LAND OF ICARUS: INTERVIEW

 

1. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GAME THAT YOU'VE PLAYED THAT MADE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH
GAMING?

The first game I ever fell in love with was Fallout 4. I have always loved RPG/open world games and that's what I have in mind when I think about a good game that gives freedom to the player.

2. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO GET INTO VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT?

I got into video game development because I was getting bored with the lack of originality of the RPGs. Also, the game development can be a way to express your aesthetic tastes.

3. ARE YOU  A SOLO DEV OR DO YOU HAVE A TEAM WITH YOU?

At the moment I'm a solo dev, but I would like to find other devs to work on this project with once the Kickstarter page will be available. I have a good experience with programming, modeling and texturing

4. LAND OF ICARUS WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO COME UP WITH THAT NAME?

 I want the gameplay to turn around the airships, which is the distinctive feature of this game. Icarus was a figure of the classic mythology who represents the dream of flight of the humankind, simply perfect to depict this game.

5. WHAT IS THE ENGINE THAT YOU ARE USING FOR THIS GAME AND WHY?

At the moment I'm using Unreal Engine 4.27, but I might turn to UE5. It's a nice choice for Indie Developers, because it gives you the power to create realistic materials, lights and scenes with a relatively little effort, even if you are a beginner.

6. WHERE DOES LAND OF ICARUS TAKES PLACE?

 Land of Icarus takes place in a gigantic land, all explorable with tons of secrets. There will be different biomes: forest, plains, mountains, caves... Also, the map sf full of small towns and villages each one with a useful utility. For example, the Abandoned Village I'm working on right now contains a Blacksmith where you can buy and upgrade melee weapons. This villages can be conquered and used by the other faction members. This gives the game a strategic aspect.

7. WHO IS THE MAIN PROTAGINIST IN THE GAME?

There isn't a main protagonist. You can choose your own role in the game: a lonely explorer or even the general of your faction. The three main roles are: the infantry, the cavalier, the artillerist and the airship crewmember.

8. BEFORE WE DIVE DEEPER IN THE GAME WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO CREATE
THIS MMO RPG?

MMO RPGs are just awesome and a great way to make a gameplay various. Also playing in a community is one of the best aspects of modern gaming.

9.GIVE US THE SETTING OF THE GAME IT'S IN THE ALTERNATIVE 19TH CENTURY WORLD
EXPLAIN IN MORE DETAIL ABOUT THE SETTING?

The game is divided into factions, each of them represents a culture: The Holy Empire symbolizes the germans and the italian, the Sakura Empire the japanese, the Empire of West is the union of England and USA. Each one of these has its own capital city with unique buildings and structures. For example, the Holy Empire will have a town center with Roman  ruins and churches.

10. IS IT MORE OF AN ACTION RPG OR USING TACTICS?

Land of Icarus includes both firearms and melee weapons from the 19th and the early 20th century. But also artillery and horses. All this makes necessary for players to cooperate if they want to win, making the game decidedly tactical.

11. BREAK DOWN A LITTLE BIT OF THE BATTLING SYSTEM WHAT CAN AND YOU CANNOT
DO IN THE GAME?

Land of Icarus wants to focus the battle on firearms, but the melee weapons do a lot more damage. About firearms: I'm testing an experimental Third Person Aiming system, which I call the Anti-Parallax system. It procedurally changes the character pose turning the spines up or down to compensate the offset between the camera and the actual firing point. It should give more accuracy and realism to the battle. In the close combat I want to greatly encourage the use of melee weapons like knives and sabers to make the gameplay more varied, to accomplish that they must deal a lot of damage. I'm not sure yet if I should add magic skills or anything like that.

12.WILL THIS GAME HAVE A SKILL TREE OR SOME TYPE OF SKILL SET IN THE GAME?

At the moment the character creation interface makes possible to choose a class which gives certain STATS like Strength, Precision, Healing... During the game, the player can rack up XP which gives you a SKILL point each level completed. These SKILL points can be spent to learn a new skill or level up already known skills.

13. WHY SHOULD WE WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME DAY ONE?

The game will be Free to Test for a limited time, this way i can receive all the necessary feedback. Then I'll make it cost but easily affordable. Maybe I'll also add an in-game shop for character and weapon skins.

14. WHEN WILL THIS GAME BE RELEASED AND WHAT PLATFORMS WILL THIS GAME
BE ON?

 I don't have a date yet, but I'll probably add it on steam and console shops. It will surely be cross-platform. Obviously after release the game will receive tons of updates.

15. WHAT IS YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?

You can find me on Twitter @LandIcaru.