Black Geyser: Interview with the team (english version)
While its DLC is currently being crowdfunded on Kickstarter and is planned to be released in 12 languages including French, the GrapeOcean Technologies team behind
Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness had the kindness to answer some of our questions and talk about the project, its creation and its development. Below is the original interview, and following this link is a
French version.
If participating in the crowdfunding of Tales of the Moon Cult sparks your interest and if you wish to get some additional rewards, don't hesitate in giving some money on the Kickstarter page of the project.
RPG JV: Greetings! Could you introduce yourselves?
GrapeOcean Technologies: Our studio, GrapeOcean Technologies, was founded in 2014, bringing together more developers, artists and RPG enthusiasts from all over the world. The idea of a studio focusing on computer RPGs came from three IT university students a year earlier, who enjoyed playing classic-style RPGs. Since then, we released our first videogame, Black Geyser and now working on its expansion pack, Tales of the Moon Cult. Black Geyser has been a true community effort from RPG fans worldwide. In particular, we want to express our gratitude to the French role-playing community for their continued faith in our work. Without your support to Black Geyser on Steam, GOG and Kickstarter, our studio wouldn't be as it is now.
How did the idea of the game come to the team?
The concept of greed spreading in the world to serve the interests of an evil god... it just came as an idea. There are many games portraying evil villains spreading fear and chaos, but greed and envy are portrayed less often, despite of the fact these are natural human emotions.
What were your influences for the game's development?
We have always been lovers of classic-style CRPGs such as
Baldur's Gate or
Icewind Dale. Magical atmosphere, exciting story, memorable characters. We wanted to follow their spirit while providing a more modern experience and user interface at the same time.
How did the development go and how long did it take?
There were good times and also tough times - as it happens with most indie teams we guess. Based on the feedback from fans, some aspects of the game were reworked, which required additional time. There was also the pandemic and other external events which influenced the development, making it longer than we initially planned. The development of the core RPG engine from scratch (based on Unity) took several years, and the content also took several years, since we are a very small team. During these years, the size of the team changed - we had subcontractors as well who worked on a project basis when their work was needed. Without them, it would have been impossible to develop the game without running out of the budget.
[...]
