Reliquary: Interview

 

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

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Sega Genesis when I was 4. My grandparents had a Genesis and my cousin taught me how to play whenever we would visit, and I just adored that game. It was bright and colorful, fast and responsive, and I just remembering wanting to know more about how you create something so incredible! I could never get past Aquatic ruin without her help back then though, admittedly Sonic required a little more dexterity than I had at 4.

2. HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAME DEVELOPMENT?

I started out as a contract illustrator and concept artist with some side skills in motion graphics. I've always wanted to get into game development, but I had a very particular idea in mind for how I wanted to create games and so I had sort of been watching the tech, waiting for the tools to be ready for that. About 4 years ago I felt like Unity and Blender had finally matured to the point where you could essentially create high-quality, 3D games with very few people and so set about creating a prototype for Reliquary. That was enough to get me initial funding for myself and one other person to work on it, and that was really the start of it all!

3. ARE YOU CURRENTLY A SOLO GAME DEV OR HAVE A TEAM WITH YOU AND HOW

DID YOUR TEAM COME TOGETHER?

Most of the game was developed by myself and my friend Cole Larson, who's worked as the level designer on the project for the last 3.5 years. I knew right from the start that for the game to be as big and detailed as I really wanted I'd need a level designer working side-by-side with me from as early as possible. He interviewed for the role after coming off serving as a contract world artist on Fallout 76, and we just kind of clicked right away.

I've done all the programming, concept art, the majority of the production art (models, textures, rigging, etc), story, modeling, and effects work since then. Recently we brought on a full-time junior animator, Jordan Drucker, to help polish all of my first-pass animations and create the cinematic cutscenes so that I can focus on development as we wrap up production. We also have an amazing contracted composer/sound engineer, Caleb Faith, who has provided all the original music and sound FX work, and the occasional contractor to help out with really specific technical assets (world shaders, ground materials, multi-platform testing, etc).

4. WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE NAME OF RELIQUARY?

A reliquary is a sacred vessel that holds holy relics, and in the game the Sentinels (the machine race that the player character Bas belongs to) live in a massive floating fortress called the Reliquary. There's a lot more significance to the name the deeper you get into the story, but we're not quite ready to show that aspect of the game off yet, so hopefully everyone can wait just a little while longer to find out more!

5. WHERE DOES THIS GAME TAKE PLACE?

The game takes place in the world of Vesper, a place where a powerful, magically-gifted race ruled for millennia with advanced magitech. But when a magical blight began to threaten their empire they left to search for a way to reverse the devastation and created a race of machines known as Sentinels to protect their empire in their stead.

6. WHO IS THE PROTAGINIST OF RELIQUARY?

You play as Bas, a Sentinel scout. Scouts are the lowest rank of Sentinels, but Bas has unusually opted not to pursue promotion and so occupies an unusual role in the Sentinels as an experienced scout. Unlike most of the Sentinels, Bas believes that it's up to the Sentinels to bring back their creators, and so has set out to learn as much as possible about the empire the Sentinels protect.

7.WHAT ENGINE ARE YOU USING FOR THE GAME AND WHY?

We're using Unity. I felt like in the last few years Unity did some amazing work to take away a lot of the technical busywork of managing a large-scale project with thousands of assets, and that combined with how easy it is to extend the engine with custom pipeline and workflow tools made it an easy choice for the project. Plus, we're doing some amazing things with their Timeline and Cinemachine tools for storytelling that I really can't wait to show off.

8. LET'S TALK GAMEPLAY I SEE THERE ARE SPELLS IN THE GAME SO TELL US WHAT

CAN WE EXPECT FROM SOME OF THE SPELLS THAT WILL BE USED IN THE GAME?

There are quite a few! The main spell in the trailer is called Entanglement, and can link multiple objects together so that they share not only damage but also knockback and status effects across a distance. It's our signature spell (well, along with the air-dash that you see being used for platforming), and can be used in many different ways, as well as layered with some of the later combat spells. You can also see the Lightform spell in the trailer, a late-game spell that lets Bas shift into an energy form that lets you right along rails of energy spread throughout the game, both to access secrets and soar through areas when you go back to revisit them. Revisiting older areas to discover new secrets is a core part of the gameplay loop, and I wanted to give the player a fun way to experience areas in a fresh way when they come back to them.

The next ability we'll be showing off, Annihilation, is a sort of a deadly remote-bomb spell that can trigger massive destructive cascades. It allows for some pretty ridiculous combos when used in tandem with Entanglement. Our next trailer will be showing off Annihilation, as well as our other gameplay systems like collectables, upgrades, and equippables, so look forward to that in a month or two!

9.WHAT TYPE OF WEAPONS ARE WE USING IN RELIQUARY?

Bas' weapons are the three glowing glass objects you see floating around him, called lanterns. They not only are able to channel energy to fire off shots (your primary attack), but also serve to channel spells and can be upgraded and modified as you progress.

10. OUTSIDE OF THE SPELLS WHAT TYPE OF ABILITIES DO YOU HAVE IN THE GAME?

In addition to the combat and exploration spells, you'll have a number of core abilities related to exploration and discovery. We're not quite ready to talk about those yet, but you should see them in our next trailer!

11. HOW MANY LEVELS ARE IN THE GAME AND DOES IT GO BY LEVELS OR IS IT MORE OPEN

WORLD?

The game does not really have levels, as it's structured much more like something like Metroid Prime 3. There are three distinct regions of the world you can visit, and within those you'll be doing lots of exploring, wandering, and backtracking as you follow the story and uncover secrets and upgrades. There are also a number of smaller, narrative bits of the world that you'll get to visit throughout the story as well. I hope that it will feel fairly expansive for a 3D game made by such a small team.

12. WHY SHOULD PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME DAY ONE?

Well, for one thing I can promise it'll be properly finished day one! But mainly I hope people will want to play it day one to get to experience the story fresh without having seen any spoilers, and to try something new. There aren't a lot of games out there that combine all the elements we have, and I'm really excited by what we've managed to pull off here.

13. DO YOU PLAN ON PUTTING TOGETHER SOME DLC FOR THE GAME IN THE FUTURE?

There are no plans for DLC for this title, I really want the game to feel like a complete and meaningful experience right from the start.

14. WHEN WILL RELIQUARY RELEASE AND WHAT PLATFORMS WILL IT BE ON?

It's scheduled to release this winter, and we're hoping to provide a specific release date in the next few months. It'll be available as a download for Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Steam day one, and we're hoping to get PS5/Xbox Series X specific versions out at a later date as well.

15. WHERE CAN THEY FIND YOU ON SOCIAL MEDIA?

You can follow us on Twitter via @JadeEmberStudio or Youtube via Jade Ember Studios to see new trailers and announcements as they come out!