Bullion: Interivew

1. What got you into gaming?

I actually started coding before I started gaming! This was back in 1985, when I was nine years old: my school had a BBC-B and as well as all the maths and spelling games, they actually taught BASIC programming! So it was actually making my own programs that got me into computers rather than games... of course, I then pestered my parents until they got us our own home computer (an Amstrad CPC464), and it was probably the free games that came with it that actually got me into gaming.

2. Any favorite games or game platforms growing up?

Well, making and playing games kind of went hand-in-glove, so my favourite platform has to be the Atari ST (of which I still have one!) - it had some awesome tooling for game development, which ultimately led to my first released titles! But it also had some great games: Xenon 2, Speedball 2, pretty much anything by Psygnosis... on a dedicated gaming front though, it was the Sega Megadrive: I remember when the first Sonic launched and it just blew my mind! And not just the speed, but also how colourful and vibrant it was - a real influence on what I wanted to make myself.

3.When was Leda Entertainment formed?

Leda Entertainment is actually a reboot of LedaSoft Developments Inc., the label I and my co-programmer/business partner Paul Harman used to write under back in our Atari days - so you could say it was originally formed back in about 1992! However, we did take a long break from game development from about 1995 to 2010 - little things like leaving university, getting jobs, getting married, having kids all happened! So Leda Entertainment itself kicked off in 2010, starting with a range of mobile titles before we made the jump to consoles.

A. Who came up with the name?

The name "Leda" was 50/50 me and Paul: originally we had been working separately under our own studio names (back in the day!) - his was "Callisto Computing" and I forget what mine was... probably because I used to change it every few weeks! But it must have had the letters L-E-D-A in it somewhere, as when we decided to join forces, we figured that Callisto is a moon of Jupiter (yes, we were both space geeks too!), as is Leda, and if we went with that, we could re-use bits out of my logo (I was more of an artist than Paul), and there it was...

B.How many people worked on Bullion?

There are seven of us on the team right now: myself and Paul are the coders, we have three 3D artists (Matthew, Stuart and another Paul), and audio designers Heather and Ella. Plus we have had a couple of others whoe have had to step away due to other commitments.

4.What is the plot of the game?

Captain Long John Silverside and his crew have landed on the forbidden Islands of Ser-Lloyn (did I mention that the whole game is full of bad jokes and cow-related puns?) and invoked the wrath of the heathen gods, who have placed them under a terrible curse: only the pirate bringing the greatest offering of treasure will be allowed to leave the islands alive! So it's every cow and bull for themselves as each of our bovine buccaneers attempts to survive the Curse of the Cut-Throat Cattle!

5.Were there any inspirations on making this game?

When we rebooted the Leda studio name, it was to make mobile games - around that time, Angry Birds was very much in vogue, so the word "Angry" got put on the board at one of our ideas brainstorming sessions. We then figured that pirates were angry people, bulls were angry animals... and then saw just how many bad jokes and puns we could get out of mashing the two together! So we ended up with pirate bulls, and from that - Bullion.

6. What software was used to make this game?

It's Unity under the hood - although this is a first for us as previously we've rolled our own game physics and so on!

7.What was the benefit of putting Bullion on Steam?

Steam is still very much the "go-to" portal for PC games, and while the audience for local multiplayer games on PC is a lot smaller than for consoles, it's still there... plus Steam's remote play allows for instant and pretty much painless play as an online multiplayer, so it would have been crazy not to!

8.What is the gameplay all about?

The gameplay is a blend of co-op and PvP - and ultimately it's all about the treasure as the pirate with the most loot at the end of the round is the winner. Treasure is dropped when you smash a chest or kill a monster - or if you kill another player, they will drop some of their treasure which you can then pick up! More importantly, the dead player turns into a ghost and cannot collect any more treasure until they have respawned, which happens after fifteen seconds, or if when they run back to their gravestone (there's also a power-up that allows immediate respawning). So a if a player is dead and in "ghost mode", it's a chance for other players to catch up on their treasure total, or to extend their lead. However! If all four players end up in "ghost mode" at the same time, it's game over and nobody wins! So sometimes you have to be ready to help one of your crewmates (despite their possibly having more treasure than you) in order to prevent a wipe-out... then stab them in the back later!

There are three play modes in the game: "Avarice" is against the clock - who can grab the most treasure before time runs out. "Defiance" is boss-battle mode - the pirates attempt to defy the heathen gods, so the gods send the islands champion to punish their insolence! But again, the winner at the end of the day when the boss is taken down is still the one with the most loot. Finally, there's "Voyage" mode, in which players play a series of islands one after the other in a combination of timed and boss-battle rounds, with the overall winner being the one who has won on the most islands.

9.If this game succeeds, do you plan adding expansions or dlc?

Absolutely, yes - we have the first expansion in the planning stages already! That said, we're old-school: we have no time for loot boxes, NFTs, microtransactions to buy cosmetic items or pay-to-win. So the only payments our players will ever make will be firstly for the game itself, and then for expansions which will contain additional arenas, boss battles, new playable characters etc.

10. What platforms is Bullion on?

Right now, the demo is PC only, although we're hoping to get it onto Switch and Xbox in the near future. When the game launches, it'll again be on Steam, PC and Switch - with the possibility of a Playstation version if the other platforms prove successful.