Cosmic Star Heroine - Interview @ RPGamer

RPGamer interviewed Bill Stiernberg of Zeboyd Games to talk about his funded kickstarter RPG Cosmic Star Heroine, and his opinion of the gaming industry.

JS: With Breath of Death VII, Cthulhu Saves the World, and On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 and 4 in your development library, you guys are now working on Cosmic Star Heroine, which was Kickstarted. Please tell us a bit about this game.

BS: It is a couple of things. It's a futuristic sci-fi game, but it also has a heavy spy and espionage element. I think that is cool as it is not just another space opera type game that you see in a lot of sci-fi RPGs. It's really got as much in the spy, espionage, Metal Gear Solid like conspiracy stuff as it does sci-fi. I think that is really fun as it gives us a chance to get out of the whole swords, and shields, and forest themes that many of our other games have. Rain-Slick 4 was kind of an exception because we got to do this sort of hellish under-hell/over-hell universe that is taking place in another plane of existence. Finally, with Cosmic Star Heroine, we get to do these other planets, these other alien species and technologies, and laser beams and stuff, and that is really exciting. Plus, we are finally jumping into this whole Chrono Trigger-esque style of presentation, and that is something I have always wanted to do. Chrono Trigger is definitely an inspiration, but I have really just been building upon the stuff I've been doing since Breath of Death. I am not trying to make it look exactly like a certain genre, or game, or even era. Yes, it is '16-bit' but, I have really just been taking the stuff since Breath of Death and kind of layering it on and learning from the previous games.

JS: What do you think of the games industry's current status, specifically with regard to RPGs, and where do you think it might be headed?

BS: The status right now, or at least where it has been for the last couple of years, the development of JRPGs has really moved onto the mobile systems for the bigger companies. A lot of the popular RPGs you can play right now are on the PSP and DS, now 3DS and Vita, and it is has been that way for awhile since RPGs are very big games. So, to have a massive production value as Final Fantasy XIII has, only so many companies can afford to take that risk on what is becoming a more narrow market. So, if you enjoy those games, I hope you enjoy playing portable, because that is where they are. Obviously there are some exceptions like Xenoblade Chronicles, but the majority of them have gone to handheld. I think, what I hope we will see in the future, is more embracing of the PC market. I know Square Enix is starting to dabble in Steam releases, by releasing their older catalog on Steam. Hopefully that means they will start releasing their actual RPGs there, and other companies will follow suit, like how Dark Souls is on Steam. A really cool company Carpe Fulgar, is a localization team that works with a lot of Japanese companies to bring their JRPG and JRPG-styled games to Steam as well. So, hopefully that opens up the floodgates for a new market for these games so they can succeed. I think a lot of small studios are tackling JRPGs as well, as it is sort of an under served market on console and PC.