Gravia Tactics - Interview @ The G.A.M.E.S. Blog

The G.A.M.E.S. Blog posted an interview two weeks ago with the developer of Gravia Tactics Punchbag Entertainment. Here is a small sample of the interview.

Candy:  How long have you been making Gravia Tactics?

Steve: Just over a year now.  In that time we’ve built all of the development tools we’ll need, fine-tuned the plot, character concepts and proof of concept gameplay demo.  We’re about to start work on a content creation phase, so this is where we’ll be adding a lot of value to the game using those tools, systems and concepts we’ve put together.  We’re really excited because this is the phase where people are going to really start to see what Gravia’s made of.

Candy: Tell me a little bit about the plot behind Gravia Tactics. Does it draw any inspirations from other games?

Jun: To give a very general overview; the story is based in a waning ecosystem and the struggle that ensues over limited resources, involving the antagony brought about by the appearance of a mysterious new power that eclipses the old ‘sludge’ technology. Gravia is a place where almost every possible environmental disaster that we worry about today, has happened. It’s not a great place to live and mankind struggle just to continue living their frugal lives but even in this oppressive, rotting world, are souls that dare to challenge those in power and enact change. There will be hardships, villains and personal conflicts for our group of characters to face.

The plot does share some common elements and conventions that are a staple in the genre, things like the opposition of technology and nature but are rehashed to make something fresh (and did I mention summon creatures and airships?!). I wouldn’t say the plot owes to any one game, more like it is a result of our exposure to the wide range of fantasy plots from games, novels, manga and anime that came before it along with our own feelings on the state of human activity on our planet- we ought to look after it!

Steve: Yeah, we grew the plot organically without any particular game or movie or other media form as a reference point – I think there’s a danger of being too influenced by one source that way.  Like Jun says – and without giving too much away – there’s this huge social and industrial change happening that sets the backdrop for the plot and it’s definitely one element of it, but as the player and the party head out and take on the challenges of a world gone bad, there’s recurring themes of coming of age, hope versus naivety and overcoming really extreme adversity.  My favourite stories are always the really personal ones, the ones where one minute you’re laughing with the characters as they’re messing about together and the next you’re in a stunned silence because they’ve been struck by some awful misfortune, often due to their own shortcomings.