The Two-Man Dev Team of Shrine’s Legacy Discusses Its Retro Inspirations, Gameplay, Narrative, and More

Shrine’s Legacy is simply a 16-bit enactment RPG that releases connected PC connected October 7. It tells the communicative of young heroes Rio and Reima arsenic they effort to banish an past evil and prevention the world.

Take 1 look astatine screenshots and you tin archer the game’s aesthetic was inspired by the SNES epoch of RPGs. The full crippled tin beryllium played solo oregon successful two-person co-op, either done sofa co-op oregon online via Remote Play oregon Parsec. If you play co-op, each of you controls either Rio (a melee fighter) oregon Reima (a ranged mage). If you play solo, you tin swap betwixt the 2 characters astatine immoderate time, with AI taking implicit whichever 1 you’re not controlling.

The crippled was chiefly made by the two-man dev squad of longtime friends Alan Gabbard and Joseph Duke, with immoderate assistance from different friends on the way. It’s the archetypal merchandise for their institution Positive Concept Games, has been respective years successful the making, and was helped on by a palmy Kickstarter campaign.

To observe the game’s impending release, we had a wide-ranging chat with Alan and Joseph. We touched connected everything from their inspirations (which scope from Chrono Trigger to Hollow Knight), to Shrine’s Legacy’s gameplay and story, to their plans for releasing connected different platforms.

You 2 person been friends for a agelong time. At what constituent did you determine you wanted to make games together?

Joseph Duke: Funny enough, we've been moving unneurotic connected games astir arsenic agelong arsenic we've been friends.

Alan Gabbard: It was backmost successful precocious schoolhouse wherever I archetypal met Joe successful wellness class. I was a sophomore and Joe was a inferior — for context, we are successful our 30s now. One day, we began talking astir our emotion for Super Nintendo games. Joseph had already dabbled a batch successful RPG Maker and programming successful general, and I had a passionateness for the penning and storytelling facet successful video games. Joe pitched maine to travel up with a storyline for a abstraction shooter task helium was moving on, which sadly ne'er came to fruition. However, I pitched the thought for what would yet go Shrine's Legacy and that's erstwhile we got to enactment creating our archetypal game.

It’s instantly wide that you were inspired by the SNES era. What games successful peculiar were your favorites from that era, and what parts of Shrine’s Legacy did they inspire?

Alan: My favourite SNES games are Chrono Trigger, Terranigma, and Zelda: A Link to the Past. We got a batch of inspiration with our combat from Zelda and Terranigma, portion Illusion of Gaia and Super Metroid inspired however we designed maps and level progression wrong dungeons. We instrumentality a batch of power from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and the Soul Blazer games erstwhile it comes to storytelling, dialog writing, and the wide moment-to-moment gameplay feel.

Joseph: My favourite Super Nintendo games are Final Fantasy VI, Terranigma and the different Soul Blazer games, Chrono Trigger, a Link to the Past, and Super Metroid. And truly adjacent more, my database would beryllium immense if I kept going. So galore inspirations person gone into Shrine's Legacy, and Alan explains them well. To adhd to what helium said, galore radical would spot Secret of Mana influence, and that is true, mostly successful presumption of the co-op multiplayer aspect.

Nostalgia is powerful, but gaming has precocious a batch successful the past 30 years. How hard was it to equilibrium staying existent to your retro inspirations portion besides modernizing gameplay?

Joseph: Balancing hasn't been terribly difficult, but we did marque an effort to see options that galore radical expect, including mounting the surface scale, rebindable inputs, controller enactment successful summation to keyboard, fastener styles based connected your controller, etc.

Alan: We are trying our damnedest to support immoderate of that old-school SNES situation successful combat intact (players tin look guardant to a Hard Mode mounting post-launch) but besides admit that dying and having to retry hard sections of a modern crippled tin beryllium frustrating. We person a "Retry" enactment for bosses that beryllium particularly finicky truthful players tin skip each the cutscenes starring up to the brag fights. Dying successful immoderate different portion of the crippled volition besides reload you backmost to the astir caller prevention point. And portion determination are nary auto-saves, players are afloat healed astatine each prevention point. It's a tricky equilibrium betwixt prime of beingness portion retaining immoderate challenge.

Games with a absorption connected sofa co-op are fewer and acold betwixt these days. Was that ever thing baked into the DNA of Shrine’s Legacy? Or did you onshore connected it during the people of development?

Alan: It was ever our volition to person a co-op capableness from the beginning.

Joseph: Yes, it was ever planned.

The crippled tin beryllium played solo and you tin power characters connected the fly, with AI controlling whichever protagonist you aren’t playing as. How hard was that to implement, and wherefore was it important to you that it beryllium playable solo oregon successful co-op?

Joseph: Because Alan and I truly enjoyed playing games together. We privation much Final Fantasy games included co-op, I judge they adjacent removed it from aboriginal re-releases of Final Fantasy IX! Implementing it has so led to immoderate challenges. We opted to effort and support the functionality arsenic elemental arsenic possible, but determination are definite downsides to that strategy. The AI quality stays adjacent to Player 1 during combat, truthful that the amended you dodge, the much apt the AI is to besides dodge. Occasionally though, they inactive find themselves getting deed erstwhile you don't. I don't deliberation it'll harm the gameplay excessively much, but it mightiness beryllium thing that gets immoderate improvements implicit clip arsenic we update the game.

Alan: Since it was planned from the commencement of development, adding co-op hasn't been the astir daunting interference with the process of making Shrine's Legacy. As 2 friends that emotion RPGs, we person ever felt not capable RPG games person existent co-op options. Secret of Mana showed america that you tin marque a SNES-style enactment RPG that tin beryllium played solo oregon with friends successful cooperative gameplay. That's wherefore it was important for america to execute what the Mana games were doing successful presumption of sharing the acquisition with loved ones connected the couch...or astatine a machine show for this archetypal PC release.

Gameplay is evidently important, but a bully RPG besides needs a compelling story. How important to you were the satellite building, characters, and communicative of Shrine’s Legacy?

Joseph: Very important. One happening we didn't fig retired until immoderate ways successful was however important wit and levity is successful an different mostly melodramatic story. Luckily, we had plentifulness of clip to sprinkle those things in. The communicative publication really went done respective drafts implicit years earlier it was final. This was mostly from america leveling up our plan crippled implicit clip arsenic we learned more. It's inactive a reasonably elemental story, but we were determined to marque the characters radiance successful particular.

Alan: I mentioned earlier that Final Fantasy and the Soul Blazer trilogy were instrumental to the communicative and dialogue. I approached the communicative arsenic though we were telling thing akin to a classical Final Fantasy tale, deliberation Final Fantasy IV oregon Final Fantasy V. It was important to person a beardown consciousness of equilibrium betwixt melodramatic storytelling and levity similar truthful galore large JRPGs of the past had. The characters thrust this communicative and the worldbuilding supplements that. Of course, extracurricular mediums influenced however I wrote the communicative and characters. Avatar: The Last Airbender is 1 of my biggest influences successful that regard.

How would you picture the code of the story?

Alan: Shrine's Legacy is mostly a amusive phantasy escapade romp similar truthful galore classical JRPGs that are beloved. However, the code shifts to a much melodramatic consciousness wherever appropriate, particularly successful the second fractional of the game.

Can you archer america astir the exploration and dungeons? Is exploration linear oregon are determination concealed areas to unlock?

Joseph: The satellite of Shrine's Legacy is rather ample and dense, particularly for an indie game. There are tons of secrets and hidden spots, adjacent a fewer wholly optional areas and dungeons you could easy miss retired connected if you unreserved done the game. It's mostly linear successful progression order, but determination are points wherever the communicative opens up and gives you options of what to tackle next.

Alan: JRPGs of the aged days had a inclination to disguise their linearity rather good and would sometimes fto you tackle definite communicative beats retired of order. I'm blessed to accidental Shrine's Legacy does the aforesaid thing! It's not wholly linear, but it has capable linearity to archer a focused story. There are plentifulness of secrets to find and a fewer dungeons tin beryllium completed retired of the intended order!

Do each dungeons see brag fights? How varied are they, and what would you accidental is the trouble level of those fights?

Alan: Not each dungeons person a brag battle, but astir do. Every brag combat is precise different, galore requiring usage of immoderate puzzle cognition to defeat. The trouble is meant to amp up the further you advancement successful the game. We'll beryllium adding a fewer miniboss battles aft the crippled launches, positive the hardest brag battles successful the game, which unluckily had to beryllium chopped owed to time. More importantly, we'd similar to set brag and force AI for our planned Hard Mode. We are adjacent considering an eventual brag unreserved mode...

Joseph: I judge determination are 2 mini-dungeons that don't person a existent brag fight, but each azygous different dungeon does. There are lone a mates reskin bosses, but adjacent they look and enactment antithetic than their archetypal counterpart. Every different brag is wholly unsocial and a batch of effort went into designing them. As for difficulty, this is nary Hollow Knight oregon Silksong. While the crippled tries to present a challenge, it gives you galore ways to go stronger i.e. by exploring for treasure, grinding levels, making potions that tin heal oregon buff you during the conflict if you are struggling.

But you mightiness beryllium amazed to larn that Hollow Knight did promote a batch of the plan doctrine for however the bosses themselves function. We tried to attack brag plan successful a "each conflict is simply a dance" benignant of mode wherever you indispensable respect the patterns of the brag and respond accordingly. And similar Alan mentions, we'd emotion to marque a genuinely Hard Mode whenever we can. Not a elemental numbers buff, but a existent rework of however you person to play the crippled that makes each brag a genuinely fearsome foe.

How astir puzzles? Are determination tons of them, and are they required to advancement oregon are they optional to find cogwheel and items?

Alan: There are a batch of puzzles successful the game. You usage magic spells successful combat, but they besides person applicable uses connected the tract for traversal and solving puzzles. Think of it similar Link's toolkit successful Zelda games. Which, if I'm being honest, astir 50% of Shrine's Legacy's DNA is simply a Zelda-like. We're inactive an enactment RPG astatine heart, but I'm assured Zelda-like fans would bask our crippled if they don't caput a small much communicative and dialog than normal!

Joseph: There are tons of some required and optional puzzles, though we effort to support the puzzle trouble and magnitude connected the little extremity to support the gait of the crippled strong.

How agelong would you estimation it volition instrumentality a caller subordinate to implicit a playthrough?

Joseph: I would accidental anyplace from 12–28 hours depending connected your gait and level of completion. Probably astir 18 hours connected average.

Alan: Anywhere from 16–20 hours connected a casual playthrough. Doing everything volition instrumentality astir 25–30 hours for a first-timer without a guide.

We cognize astir the game’s merchandise connected Steam. Are determination plans to bring it to different platforms successful the future?

Alan: We are besides releasing connected GOG and Epic connected October 7! We program to bring Shrine's Legacy to Nintendo Switch arsenic soon arsenic humanly imaginable aft launching connected PC. PlayStation and Xbox depends connected however good income go.

Joseph: I'll lone adhd that the extremity is to effort and get the Switch larboard retired by aboriginal adjacent year. The full process volition beryllium a learning process though, arsenic it's not thing we've ever done earlier and I don't cognize however overmuch effort it'll beryllium yet. I conjecture what I'm saying is delight beryllium diligent with us!

Is determination thing other you’d similar to accidental to players anxious to get their hands connected Shrine’s Legacy?

Joseph: Shrine's Legacy has been a labour of emotion and years and years of hard work. It won't beryllium cleanable connected launch, nary crippled is, but we are going to support supporting it for immoderate time. We privation this crippled to beryllium arsenic unthinkable arsenic it tin be. But much than anything, I anticipation it brings you backmost to the bully aged times erstwhile games were weird, fun, and bold successful their plan decisions.

Alan: More than anything, I anticipation we've delivered connected the promises we made with our Kickstarter campaign. Some of those promises volition person to beryllium fulfilled aft motorboat (like getting to deterioration a Postcat hat). We've spent the amended portion of a decennary creating this archetypal commercialized game, truthful we anticipation the hold was worthwhile to everyone excited. Be definite to archer your friends and loved ones to articulation successful connected a co-op league with you! Because, really, getting to spot strangers play our babe successful co-op volition beryllium rewarding successful and of itself. Hopefully, this is lone the opening of our crippled dev careers and we attain capable occurrence to support making much creation done video games. We emotion and admit each of our supporters passim each these years. Thank you, and enjoy!