Many of the rogue-lite games we see these days all fall within the boundaries of the "twin-stick shooter" genre. While both Charles Webb and Daniel Crockenberg of Faux-Operative Games are fans of these titles, they wanted to do something a little different with Ruin of the Reckless; they wanted to make a "twin-stick fighter." We spoke with Charles about what that descriptor entails and their vision for Ruin of the Reckless.
Co-Optimus: Thanks for speaking with us about Ruin of the Reckless. Before we get into the game itself, tell us a little bit about yourselves and how you got started in games development.
Charles Webb: Hey Co-Optimus. Firstly I just want to thank you guys for taking the time to interview us. As to your question, Daniel and I have been designing games since we first met shortly after college. We designed a board game called 'Faux-Operative' which is about secret agents working as a team except one of them might be a traitor... I would say the design was a success, but self-publishing a board game just required resources we didn't have access to. From there, we wanted to move on to video games. We had each studied programming previously, and once we saw Samurai Gunn and started researching Game Maker we knew we had to see what we could do. We started working in game maker, getting used to the tools, shaking the programming cobwebs off, until we felt we were ready, and later, Ruin of the Reckless began to grow.
Co-Optimus: You’ve described your title as a “twin-stick fighter roguelike”. Could you elaborate on that a bit? What’s the minute-to-minute action like?
Charles: Sure, of course. Ruin of the Reckless is very fast paced, and focused on melee combat, with players dodging in and out of 'hot zones', enemies closing in from many directions, with a lot of threats to assess at once. Controlling the crowds of enemies using your abilities and the momentum of different attacks combined with the size and shape of the area is key to success. Ranged attacks exist but they are usually more expensive or come with a cost, so a lot of the time players will be fencing with enemies trying to take them out without putting themselves at risk.
We like pushing players to put themselves at high levels of risk though; usually in order to get extra rewards (like extra experience, or coins.) So we are not pursuing the typical rogue-lite style pace where players are encouraged to take their time and relax.
Co-Optimus: What been your overall approach to the co-op design? For instance, does the difficulty scale with a second player and, if so, how. Are there special moves or tactics/strategies that two players can employ that a person playing solo could not?
Charles: Well in keeping with our name, Faux-Operative games is all about pushing the adversarial elements of the co-op experience. In Ruin of the Reckless that really comes out. There is friendly fire, and there are no extra drops for a second player. So that means that we really require our players to work together in co-op mode. Who should get the regeneration orb? Who should get the Belt of Reflection? What abilities can I use safely without hurting you? Where, and how, should we fight to avoid hurting each other? How should we split up enemies? If you ration your resources wrong, or if you don't work together, you won't last long. But there's always that selfish element of, "oh, you wanted the regeneration orb for your build? Guess that's not happening now." We really like that type of thing.
Co-Optimus: As the co-op is local only, are the benefits/upgrades/cards that the first player earns shared with the second player? Can the second player customize their character to any degree?
Charles: Okay, so this is one thing that really bothers us about a lot of the co-op rogue-lites out there, is that they handicap the second player. Like in Binding of Isaac Rebirth, (a game I quite like) they made the decision that the second player is a little floating pet and doesn't really get to do much. We don't like that. Both players are fully autonomous. They each gain experience separately, they have their own abilities, their own items, and their own customization, their own life totals. Players do share money though.
Co-Optimus: Could you expand some on what those abilities and items are? You mentioned before how a player may want certain things for their “build;” is their customization to a degree that a player may be the equivalent of a “tank” and another a “DPS” type? What will the money be used to buy? How much carries over into the next playthrough?
Charles: Oh sure! So we've done some blog posts about this, but abilities come from ability orbs. Players 'customize' their characters by collecting equipment and orbs. Orbs give special abilities such as faster movement, life draining, or making defeated enemies sometimes explode, stuff like that. Equipment alters your weapons, your dashing, character behavior... etc. So it's not so much a 'tank' or 'DPS.' Every one is DPS in Ruin of the Reckless, but more to do with ability/item combos. For instance, certain weapons might work really well with jump boots, even better if you have an agility orb to up your movement speed. There are abilities that make your spells better, items that help you generate mana, and spellbooks that are sought after. Combine all those and you have a build. It is of course possible to go 'tanky' or 'spellcasty' or 'melee combatty', or 'monster summony' and it's all about combining those abilities with items to see how far you can get.
Co-Optimus: I saw in another interview that you expected the average run in Ruin of the Reckless to last around 30 minutes and will encompass between 15 and 20 procedurally generated floors. What do you earn when you complete it? What more is there to do to go back through a second, third, or 25th time?
Charles: Thanks for asking, and that's something we've definitely thought about. So firstly, I just want to highlight the card system. Cards are persistent 'rewards' that get unlocked as you progress through the game and get certain achievements. You might get a card for destroying the first boss, you might get one for dying three times in a row, and things like that. As you earn cards, you can then go to the library and equip them. Some of them just make the game easier or more forgiving, others will make the game much harder, but many of them will be mutators that alter some rule of the game to change how it plays (for instance, the friction of objects in the environment.) You can combine these cards in whatever way you like, so there's a lot of variety there.
Secondly, I should mention that the thirty minute run time is for a very seasoned expert player. For the average player, a successful run may take a bit longer than that; depending on their pace of play.
Co-Optimus: What’s next for Ruin of the Reckless? I know you’re debating on a few different options on how best to proceed, i.e., Early Access vs Kickstarter vs full release, have you made a decision?
Charles: Oh, this is an interesting one. We have actually been contacted by a few publishers who were interested in jumping on board, and we are considering doing some pretty 'new' stuff, with regards to funding thanks to the new laws allowing small studios like us to sell equity to fans. The one thing I can say almost for sure, is that there will be a Kickstarter campaign so I hope every one will keep following along and come check us out.
Thanks again for taking the time to talk with us, and if any one wants to know more they should head to www.ruinofthereckless.com, check us out on twitter @FauxOperative, or head over to our steam community page.
Thanks again to Charles for taking the time to speak with us about Ruin of the Reckless. You can check out the game's website and the Stream Greenlight page for more info about the title.