Escalation Studios flaunts a new and cartoony player versus player oriented action RPG best described as fun incarnate. Developers within the company have worked on a number of notable titles like Borderlands and Halo (the team’s impressive list sprawls onwards) and now pour their talents into a new project. Escalation Studios’s new title, Eternal Fate, satisfies nostalgic cravings in older gamers; the game is reminiscent of old school dungeon crawlers like Diablo, but the PVP focus shifts the spotlight to an aspect of the game type that is regrettably (and frequently) overlooked. It has treasure, experience (to be gained), and tons of potential (the game is currently in pre-alpha).
At QuakeCon, Techcitement spoke with Marc Tardif, co-founder of Escalation Studios, about the gaming company’s enticing new game, its Kickstarter campaign, tons of post-release content(!), and what it’s like to get slaughtered at his own game.
Marc Tardif: Eternal Fate is a game that we have been working on for about a year now. It’s an action RPG that is one hundred percent PVP focus. So, probably the best way to describe it would be a cross between Diablo and Team Fortress 2. You’re running around in an environment very much like you would in an action RPG, you’ve got a persistent character, and you character class and you level up your character over time. However, the rules for the game [modes] are more like a first person shooter , where you’ve got death match, capture the flag, and control points, and you’re not fighting AI, but other players.
Techcitement: Are you able to collect gear and level up? How is that balanced out when you load into a game?
Tardif: The game auto balances, and we are designing all of the character classes and skill levels so that a lower level person, say a level five person, won’t get absolutely annihilated by a higher level person. And a lot of that is going to be balanced out in our upcoming closed beta, so we’ve got a lot of balance and design still to do on the various character classes to make sure that the game is still fair.
Techcitement: Before we touch on the beta, you mentioned that there was a Kickstarter that started yesterday when you showed this game for the first time to everybody here at QuakeCon, outside of the studios. Tell me about that.
Tardif: We’ve been working on the game for about a year, and up until yesterday, no one outside of our studio walls knew the game existed for had ever seen anything about the game. Yesterday morning, we launched a Kickstarter campaign, so if you go to Kickstarter and search for Eternal Fate you can find us there. Here at QuakeCon, we have a booth so we have been letting people just jump in and start playing the game for the very first time and the reactions have been really positive so far.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIo-UwnixJA’]
Techcitement: When do you expect a release date and when will the beta start? Because I know everyone’s gonna want to play in the beta.
Tardif: The beta is going to be, we’re about a month out from now, so sometime probably in early to mid-September. To get access to the beta, if you back us on Kickstarter, you are guaranteed access. Or if you go to eternalfate.com and sign up for the beta, you will get access that way or at some point in the future. And then the game launch will depend on how the beta goes. If the beta is successful, and we are able to really crank through a lot of the issues that we have, we’ll be releasing probably in late fall, otherwise early winter. Hopefully, sometime in late October, early November, somewhere in that time frame.
Techcitement: What kind of support do you expect your company to provide after the release of the game? Maps, DLC, what else?
Tardif: All types of stuff. The game is going be a paid game. It will cost $15 as a digital download through whatever download service you want to use. And then post launch, we’re going to be adding new character classes, new maps, new game modes, and all of those will be free for people that have purchased the game. In addition to that, we’ll have new costume packs for various seasons, so there will be a Halloween pack if you want to spend money to change the visual appearance of your character, but not how the game actually works.
Techcitement: Fantastic. Okay, just a couple more questions. What is the worst way that you’ve died in that game?
Tardif: (laughter) The absolute worst way, for me, is when a bunch of noobs who’ve never played the game before walk up to the QuakeCon booth and here I am having played the game for a year now, and they annihilate me in 30 seconds. That’s happened a lot, I’m kind of embarrassed to admit.
Techcitement: What is the kill you are most proud of; what is your favorite kill?
Tardif: My favorite kills are generally ones where teamwork has proven out. My favorite character class is the warrior and the warrior is a very good solo. He’s a melee guy, so he needs the support of somebody like a mage. Anytime that I’m able to team up with a mage and you’re running into battle side by side, and it actually works out as you’d planned, that’s really gratifying.
Classes, costumes, and the complete subjugation of your friends is all wrapped up in this neat little package: Eternal Fate. This is a game that I will not miss and am excitedly awaiting the beta. Did you ever want to design a level or character equipment? Make sure you check out the Kickstarter page.
Comments are closed.