So, since Blackguards 2 is a thing, we’re going to assume that Blackguards sold fairly well. Could you talk about just how well it did for you - if not in absolute terms, then at least relative to your pre-release expectations as well as the game's budget and development time?
Kai Fiebig: Small profit kinda well… From the beginning we were aware of the fact that most people would say “’Daedalic’ the adventure-guys, doing an S-RPG, nice joke!” Right now, it’s selling pretty well and we are all in all happy with the results. In terms of budget, to put it simply, we reached break even and everyone is earning money. Development time was a little more than 2,5 years, so a little longer than we are working on our adventures.
It was a bold move to jump from adventure games into RPGs, with a tactical turn-based RPG to boot - admittedly a niche subgenre. Our reviewers did enjoy and praise Blackguards a lot (which isn't something that happens often with our reviewers!), but there was also some not-so-positive feedback from the mainstream press, a lot of it related, predictably, to the game's difficulty. From the developer's side of things, how do you feel about the reception that Blackguards got? What were the lessons you learned from it (aside from "damn those game journalist noobs")?
Kai Fiebig: It was indeed a rather bold jump - but a slightly scary one as well and rather a jump into icy water than into a well tempered pool.
In general, the reception actually was really good. Sure, there were a few mixed reviews as well. But we learn from those just as much as from the positive ones. We received feedback from Mainstream, Casual, Hardcore and Gamer Magazines, which means we got everyone's awareness with our first try in the genre.
What we’ve noticed, for example, is that, as Blackguards is based on The Dark Eye pen and paper system, character development turned out to be unnecessarily complicated in some parts. Unfortunately this didn't become apparent until after Beta, probably due to the fact our Beta volunteers were mostly experienced RPG players. To improve this in Blackguards 2, we are not going to sacrifice the complexity of the combat system, but we will clean up the whole character sheet and leveling, so the players know exactly which XP investment results in which improvement for combat.
Another problem was: a lot of reviewers seemed to expect more typical open world RPG elements like exploration and trading for example. The focus on tactical combat was an early design decision, and I still think it's a good one. I'd sure like to work on a game like Skyrim sometime in the future, but Blackguards, as it is, works differently. The story supports the combat scenarios, not the other way around.
Blackguards 2 will focus even more on tactics and this time even more on strategy.
One lesson we learned is that freedom has its price. To give players a whole bunch of options is a nice idea and they will get some more of them in Blackguards 2. But to present this within the game in a way everyone will notice is a whole different story. So we will keep an eye on this as well.
