Interview With the Producer of Sigils: Battle for Raios

May 18, 2015 14:10 ( Interviews ) 0

 

Today we have for you an interview with Botond Nemeth, Producer of Sigils: Battle for Raios, Gameforge’s newest MOBA RPG for mobile devices.

 

First of all, thank you for giving us the possibility to interview you about Sigils: Battle for Raios. Would you be so kind to introduce yourself to our readers?

My name is Botond Nemeth and I’m the Producer of Sigils: Battle for Raios. I started with a very motivated crew over 3 years ago from a blank sheet. I started as the Lead Game Designer on Sigils and during the development I switched to a Producer role.

How would you describe Sigils: Battle for Raios to someone who has never heard of it before?

Sigils cleverly combines RPG and MOBA to create an innovative and fresh game experience. Players can acquire 15 different Champions at launch, each of them with their very own skill set and role. In contrast to pure MOBAs, Sigils doesn’t focus solely on PvP, but also offers a huge PvE and Coop part with many hours of immersive gameplay.

The MOBA genre is growing bigger and bigger recently, with a lot of new titles announced each day, so why should a player choose to play Sigils over any other MOBA game? How is it going to stand out in the genre?

We re-interpreted the genre and came up with our own vision, which, different to other MOBAs, does not only focus on PvP, but instead also offers a unique PvE coop experience for everyone who doesn’t like the purely competitive nature of MOBAs. Combined with rather short, but addictive game sessions, we believe that Sigils is the perfect synchronous gaming experience for gamers and non-gamers alike.

 

So the game will be available for Tablets. Which are the reasons behind this choice, which OS will be supported, and can we expect to see the game on other platforms as well in the future?

Sigils: Battle for Raios will be released exclusively for iPad series. We wanted to optimize the gaming experience as best as possible and felt the iPads with their unified engine and control system were the best point to start. But who knows what the future holds.

Tell us something about the control system, how did you adapt the controls to a tablet touchscreen?

We tried to keep the controls as simple as possible, but we also didn’t want to lose the ability to create awesome skills. Sigils’ controls are very direct and allow for fast paced gameplay, thus you also won’t find any gesture based input methods or similar.

Would you describe Sigils more like a casual game or like a title which is better suited for the hardcore MOBA players and the fans of the genre?

Sigils offers fun for both. Core and hardcore players will find their challenge, while casual players will be able to get some experience with the game and due to a good learning curve will be able to dive deeper and deeper into the core gaming with Sigils.

Which classic features of the genre are you going to keep and what will you get rid of?

Sigils is very different to typical MOBAs. Players are not fighting it out on a single map until the enemy base is destroyed. The maps are also very different and way simpler and more straight forward. The goals are usually to destroy every remaining enemy, rather than having to destroy a certain building. The single battlegrounds are rather small and thus there’s also no need for a minimap or similar.

About how long will a game last? Close to the 40 minutes of League of Legends or will it offer shorter matches like Heroes of the Storm?

Depending on what you are playing a session will last between 3 and 10 minutes. We really tried to care for the platform and give the players the experience they are expecting on the iPad. We never felt that longer sessions would really work on tablets. This doesn’t mean that players have to stop playing, they can go on for several hours, if they like.

We know that you are going to offer an RPG style permanent progression system. Can you tell us something about it?

It’s pretty simple: Champions gain experience points upon winning games, no matter if in PvP or Coop. Once a Champion has gained enough XP they level up and they also keep their level forever. The interesting part here is that Champions automatically raise their stats each new level, and are additionally granted so called Skill Points. These can be invested in any of the 4 skills of that Champion.

Will you have multiple maps and game modes? Can you give us any details about them?

In the Campaign and Coop part of Sigils there is a huge variety of different maps. The maps are very different to normal MOBAs. They are rather compact and less complex. In PvP there are a handful of different PvP maps, which make the encounters very versatile.

For launch there are quite some different modes players can choose from:
Campaign (solo or coop)
PvP 1on1
PvP 3on3

The Campaign is very long though and offers several different sub-modes, which are unique to Sigils.

 

Can you tell us something about the playable heroes, maybe giving us a couple of examples of character's skills and playstyles?

Sigils’ Champions are quite diverse in their skill set, behavior and role. The class usually determines their main role, but doesn’t necessarily dictate the playing style.

Let’s take Tarkin, one of our most significant tanks in the game. Players could equip and skill the Champion like a typical tank that usually defends certain Champions or even the whole group. Take the same Champion, skill and equip him like a mage and he will not be such a good tank anymore, but instead have heavy burst abilities.

Each and every Champion works like that. There’s a main role associated with them, but players can experiment around as much as they want and ideally will find a setup that suits their very own playing style.

Will the game have a cash shop? If so, what is it going to offer; items that affect the gameplay or just cosmetic stuff? What are you going to do to keep the game balanced for both paying and non-paying users?

Yes, Sigils offers a shop where players can buy virtual goods either for Gold (our in-game currency) or Gems (our premium currency). Beside Champions, we also sell Gear directly in the in-game shop. Most of our virtual goods can be bought for Gold and Gems. There are just a handful of items that can only be bought with Gems, like Skins or Boosters, but that’s about that.

The balancing part here is a bit tricky, but we have a smart system in place that matches players of similar power and skill together. This makes almost every matchup a balanced experience.

Do you already have a date or a time window for closed and open beta phases?

We are currently in the so called Soft Launch phase in certain territories. Sigils will be released worldwide on May 21st 2015.

Finally, would you like to add anything?

We’d love to get some early feedback of the Sigils community, once the game is out. We believe that every single player can help make the game an outstanding experience and we are eager to hear of your ideas. For this we are planning to do several Live Streams and Q&A sessions. Stay tuned for more information about the upcoming events!

 

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