RPGWatch Feature - Corven: Path of Redemption Interview

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RPGWatch's Corwin reached out to the Corven: Path of Redemption folks to ask them some questions and as their new Kickstarter went live today, this provides you with an opportunity to learn a bit more about the game.

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RPGWatch: Why were you keen to make a game in the style of the old Ultima series?

Florian: Because I absolutely love Ultima and we still to this day did not get a new game like it. Some came close, but in my opinion none of them managed to capture the soul of those games.

In my opinion, Ultima, especially my favorites V, VI, VII, SI and in parts VIII, were all about interesting storylines and NPCs in a beautiful, interactive world. While Ultima never had long dialogues rivalling books in length like for example Planescape Torment, it managed to tell fascinating stories through interesting NPCs. In many newer games NPCs seem like robotic story machines and even newest technology with fancy facial animations cannot make them feel alive. Those pixel people from the aforementioned Ultimas had way more soul. In part it's because Garriott and his team gave them background stories the player could find out if he or she wanted to. There were relationships, rivalries, drama, friendships, ... and most of the time it was told through just a few lines of text and it had nothing to do with the main quest-line. It made you feel like you are part of a living breathing world.

The interactive world with its many secrets to discover did the rest. Secrets which again, mostly had nothing to do with the main quest-line and so made them feel truly special.

RPGWatch: How did you manage to get Richard Garriott (Lord British) involved with the game development and how has he helped you?

Florian: Richard and I were in contact for years off and on because I was active in the Ultima community. When I asked him if he would let us use Lord British in Corven he agreed quickly after reading the story outline. It's important to him that the character is portrayed in a way that makes sense overall and so he was very interested in the part he plays in Corven. Richard even ended up coming up with story ideas and details for Corven which were really great. After a brainstorming session we integrated his ideas in the Corven script and I think it all turned out great.

Richard offered to work more on the story with me once the Kickstarter campaign is over.