Jean-Sebastien talks about XploQUest 3
On January 7th, we presented
Xploquest 3, and as it is a French developer behind this project, Jean-Sébastien Nouveau, it seemed interesting to us to ask him about his experience as a creator and to have a little more information about this RPG which should be released on January 20th. And as he is very nice, he played the game and answered all our questions. In addition, he offers you his interview in English.
Can you introduce yourself ? (surname, first name, age, professional training, etc.). What is your role vis-a-vis Xploquest 3?
Jean-Sebastien New. I am 51 years old. I studied science and then I turned to instructional Design. I am the creator and developer of the Xploquest series.
How did the idea for the game come about?
The idea for the game originated over 20 years ago and is inspired by one particular game which is "Dragon's eye". We find the same principle in
Xploquest. We move from zone to zone on a large map, each zone being represented by a number. It's a pretty simple game and I played it a lot back then. I wanted to use this principle of zones on a map and that's how
Xploquest was born. I developed several versions before releasing the first episode in 2017.
What were your influences for the development of this game?
My biggest influences are the
Might & Magic and
Ultima series which I'm a fan of. For example, the automatic combat principle is directly inspired by M & M's "quickfight" system.
What are the particularities of
Xploquest 3? Its lifespan? Its replayability? In the end, in which category can we classify it?
The particularities:
- Each square is a region and moving from one square to another requires a day and a food ration.
- To completely explore a square, you have to pass over it 3 times, which involves 3 combats. After that, there is no more mandatory combat.
- There is no loot in Xploquest. We only find gold (and objects necessary to finish the game). For equipment, you have to buy everything in shops in the cities.
- Skills are important. Each skill level unlocks an in-game possibility (such as exploration) or a defining advantage (such as trade or magic).
- Saving is automatic and the game only saves when entering or leaving a city.
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