Who are the mysterious men behind Valfaris? I thought it was about time we got to know a little more about the hardworking and incredibly talented dudes at developer Steel Mantis. The two-man team consists of Andrew Gilmour (concept, art, and game design) and Thomas Jenns (programmer and designer). The pair formed the studio after working together on Slain: Back From Hell.
First up, Thomas Jenns (pictured above, chilling with some guanaco) answers a few questions from his base in Gdańsk, Poland.
Question: You were previously drafted in to fix the very buggy Slain and help transform it into the very excellent Slain: Back From Hell. How different an experience has it been working on Valfaris from the very start?
Thomas: It’s very different! With Slain, the levels were already made, so a majority of the work was re-implementing ideas that already existed. Saying that, we ended up adding some new mechanics, like parrying and charge-up attacks, and I got to have a lot of creative input with new / reimagined enemies.
However, this is nothing compared to making a new game from scratch where you’re deeply involved in every creative decision.
What aspect of your work in Valfaris are you particularly proud of?
I think probably the big swaying tentacles. It always makes me happy when I manage to make something move in an organic way using code, it’s like a beautiful blend of art and maths, and I find it very satisfying. There are quite a few things in the game that use this tentacle motion, even some of the plasma beam effects.
Can you offer some insight into how things work between yourself and Andrew? Can you talk us through how a level is made/designed, from idea through to completion, for example?
As Andrew is the visionary of Valfaris, he’s decided on what levels there will be, and what kinds of enemies reside in them. When we start working on a new level, we have a long chat about what sorts of things Andrew wants in it, like areas, landmarks, types of obstacles, and also the overall mood of the level.
We’ll keep talking about it until I feel like I’ve got enough details to run with! Then I’ll put the level together. It will look quite simple at this point as there won’t be any details, just the bare minimum for the gameplay to work.
Once we’re happy with the layout, Andrew will go in and make it look amazing. We’re both very spontaneous so we’re always adding new stuff as it comes to our heads. We tend to make very loose plans because we like lots of wriggle room to change things!
Our ways of approaching tasks are a bit different, but I think we work well together.
What, for you, constitutes good level design?
It’s hard to say as level design is completely dependent on the gameplay. Everything about the player character, such as speed, jump height, different abilities etc., all determine how a level should be designed. For most games, the mechanics are at least slightly unique, and so what constitutes good level design will also be unique.
Because of this, I don’t think there can be a ‘correct’ way to design a level, you just have to keep building areas and playtesting until it feels right. Eventually you gain an intimate understanding of the gameplay you’ve created, and from there designing levels becomes easier.
What’s the biggest challenge – whether specific or general – that you’ve faced during the development of Valfaris, and how have you overcome it?
I think the biggest challenge has just been trying to settle on the identity of the game. At first I was designing it as if it were a Contra-style game, where it was just non-stop run and gun action, with constant pressure from spawning enemies. Then we went in the opposite direction and started making large sprawling levels with exploration and puzzles.
In the end, I think it’s become somewhere in-between!
As someone who studied game design at college, how did you find the transition from classroom to doing the job ‘for real’? Any sage advice you can offer to budding game designers?
I never got a job with a games company. From the start I’ve just wanted to do my own thing. I was happy working solo for a long time, just making Flash games and getting sponsorship deals for those. That was really fun, until Flash games started becoming a lot less popular! I guess some people were impressed by my games as they wanted to work with me, and so things moved forward from there.
I would say just keep producing stuff and improving your skills, and eventually you’ll get noticed. You need to be dedicated though! You won’t make it unless you’re willing to put everything you have into it. Don’t be overly ambitious with your first project. You won’t be able to make your dream game straight away! Start with something small that you know you can finish.
One more thing: don’t be too much of a perfectionist or you’ll never finish anything! I’ve struggled with this for sure.
When you’re not making games, what types of games do you enjoy playing? What’s the last game you played, or completed? And what were your favourite games growing up?
Growing up I played a lot of Megadrive, NES, SNES and PS1 games. Many awesome platformers: Sonic, Mario, Mega Man, Contra etc. Also shoot ‘em ups: Thunder Force, R-Type, Gradius, Raiden etc. I’m a big fan of JRPGs: Final Fantasy (up to FFX), Chrono Trigger, Persona, and my favourite: SaGa Frontier II.
More recently I’ve been very into the Dark Souls series, and Bloodborne. I’m playing through Sekiro right now. It’s awesome.
Huge thanks to Thomas for taking the time to do this. Expect some questions with fellow Steel Mantis dev Andrew Gilmour in a future post. Until then, keep it metal!
Matt | Digital Uppercut