Last month, we did a livestream on Twitch to chat with the community!
You met with some members of our team who were so happy to talk more about Danghost with you!
- Antoine (Lead developer)
- Sacha (developer)
- Leo (developer)
- Qara (Head of communication)
You had a lot of questions for us and so we decided to share them on Steam with everyone!
1/ What was Danghost's biggest technical challenge?
Sacha: The boss fights in story mode! We're trying to change the way players think by incorporating slightly more complex designs. The project wasn't originally designed for these, so there was a lot of thinking and iteration. This was particularly true for the final boss, which was subject to several rounds of improvements.
We thought the powers would be the hardest part, but in the end the architecture we used made it easy to add them!
2/ Is an online mode planned?
Qara: That's something we'd love to do, but it will depend on how the game will perform. For the time being, you can already play together with local multiplayer or through Remote Play via Steam!
3/When will the game be released?
Qara: The game will be released in September 2023! We will tell you more soon.
4/ Will there be a Switch version?
Qara: That's something we'd like to do, and a lot of you have asked us about it. It will depend on how well the game is received!
5/ How long has the game been in development?
Sacha: For 1 year and a half, with a few breaks to work on other projects.
6/ Are there any plans to add more characters in the future?
Sacha: Depending on how the game is received and what the community would like to see, we'd love to add more characters later on!
7/ What is your process for designing the characters' powers?
Antoine: We're looking for powers that are compatible with each other but different enough from the existing ones so that they don't clash.
The goal was to create either a completely different game feel from a character to on other, or other the player to use and privilege different skills: Will they have to spam or solve a puzzle like with Tutut's power, or is it a memory-based penalty like with Yiyifu's? We're trying to play with the possibility powers offer to reverse the player's way of thinking.
8/ Did any of the powers cause issues with other powers?
Sacha: There are two powers (that we don't want to reveal just yet) that are especially complex and were very difficult to combine.
There's no problem with the 1v1 powers, but as you can go up to 4 players and therefore be affected by 3 powers, it starts causing chaos in terms of code and gameplay.
Antoine: Naturally the powers generate a lot of unique cases, for example: Tatana's move and what destroys Kukupin's rocks. And that's only for 2 powers, but when there are 12, that's a lot more possible interactions to take into account. So each time a new power is added, you have to check that it's compatible with the many already existing powers.
9/ What did you enjoy working on most in the game?
Sacha: The powers! A lot of the powers we created didn’t make it in the game. It was interesting to look for that balance: what appeals to players, what is easy to understand. There were powers that were easy to understand, but not at all readable so we did a lot of iterations. I found that loop really interesting!
Leo: For me, it was more the visual effects and particularly the explosion effects when you absorb the little danghosts. There were a lot of iterations on that because it's something you're going to see all the time. It was interesting to find a way of creating something that was satisfying and not too visually heavy over the long term.
Antoine: I really liked the writing process for the story mode because that's where we really tried to convey the personalities of each character. And that's something we all did together over the months. It was a very interesting exercise!
10/ How many powers were discarded?
Sacha: It must be around 20 powers. Some characters have had a lot of iterations, like Tatana for example! At first, her power just removed the lines of her enemies. It was good for breaking combos, but we realised that beginner players were quite happy to have their pieces taken away. For some characters, we had to go through 5 to 6 different powers before having one that worked.
Antoine: For the powers, we had around 40 ideas and we tried to take the 12 that worked best.
11/ Would a team mode be possible?
Qara: There is one already! You can get together as a team to share the score and the combos, and when you use your attack it only affects your opponents.
12/ Can we also share our bonus/defence powers as a team?
Sacha: We thought about this a lot, but the problem is that not all powers are nice to receive as an ally *laughs*. When you make a big combo and Yiyifu's power paints all your danghosts with one colour, it can be frustrating.
Antoine: So we've got things planned to push this cooperative aspect when we play. It's not planned for release, but it's a bit like the online mode, it's one of the things we'd like to work on depending on how the game is received.
13/ Is there a character whose power was right from the start and didn't need to be changed?
Sacha: Kukupin, clearly, from the pre-prod! It was one of the first powers we created, even though the gameplay was very different at the time, and it simply stuck!
Leo: Tutut's power that doubles the pieces hasn't changed either.
Sacha: The offensive powers of Yiyifu and Barbak too.
14/ Who are the strongest characters in your opinion?
Antoine: It's hard to answer that because it really depends on what category of player you are part of. For beginners, there are characters who have powers that seem very, very strong, especially Yiyifu for his blindness. But at higher levels they become less impactful.
Sacha: At a high level, I'd say Tatana is a very good choice throughout.
Antoine: Tutut is really difficult to handle at high level, at high speed. Tatana’s power is something you learn to deal with very quickly, because you always have lines above you that allow you to survive. You just have to know how to play fast to compensate.
Sacha: There's a hack to make Tatana even more dangerous, but I'll never tell you *laughs*.
Kukupin is also very good at defence with his power that stops the board from rising (and seconds count as turns). So even if you don't place your pieces, the other players’ offensive powers are reduced.
15/ When you die, you become a little ghost. So if you play with 4 players, you can have two ghosts at the same time?
Antoine: Yes, there's even a little crown game where the aim is to steal the crown by bumping into each other. It encourages you to move in all directions, which really annoys players who are trying to stay focused!
16/ How many bosses are there in the story mode?
Sacha: There are 5, each with its own alternative gameplay!
17/ How many difficulty levels are there?
Qara: There are 6: beginner, easy, normal, difficult, nightmare and apocalypse. The score adapts to the difficulty to reward you for the way you play and use all the tools you have at your level.
If you're just starting out, you'll be able to do combos very quickly and you'll have lots of power bars, so you'll be able to use them more often!
18/ What does the number at the back of the board stand for?
Antoine: It's the score multiplier! You get +1 for every danghost you absorb and +1 for every chain (which increases if there are several chains in the same combo).
19/ Are all these difficulty levels available in story mode?
Sacha: In the story mode, players don't choose their difficulty level, it's something that increases as the adventure progresses. You start out as a beginner in Arc 1 and gradually work your way up as you learn to play.
Antoine: The story mode is designed to have a soft difficulty curve. By the end of the story mode, you're at about the right level to play the difficult mode.
20/ How many hours did you play?
Sacha: I don't know, I wish I did! I'd say... a good 500 hours maybe.
21/ How did you come up with the idea of little dango ghosts?
Sacha: It was during a pizza night! We already had the idea of a similar game mechanic, but at first it wasn't an object that captures another, but an object that would eat all the pieces in the chain. We were into the idea of eating/capturing and we wondered what would work with that. We came up with the idea of capturing yokai, and because we like to eat, they're not normal yokai but candy yokai!
Antoine: It's difficult to find a theme that makes the pieces visible on the screen for an arcade puzzle. We didn't want to get too close to food, to avoid an aesthetic that was too close to match 3 either. So in the end we found a middle ground!
Sacha: We'd done a test where the pieces were fruits, which was cute but it didn’t quite match with Umeshu Lover’s atmosphere.
22/ So the idea of danghosts came before the idea of an exorcism school?
Antoine: In the end, it was a package deal, it all came together on the same pizza!
Sacha: I'm still hoping it'll be called Danghost Academia *laughs*.
23/ Are arcade pads supported?
Antoine: It's possible, but you need an intermediate software to remap the keys on the pad.
Qara: And speaking of a different controller, the game is fully compatible with Steam Deck!
24/ Is this a game you can share with your children, nephews, nieces...?
Sacha: Yes! At conventions, lots of families came along to try out the game with their children and had a great time!
Antoine: And even for younger children, Dangoal or Crown Catcher are mini-games that we'll be releasing in post-release updates that are perfect for them! They can also be played by up to 4 players, just like the local matches. And having tried it out, it works really well, especially for children aged between 3 and 5 who are less keen on the puzzle mode and the thinking required.
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Thank you to everyone who joined us, we hope to see you next time!
