While its DLC is currently being crowdfunded on Kickstarter and is planned to be released in 12 languages including French, the GrapeOcean Technologies team behind Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness had the kindness to answer some of our questions and talk about the project, its creation and its development. Below is the original interview, and following this link is a French version.
If participating in the crowdfunding of Tales of the Moon Cult sparks your interest and if you wish to get some additional rewards, don’t hesitate in giving some money on the Kickstarter page of the project.
RPG JV: Greetings! Could you introduce yourselves?
GrapeOcean Technologies: Our studio, GrapeOcean Technologies, was founded in 2014, bringing together more developers, artists and RPG enthusiasts from all over the world. The idea of a studio focusing on computer RPGs came from three IT university students a year earlier, who enjoyed playing classic-style RPGs. Since then, we released our first videogame, Black Geyser and now working on its expansion pack, Tales of the Moon Cult. Black Geyser has been a true community effort from RPG fans worldwide. In particular, we want to express our gratitude to the French role-playing community for their continued faith in our work. Without your support to Black Geyser on Steam, GOG and Kickstarter, our studio wouldn’t be as it is now.
How did the idea of the game come to the team?
The concept of greed spreading in the world to serve the interests of an evil god… it just came as an idea. There are many games portraying evil villains spreading fear and chaos, but greed and envy are portrayed less often, despite of the fact these are natural human emotions.
What were your influences for the game’s development?
We have always been lovers of classic-style CRPGs such as Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale. Magical atmosphere, exciting story, memorable characters. We wanted to follow their spirit while providing a more modern experience and user interface at the same time.
How did the development go and how long did it take?
There were good times and also tough times – as it happens with most indie teams we guess. Based on the feedback from fans, some aspects of the game were reworked, which required additional time. There was also the pandemic and other external events which influenced the development, making it longer than we initially planned. The development of the core RPG engine from scratch (based on Unity) took several years, and the content also took several years, since we are a very small team. During these years, the size of the team changed – we had subcontractors as well who worked on a project basis when their work was needed. Without them, it would have been impossible to develop the game without running out of the budget.
What is the game’s roadmap? Do you have any plans for the future?
The current Kickstarter campaign will enable the development of the Tales of the Moon Cult expansion pack for the game. It will be released before the summer of 2024. We will also release a free fixpack for Black Geyser that doesn’t require the expansion pack, so players who own Black Geyser will get it as a free Steam/GOG update even if they don’t own Tales of the Moon Cult. This fixpack will also include new features and major improvements to the base game such as Dual Wielding or Strongholds.
How many people worked on the project? What tools did you use?
Team size was varying – there were times when we had 15 active team members, but this is not the case any longer. Our core team consists of a few members at the moment, but we also work with reliable external subcontractors. Regarding the tools, we’ve used Unity Editor as well as our own helper programs that we developed. These enable the efficient creation of game quests, creatures, items and other elements for Black Geyser.
How did the work with the other persons working on the game go?
It worked fine. Creative team always requires different personalities, and sometimes tech and art talents have a different way of thinking. Obviously, a lead game designer has different priorities than a project manager. This is how it should be, but sometimes it leads to differences in opinion. Fortunately, we were able to resolve any issues inside the team during the development. Eventually, the team’s cohesion just got stronger thanks to the years they worked together.
What are Black Geyser’s features? It’s length? It’s replay value? In the end, in which category can we put the game into?
Black Geyser offers up to 60 hours of gameplay, depending on your playing style and the number of side quests you complete. Tales of the Moon Cult will extend this with 10-20 hours or more, depending on how many stretch goals of its Kickstarter are reached. We believe that Black Geyser – as an isometric, party-based real-time-with-pause CRPG – has a great replay value, because there are plenty of classes to choose from, and the plot is branching at several points. Your playing style (greedy or generous, combined with the good vs. evil axis) also opens a number of possibilities. For example, if you choose the greedy path, the Goddess of Greed may gift you with unique items that you wouldn’t get otherwise. There are similar rewards for playing generous, of course.
What is the story? Is there a lore that you have written for the game? What were your inspirations?
In the Black Geyser backstory, spreading greed is indeed a new attempt by dark gods to infiltrate and control the world of mortals. Mortals have learned to cope with fear and evil, but have not learned to face their own weaknesses such as envy or greed. Fear as an external force makes people stick together, but envy and greed silently divide and turn them against each other. The Black Geyser world has a rich lore, and it is fully our own intellectual property, so nothing is licensed from D&D or similar systems. Players can learn the lore not only inside the game, but also on the Black Geyser website, in the digital handbook and also in the physical lorebook (available as a Kickstarter reward). Our lore was inspired by several mythologies including North European and Eastern myths.
How did you develop the universe, Yerengal, the cities, etc.? How does one find names for such universes?
They are part of the background lore, which was developed carefully as a creative process. This is a strict yet flexible process that has several spontaneous stages. You cannot “plan” to have ideas. Ideas just come (including the Yerengal name). This is the flexible part. However, you need to sort the ideas and shape them into a system. The system is the strict part, since it must not have inconsistencies or errors, because your ideas will have a wrong realization then.
Do you have a favourite character in Black Geyser?
Our favourite characters include Siracca for her bravery and faith, and Rabinandera for his… madness and dedication to greed.
Do you have a favourite build, a class that you prefer over others?
Since we enjoy summoning a wide variety of allies, Convoker is one of our most favourite builds.
Were the players’ critics good during the course of Early Access? Have you changed things?
The reception of Early Access was overall positive in 2021, which was confirmed by Steam reviews as well. Of course, we received truly valuable feedback from players, so there were features we changed or improved. Loading times of game areas were reduced, spellcaster classes were made stronger, the tutorial was made more user friendly – just to name a few from the more important improvements we made based on the Early Access feedback of players.
Do you have a particular regret regarding the game? Something you took the resolution to take away or not implement at all even if you wanted to? Why?
We wanted to add many more magical spells to the game, but the time and budget didn’t really allow it. However, the upcoming expansion pack will add new spells, so we can finally implement some of our earlier ideas.
Do you have a particular anecdote, a funny or interesting story you’d like to share with us?
Yes. Back in 2018, we used to order Gyros dish to our office, and the menu always included a bottle of sweet juice. Their empty bottles looked really cool, so we decided that we would fill them with colorful liquid to make them resemble in-game magical potions. One of our team members brought colorful paints so that we can create colorful variants of water and fill the bottles. Unfortunately, we haven’t had the time since then, so the paints are untouched and the magical potions are yet to be brewed. Maybe next year…
One last word for the readers? Perhaps you have something to tell us (about the game itself, future projects about other games, anything else)?
We have advanced plans for the Black Geyser sequel, and also for another game, a sci-fi/post-apocalyptic style RPG. There are also ideas for a Greed-themed board game. We learnt a lot from the development of Black Geyser – this allows us to avoid making the same mistakes that we did before. Finally, we want to thank again the French community of gamers for their support.
Thank you for your time and commitment!
You can find Black Geyser on Steam, GOG and its official website.
And of course, the Kickstarter campaign for the DLC is still here.
Article in french.
