Recently I spoke with Soham Jaiswal, CEO, SD Games about the pending Eternal Damnation game. The game is a hybrid of RPG and RTS and cast players as a Spider.
What is the background and setting for the game?
Upon your untimely demise, you are met by the goddess of Life and given the choice between death or a new life in Eternal Damnation… what will you choose?
At face value the game is set in the Medieval period with a hint of modern sci-fi. We know this wouldn’t usually work, but it allows freedom for the player to mould the world to their wants as well as allowing a redefinition of what people perceive as ‘Eternal Damnation’. The visual tone of the game begins light and airy with gentle village settings and beautifully serene beaches and waterways, but this can quickly change as the player makes choices for the better or worse of the world around them.
How did the idea to make the lead character a Spider-Hybrid come about and how does this change the gameplay from others in the genre?
Honestly, the idea of the spider hybrid was very much an off the cuff idea. It was something we’d seen done before but not how we would do it, so we thought why not do it better… so we did! Taking inspiration from such a wide spectrum of media, we wanted to combine all of the cool things people have done before and put our own twist on it. Playing as a spider-hybrid gives you the opportunity to explore a variety of otherwise unobtainable abilities, related to the natural anatomy of the arachnid as well as many more. We don’t plan on limiting our hybrid options to just spider-hybrids though… keep an eye out for the other playable options we bring out!
How do you combine the RPG and RTS elements?
Eternal Damnation is a classic RPG game following the story of the main character along their path to world domination. We combined RTS elements such as base building, troop management and much more to allow a unique melded experience. Features such as unit creation and resource management provide the player with the possibility to expand their empire far beyond the restrictions of a standard RPG. Establishing your stronghold centres the story around your upgradeable base, allowing you to expand, enhance and completely customise your play style, whilst following the thrilling story designed to encourage the exploration of the world around you.
Will your character level up and gain new abilities?
As they progress through Eternal Damnation, skills and abilities will be unlocked, revealing a catalogue of mutations and enhancements that can be applied to the playable character. Work your way through your specialised skill trees; with new abilities come tiered upgrades, supercharged weaponry and a vast array of customisable aesthetics creating your own ultimate Spider Monster! Abilities can also be given to your team of companions, enabling the creation of a diverse and totally customisable play style. Your small team of minions will also carry their own set ability trees – empowering you to command your very own army of specialised ‘troops’.
Is there a multiplay element?
Not currently, but we are considering a number of options upon base game completion. One such option would be a PvP arena mode, allowing players to battle friends or other global players.
What can you tell us about the music in the game?
The music in the game has been specially designed to create the best atmospheric tone we could. We have worked with a range of musicians, artists and voice actors to create an ambient scape we are proud of. Sound helps to create the overall vibe of a game and this is something we definitely didn’t want to neglect. We had a lot of fun working on the sound for this game and it gave us the opportunity to explore the world of voice actors and musicians, which was one of the highlights for the whole project.
What have been the biggest challenges and greatest success stories with the game?
Making a game for the first time is always going to come with its challenges. Setting up AI behaviours and implementing the skills and abilities to work exactly how we wanted them was a huge challenge, and took a good amount of time to perfect, but we got there. Building the world around the story of an antagonist also provided its own challenges in pushing us to think outside of the box. ‘Eternal Damnation’ comes with the automatic assumption of a dark, gloomy and all hell bound surroundings… something we wanted to challenge in the way we built the world the player finds themselves in. With player choice being paramount, the world around them morphs along with the morally challenging choices they must make.
As for greatest successes… can we say getting this far? Haha! Only kidding. Honestly learning the industry, meeting other indie developers and experiencing games development first hand has been incredible. Implementing all of the complex features and meshing them together to create the game we have is something we are very proud of.
What are some of your favourite abilities in the game?
Telekinesis Skill is one of our favourite skills in Eternal Damnation, granting you the ability to yeet inanimate objects and NPCs. This ability nicely compliments the Chameleon ability – enabling you to be invisible whilst also yeeting objects anywhere. The Chameleon ability enables a time restricted invisibility period, making stealth actions possible. We have a number of varying fire style abilities, these range from Tornados to Fire Balls and will be refined as you progress. We aim to implement many more fun abilities and examples of the ones we have are available via our social media and devlogs.
What type of enemies will players face?
The player will be facing a huge variety of enemies ranging all the way from low skilled humans to mighty ferocious dragons. Battle your way through the waves of enemies, encountering a spectrum of monstrosity.
-What makes this game different from others in the genre?
Well for a start, we cover both RPG and RTS genres, so there’s the first difference. Standard RPGs tend to follow a storyline from start to finish, only deviating for side quests or small amounts of additional boosts… Eternal Damnation takes that to the next level. Lead your character through the main storyline, from the perspective of the villian. Destroy, pillage and vandalise as you make your way across the world before you, building up your army and stronghold to prepare for the ultimate role as God/Goddess… should you wish to.
-Will there be DLC?
DLCs will play a huge role in the future of Eternal Damnation’s expansion. We hope to bring a wider variety of Biomes, additional quest and story line options, a beautiful cosmetic catalogue expansion as well as more playable character types. Alongside the paid DLCs we have planned, we will be providing some free and exclusive content for the playtesters who help make Eternal Damnation possible. Base game add-ons such as some skins, weapons and armour will also be available free of charge.
What do you have upcoming?
Currently we’re in the playtesting phase as we head into NextFest. We hope to get the best version of Eternal Damnation forward in time for NextFest to maximise the input we get from it. Releasing in Early Access allows us to implement all of the changes and updates we want to and also to address all the feedback we receive along the way. Our early access release date will be July 15th 2024 and we hope to spend the months following working on getting the game completed to the best it can be. After that, we have so many ideas on what we’re going to do next, least of all maintaining, updating and expanding Eternal Damnation alongside some new exciting projects we have planned.
