getting insight into the brains behind Blackwind. Where can our community find you to stay up-to-date with your future work?
[Drakkar Dev] - You can find us at the following places:
Twitter - https://twitter.com/drakkardev
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/drakkardev
Website - http://www.drakkardev.com/