PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
My name is Mathias Jung Davidsen, also known as Zera. I am the founder of Ink Eclipse Studio, a Danish, single-person game development company currently working on Torchless.
I have been making games as a hobby since I was 15, so around 6 years. I've recently started moving towards full-time, however, hoping to one day make it my career.
TELL US ABOUT TORCHLESS.
Torchless is a dark and gothic dungeon crawler RPG played through a text-based retro console. That means all actions are performed through text commands.
In the game, you will forge a party of heroes and set out on a quest in the dungeons. You will explore, gather loot, manage your resources, and combat horrific enemies in merciless yet fair turn-based combat.
Every choice matters and all choices available to you depend on your heroes, items, and the choices you've previously made along the way.
The game was originally made as an independent internship project at my school over 3 months. It started as a roguelike card game with the same aesthetic named Deviltry. I presented it at an expo and was essentially told that the story, visuals, and worldbuilding were cool, but the game mechanics were rather bland. After some reflecting I started toying around with other prototypes using the same visuals, but leaning more into the storytelling aspect. That is how Torchless was born.
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
It has been going great and everything is moving so quickly! The game has been performing well on social media and is now sitting at around 7.2k wishlists on Steam. I am truly honored and blown away by all the love and support the project has been shown.
Throughout this time, I've been able to feature the game at a local game expo in Denmark as well as visit Estonia for a game development bootcamp.
Next year, I'll have the opportunity to work on the game full-time for half a year. So I'll very much be looking forward to that.
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
The game is made using Game Maker Studio (GMS). I considered making it in a more limiting tool. Something closer to an actual console application. But I chose not to though, not only because of the limited graphics and audio capabilities, but also because of time constraints regarding the project. I still had an exam to complete at the time. So I just chose the tool I was most confident and comfortable with. All my previously released game jam games had also all been made using GMS, so for me, it was an obvious choice.
All art was hand-crafted by the Japanese artist とり夫 (Torio). All of their works were originally created for a fan game of Wizardry, called Javardry, but were essentially made public domain. The art is then turned into pixel art through a custom process and then put in engine with some additional post-processing.
So a massive shoutout to them as well. It has helped so many projects be realized.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
The most difficult part of development has definitely been the text system. GMS is quite limited in UI and text formatting considering it's a 2D engine. That means it had to be built from scratch, with a little help from the Scribble project by Juju Adams. It is quite important to get that system right as localization will most likely play a huge factor in a text-based game like this.
Thankfully the text system is nearing feature completion except for full localization support (which is still being worked on). It has full font support, support for thousands of text entries without performance hits, rich text formatting, and much more.
Less time fighting with systems and tools means more time for adding additional content.
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
I don't really have an idea what I'm doing, but so does most of the game development scene I've talked to throughout the years. We are all just kinda working on our own little worlds, hoping to one day make a project that other people can relate to or find a liking to. So don't be scared of releasing that "early demo" or "shitty prototype". Getting that first game out of the door and receiving that first bit of positive feedback is so valuable.
Also, just reach out to people. Especially if you get the opportunity to meet up with them in real life. People in this community are so nice and helpful. Remember to stay the same way towards others.
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
Thanks for reaching out, and thanks for reading my story. Now go out there and make that game and talk to some devs. Wishing everyone the best.
-Mathias
❤️
