Game Rant recently got a chance to sit down and talk with Walter Tischkewitz, the co-founder of Semiwork, a development studio that just released the Monster Hunter inspired rogue-like Voidigo in early access. Tischkewitz was eager to discuss the game's inspirations and the benefits of working with a team comprised entirely of animators, but our conversation also delved a little deeper into industry trends and art direction as well.
Voidigo is currently in early access on Steam, and its gameplay centers around methodically tracking down and hunting large, dangerous area bosses, with complex behaviors and dynamic fights that can spill out into other areas. There is a glut of great rogue-likes out these days, but with its neon colors, individual artstyle, and unique gameplay mechanics, Voidigo is positioned to be a standout. Tischkewitz was more than happy to explain what makes rogue likes popular, and what makes Voidigo different. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
GR: Voidigo is a rogue-like, but it’s also very focused on boss fights and hunting bosses down over a long period of time. What were your main gameplay inspirations? What were the original goals with the game?
WT: We’re all big fans of Monster Hunter and other rogue-like shooters, rogue-likes in general. We wanted to find a middle ground between those two types of games. It evolved during the development. The game is so different from what we started with. We had some inspirations, and then the game itself and the playtesters inspired us to what it is today.
GR: What were your art inspirations? The art seems very unique.
WT: It’s hard to say. The artstyle evolved as we developed the game. I would say that we developed that style because we worked together before games on making animations. So, the inspiration comes from things like Adventure Time, or something like Over the Garden Wall, but more colorful. That was our inspiration for our animations, our animated short films we did before the game. The game art and style is similar to our animations.
GR: Color is such a powerful tool, and it seems like you use it very liberally.
WT: It’s a slippery slope when it comes to color. At first we just went all in with colors, but we weren’t thinking too carefully. I then had to spend months to fine-tune the colors, because the player needs to see what’s happening. It’s a bold choice to go with colors like that, because you have to think about what can go wrong when you have yellow ground and yellow bullets- that’s no good....
It’s contrast. Something that we utilize a lot is that everything moves. Even if an enemy is standing still, it moves a lot. That helps a lot because the eye can see movement really well. It helps to make things readable.
GR: Does that come from your experience working on animated shorts?
WT: For sure. We couldn’t make a character and them not have an interesting idle animation.
GR: We’ve seen reviews of the game that describe it as 'cottagecore,' what do you think of that?
WT: What does that mean?
GR: Kind of like Stardew Valley. Cute and cozy and relaxing. Wholesome, like a cottage.
WT: That’s a big compliment then! That’s a feeling you want even if it’s a hectic rogue-like. It would be an accomplishment to have something feel comfortable even when it’s hectic, so I like that.
GR: Players on your Steam page compare your game a lot to Monster Hunter and Nuclear Throne. What do you think of those comparisons? You said you were directly inspired by Monster Hunter, but which of the games was the most direct inspiration?
WT: I would say the games before Monster Hunter World. We have separate areas like the original Monster Hunters. I think those comparisons are inevitable because I am a huge fan of Nuclear Throne and Monster Hunter, and you can’t help but pour some of your love for other games into your game.... I got really excited when Monster Hunter World became a huge thing in the West, because we need more like that.
GR: There are a lot of rogue-likes out these days. A lot of indie studios are doing pixel rogue-likes. Do you have an idea of why that genre is seeing a revival? And whet sets Voidigo apart?
WT: I think we’re seeing a lot of those games because it’s a fun sort of game to develop. You can keep yourself sane even with a small team, because it’s easier to test. The game is short, and you’re making it longer in terms of replayability, rather than longer to get to the final boss or complete the game.... I can’t imagine how difficult it is to develop a linear game, because you need to try it over and over to find bugs, playing, say, the same eight hour segment over and over. We have a linear tutorial, and we’re already sick of playing it so much. But we aren’t getting sick of the actual game.
That’s one reason, but also, it’s a very special thing to make. You're making a singleplayer experience with player stories that almost resemble multiplayer. Things can happen that you would never expect.
What sets us apart is our team. We’re all animators. Even our musician is an animator. He’s also a co-founder, and he also makes sound effects. When an animator makes sound effects, it shows. Animators are aware of buildup and timing. Also, we’ve all done comedy before as well. I think our team is very special.... I think we have a special style that sticks out. We’ll have a lot of voice acting and things that we will do in house, because we’re all voice actors as well.
GR: You also went early access. What does that allow you to do as a developer?
WT: Early access is great. We’ve had testers, about 40 testers that help us. But having early access, it’s so many testers, basically. Getting feedback from players, seeing people enjoy the game, it’s a motivational boost and it’s very important to the development. When we released the game I watched a lot of streamers play on Twitch. Seeing someone play for the first time is such a valuable thing as a developer. The most important thing in early access is talking to the community and actually watching them play.
GR: Are there any pitfalls to look out for when going early access?
WT: I think we kinda want the game to be perfect. We don’t want any crashes or any bugs, so if someone finds one we want to fix it right away. We might end up fixing rare bugs that aren’t game breaking, and waste time when we should be making content. That would only be a pitfall if we allow it to be, though.
GR: What’s your personal favorite part of the game?
WT: The worlds. Making the worlds alive and seeing people interact with them. We have a little beetle that just walks around and has a lot of behaviors. It doesn’t do that much, it’s not an enemy, it’s just something alive in the world. I love bringing that kind of living world to people.
GR: What are you looking forward to most?
WT: I’m looking forward to getting more comedy into the game. We haven’t had time to do really proper comedy. The content we have now is good, but I’m looking forward to adding the small parts and the tiny details that can make something really really funny.
GR: Is there anything else you want to cover before we sign off?
WT: People talk a lot about game feel. Animators know game feel because that’s basically what animation is. The buildup of a punch in an animation, you want that in a game. Then of course, there’s animations in the game as well that affect gameplay. I often hear people talk about game feel, and what they are usually talking about is how good the animation is. It's exciting how well animation translated to game design for us.
I think a game... should be able to turn off the sound effects and still feel punchy. If you’re an animator, you often hear sounds while animating, even though you don’t have sound yet. It’s the same in a game, even without sound you should almost be able to hear it because of the camera shake, the motion. You understand that there are supposed to be sounds there.
[End.]
Voidigo is in early access on PC.