“I have a bag, candles, and a moustache. All the equipment for the perfect looter. Onward.” This is not only a quote from the start of a trailer for the hugely fun platformer, Ruggnar, but a perfect summary of the humorous, treasure seeking protagonist you’ll be playing in the game.
We recently spoke to the 1-man team at Swords N’ Wands, who’s been working the last 3 years on this lively and quite challenging title.
Here’s what creator, Cyrille Bonard had to say.
Tell us about yourself and why you decided to become a video game developer.
Hi, Cyrille Bonard here! I’m a forty-something, bearded developer who had the dream to make games as a kid. It’s only after several game jam events (and encounters with the fantastic people I’ve met) that I realized it was doable.
Game development is a way for me to do something different from my daily job, where I’m also a developer, just for a more serious company.
Tell us about your game, Ruggnar.
Ruggnar is a platformer set in dark places with a lot of traps, hidden by the darkness. There’s puzzles to solve and no enemies to beat, crush, or kill. {Instead}, the shadow and the traps are your true challenges.
You play as Ruggnar, a gruff dwarf, looking for fortune. He heard some rumors about abandoned places where he could fill his pockets. But, he wasn’t aware of the traps.
Your main character is hugely fun and humorous. What was the inspiration behind him/his sense of humor?
Thank you! The inspirations for this part come from different {sources}.
There’s Lucas Arts point & click games (i.e. Monkey island), Terry Pratchett’s Discworld book series, some tabletop RPG sessions, and a touch of “Le Donjon de Naheulbeuk” ( a French cross-media medieval-fantasy world with a lot of humor/ RPG references).
When I played platformers on the Sega Genesis (Aladdin, QuackShot, Earthworm Jim), I always loved to see the idle animations. (That’s why Ruggnar has some funny animations).
I also like dwarfs, but I wanted a less serious version {of one}.
In what ways will we be able to customize Ruggnar?
When you enter the castle for the first time, you only have a helmet, armor, a bag and your beard!
In some levels, you’ll find vials with beard tint, helmets and/or armor.
Each time you pick something up, it goes in The Lair, a place like a hub, where you have a changing booth. As soon as the curtain is closed, you can change your appearance.
It’s purely cosmetic. I want players to choose their look based on what they like (not on statistics).
There’s also an old man walking in the levels, trying to sell things. This little fellow is quite useful and will offer to sell you improvements like better candle duration, waterproof candles, and slippers to mute your footsteps.
Ruggnar is equipped on his adventure with only a bag of candles. In what ways can his candles be used? Is there a maximum amount he can have at one time? Can more be found along the way?
Candles are very important for Ruggnar. The candle he has on his helmet lights his direct surroundings.
He can throw a candle to see what lies ahead, in the darkness (and avoid the leap of faith). A candle can also be used to activate certain mechanics or produce an explosion.
When you enter a level, you start with a certain number of candles. The old man can trade you some candles for gold coins. In the levels, candles can be found, to refill your bag.
For the moment, there is no limit to the candles Ruggnar can carry in his bag. But as the game is still in heavy development, things could change.
Except for bosses, you decided to use traps in the game instead of enemies. What was the reason behind this decision?
When I started to work on Ruggnar, it was, at first, something I did to have a game my young kids could play. I wanted a game where you don’t have to kill or step on others to progress. I wanted to avoid violence towards others.
When I explain this, people tell me that my dwarf dies when hit by an axe or a fireball. Yes, but they are avoidable like cars on the street. And, there is no blood, no graphic violence, only, at most, a hurting sound.
Even the bosses you defeat in a way that doesn’t kill them.
The castle that Ruggnar explores is full of procedurally generated rooms/treasures. What are some of the challenges of creating a procedurally generated game?
This part is a little tricky. There is procedural generation, but only outside of the story mode.
The story mode is composed of handmade levels. The other game modes are procedurally generated.
The real challenge is to make fun levels, fully doable for the player, with replayability.
When I first showed the game, someone pointed out the fact that I could do procedurally generated levels and guided me to Spelunky. I studied it and made something different to have a better control on what is presented to the player.
In my case, I’ve created a lot of rooms (handmade) with ground, walls, traps, & gold, and placed them based on compatibility (like 4-sided dominoes). {That way}, the rooms are connected, and the path is always accessible.
The traps and treasure are {put in} place according the difficulty I want each level to have.
Tell us about the game’s story mode.
The game’s story mode is, for the moment, planned to have 20 levels split into two chapters. (I’d like to add more in the future).
The 2 chapters put you in the skin of Ruggnar, who’s trying to get rich. You’ll discover why Ruggnar is here, what’s going on in these dark places, why the traps are working so well and how torches are burning in a so-called “forgotten place.”
Ruggnar is “coming soon” to Steam. Will it release this year? Will it launch on any other platforms? Any chance of a physical release?
The release is planned for early 2021. I still have a lot of work to do.
For the moment I don’t have the resources to release the game on other platforms, even though a Switch version would be a dream come true.
A physical release… I really don’t know. I’d like to.
You’re participating in the Steam Game Festival (6/16-6/22). What do you have planned for this special event?
For this event, I made a demo with 3 levels.
- A tutorial to teach the controls
- A level in the Castle, with some new mechanics
- A level in a mine
In The Lair, all the cosmetics are unlocked so you can give Ruggnar the look you want him to have.
On 6/18, an AMA session is planned on my discord at 8pm (Western Europe)/3pm EST.
What platforming games would you recommend to our readers?
I recommend Shovel Knight and Rogue Legacy. I really like their graphics and humor.
Braid {is also good}, with its ability to manipulate time.
I’m a huge fan of the 16 bit Sega Genesis era (Aladdin, Quackshot, World of Illusion).
More recently, Dead Cells and ScourgeBringer. I really love these 2 games, but they are more “action-platformers.”
What’s your best piece of advice to other indie developers creating their own platforming title?
Focus on the physics of the character. If the game feel isn’t really good, change it ‘til it’s really good.
In a platformer, this is the first contact you have. If the character doesn’t respond properly, the player won’t have fun.
And like for any games, show your work, and gather feedback.
What’s next for Sword N’Wands/Ruggnar?
After releasing the game, I’d like to add more content to it. I’d like to work on a Nintendo Switch port of the game.
I haven’t thought about another project yet. One thing is for certain, I’ll try to create another game without violence.
Thanks so much to Cyrille for answering our questions. We look forward to the release of Ruggnar next year!
Check out the free demo of Ruggnar, currently available on Steam. Join in the conversation about the game (& the June 18th AMA) via the Ruggnar Discord Channel.
Keep up with the latest news about Ruggnar via Twitter.
