Ravensdale Developer Blog and First Screenshot

In addition to debuting their first developer blog entry that outlines their focus on co-op-focused multiplayer, the team at Black Forest Games have revealed the very first actual screenshot for their upcoming RPG Ravensdale. Two-dimensional scrolling and “gazillions of foes” are on tap for this one, it appears:

Our approach is fourfold. First: interconnectivity. We think co-op multiplayer should craft a connection between you and your co-players, your skills and the situations that arise during the game. Our goal is to encourage you to team up and coordinate your actions. Second: surroundings. Ravensdale will push for a co-op friendly environment where teams can utilize terrain and objects to support their tactics. In that regard, teamwork will always result in a more efficient outcome, which is, in fact, the third approach: efficiency. Last, but not least: autonomy. While we maintain a strong focus on teamwork, we don’t intend to force it down your throats. If you prefer to follow a single player strategy, you’ll be perfectly able to do so and still succeed.

That’s all well and good, you say, but highly hypothetical? Let us give you an example. Say you’re gunning your way through a level and encounter gazillions of foes. You pull lightning from a generator in the corner of the screen, hitting a gun turret and powering it up. On your own you do considerable damage, the turret spraying wildly into the enemy horde and thinning their ranks. Comes along one of your in-game buddies. While you feed energy to the turret, your buddy grabs its controls and starts aiming it at priority targets, turning the bonus spray and pray damage into surgical strikes. So while you can cause a lot of mayhem on your own, cooperating and combining your skills offers a new range of tactical options and control.

Take another example: If you play by yourself, not minding your brothers-in-arms, you’ll often have to choose between different options: Do you take cover behind the flamethrower turret, or do you shoot the conveyors above to shower incoming enemies with a rain of sticky oil? With a buddy, you can do both at the same time, setting the oil ablaze as a bonus!