Seven Dragon Saga Interview

There’s a new interview regarding TSI’s “Gold Box”-inspired RPG Seven Dragon Saga up on Digitally Downloaded, with producer and lead designer David Shelley fielding questions about the game’s tactical nature, fantasy artwork inspirations, long-term series possibilities, and more. A taste:

DD: How important is open storytelling to your game design? Are you looking to emulate the Bioware approach to game design in which player decisions really do impact on how the story plays out?

DS: Open storytelling is an important element of Seven Dragon Saga. The players need to be able to alter the outcomes in a meaningful manner. Since the player creates a group of heroes, we will not be emulating Bioware’s robust romance and NPC conflict elements.

DD: From the concept art that you have showed so far, it looks like your game is looking to recreate the classical approach to fantasy art. If we were to use Dungeons & Dragons as a point of comparison, would you say the visual style of your game is being more influenced by 2nd edition, or are you looking to do something more modern like 4th or 5th edition?

DS: When we began concept work, we provided our artists with reference from Clyde Caldwell, Larry Elmore, Walter Parkinson and other classic late 80s Dungeons and Dragons artists. We wanted to recreate much of that feel in our artwork, though with a more international flair. Our High Elf Wizard is northern European, while our Dwarf Knight is north African, and our Shade Elf Scout is southeast Asian.