Residents of Issilith!
We are starting a new content that will be published twice a month, bi-weekly.
Our desire is to bring our team closer to our community, so you guys get to know us a bit better.
First in the line is our one and only Phage, Danijel Matić, a.k.a. Stormyyy.
He is the mastermind behind the Phageborn lore and most of the game overall.
Creative director of the game, designer and producer, he collaborates with all of the office departments, ensuring all of the tasks are done on time, and acts as a gatekeeper for all of the game-related content.
The idea of Phageborn is something he has been conjuring in his mind for a long time.
Danijel states that ever since he has known himself, he’s been making up stories and inventing various board games that were often played in the circle of his friends and acquaintances.
‘’It is a unique and irreplaceable feeling when you see someone enjoying and having fun with something that came from your imagination. Even then, I decided to make my own game that would reach the global market one day, which also became one of my life goals.’’
The beginning of Phageborn can actually be traced back to one of those gaming chillouts with his buddies. Soon after that Games Revolted was founded, with Danijel assembling friends who recognized the games’ potential. All of them were, at the time, working other jobs but were getting together in their free time to brainstorm and develop the game. First came the storyline, afterwards they started to hire freelancers to design illustrations, and then came the programming.
The initial phase lasted for a year, in which Danijel was working on the game concepts, storyline, in-game characters, and generally developing gameplay modes. He states that the mania surrounding Hearthstone card game was a huge inspiration in the game's inception. Yet he felt that he wanted to achieve a more traditional feeling of the game, like the one in Magic: The Gathering, and predominantly Duel Of Champions, meaning that the game has more of a strategic depth while simultaneously it is easy to control everything, like in Hearthstone. After a year of original development, doors started to open and it became official. The next three years were followed by an active game development which culminated in the Early Access game.
When it comes to inspiration, Daniel cites Dark Souls as the biggest inspiration, but also Warhammer series, popular card game Magic: The Gathering, and the rather dark anime Berserk. Most of the inspiration is immediately visible in the game visuals, and since it is a game where the illustrations make a huge difference, the whole process of designing a single card is by no means easy. In the course of designing the cards themselves, Danijel, as the creator of the game, with the game designer Mario, goes through various mechanics and ultimately determines which character will best suit the effect on the card.
In the beginning Phageborn lore was designed in that way that it can be expanded endlessly. The context of an unexplored universe means that it is open to including other multi-verses. Whatever future idea we might have, it will be possible to include it in the original Phageborn story. The vision is such that after the card game flourishes we explore the possibilites of other genres, such as RPG, MOBA, etc.
When it comes to running a team, and being the teams' captain, he says that he loves it because he is doing it with all of his heart. He is much happier in that environment than in any other, and can't imagine himself being in this position in some other project whose creator is not him.
,,Leading the Phageborn team is the highlight of my every day.''
Although this is his first experience in leading a team, he has technical experience in game development. He gained technical knowledge in one prominent Varaždin IT company, and by being mentored, he learned to use Unity and the basics of what it means to have a game development project. That was sufficient to get a head-start and share the knowledge on the initial core team. Everything that was brought as a challenge, in terms of management and operative tasks, was new and unknown territory, which he embraced as a noob, but over time learned the means of running a game dev studio.
For him, the most favorite part of the job is inventing new cards and coming up with stories around them, while the least favorite would be any responsibility the company brings that actually does not have to do anything with the game.
Hopefully you have gotten to know Danijel a bit better!
You are invited to join our Discord where you can find him under nickname @Stormyyy!
On our Discord you are welcome to join our community and join numerous channels with various discussions, express what’s on your mind regarding the game, suggest, comment, etc.
See you in the game! :-)