Introductions
Founded in 2010 by Moisés Otero and Luis Torres, Drakhar Studio is a small game development studio based in Alcobendas, Spain. Making use of the most advanced technologies in the market — augmented by visually stunning, addictive gameplay — Drakhar Studio seeks to deliver top-notch titles for latest console and desktop PC platforms. The team was nominated for the Indie Game Award at GameLab Barcelona in 2015. Ginger: Beyond the Crystal was a finalist at the Play Awards in 2014, and Drakhar Studio was awarded Best Project by UAM’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiatives in 2011.
Although Ginger: Beyond the Crystal isn't their first game, I would consider it their largest effort. I recently sat down and played through Ginger in order to review it for our site. You can check that out HERE. While I wasn't blown away by the game, I felt like it had some incredibly good ideas. When talking with Drakhar Studio, I aimed to clear up some of the questions I had.
Interview
Q: Thanks for taking time out of your day to answer some questions about your new game! Before I get into any specifics, I want our readers to truly understand who you are as a dev. When did you form the studio? What's your story, in a nutshell?
Moisés and I met at university back in 1995 and dreamed with the idea of developing games. But life took another route for us, and we both entered an R&D company as software engineers. When that company filed for bankruptcy in 2010, we decided to chase our dream again and founded Drakhar Studio. We convinced some friends to become our art and game design departments, and started in a small office in the basement of a building (not exactly a garage, but similar) lent by the parents of one of them.
Q: Besides Ginger, what past projects are you most proud of?
The Grumpy Reaper has been a very nice challenge, and I am quite proud of the way we carried its production and of allI have learnt as a programmer during its development.
Q: I recently played through Ginger, and I noticed the obvious inspirations like Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, and Spyro. What are some of the less noticeable inspirations you had for Ginger?
Our publisher pointed out Dark Cloud as a reference, and after they said it, we realized the inspiration should have been there unconsciously. Lost Winds 2 and Mutant Muds were also used as examples of the initial design, which included 2.8D platformer levels.
Q: I enjoyed the atmosphere of the game. The distinct hub worlds were interesting, and I was curious if you had ideas for other hub worlds that didn't make it?
From the beginning, we had the fairytale forest and Halloween themes decided. For the third hub world, several ideas were proposed apart from the aliens, like far west, underwater or toy store.
Q: I couldn't help but notice the similarity between the red crystal levels and the challenge levels in Super Mario Sunshine. Were these meant to be an homage, similar to the Resident Evil level?
Well, Super Mario Sunshine is one of the favorite games of the game designer responsible for the red crystal levels so yes, they are inspired by them and can be considered as an homage.
Q: I was genuinely surprised at the lack of a closing cutscene. What was the reason for this choice?
Back in October 2015, we had the game finished. But we didn’t like the game we had. Some of the mechanics were wrong, and a lot of artwork had not the quality we were looking for. So we had to decide on either making the cutscene (we even had the storyboard) or fixing all the things we didn’t like. And we chose the latter, which I think was the correct decision, and redesigned some levels and mechanics, improved the visual design of the main character, created some additional music, added voices to some characters, voiced over the introduction, …
Q: There's quite a few mechanics at play in Ginger. Between the building, costume merchant, outfits, side quests, morale meter, and missions, which aspect do wish you could've fleshed out more?
Side quests could have been less repetitive, but being optional I don’t consider it a major issue.
Q: I was happy to see Ginger's focus on platforming. There haven't been too many 3D platformers lately, do you think the genre is due for a comeback?
I don’t know, but I hope so! It seems to be a growing tendency, doesn’t it? There is Yooka-Laylee and even a VR 3D platformer Lucky’s Tale. So yes, I think there will be more new games of this genre, ready for the new generation of players (like my children) and their parents (me) to enjoy.
Q: In your opinion, what makes a good platforming game?
Control smoothness and a well-designed difficulty curve.
Q: Your studio doesn't just make 3D platformers, in fact, you've created quite a few different games. What's one genre that you haven't tried yet that you want to?
What we had in mind when we were at university: a 4X MMO with a large persistent universe.
Q: I felt like Beyond the Crystal was just the start of Ginger's tale. Was this a one-off, or should we expect more Ginger titles in the future?
We like to concentrate on one thing at a time, and right now that thing is Beyond the Crystal post-launch. It seems the game is being well received, but we still don’t have enough data to say if it’s been successful for us. So we can only say that ‘only time will tell’
KeenGamer thanks DrakharStudio for their time and making this interview possible!
For more Ginger content check out our review (Xbox One) by Matt Owen.
Ginger: Beyond the Crystal is out on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
The game can be found on PlayStation Store (US), Microsoft Store, and Steam.
