There is more competition than ever. Find out the different funding options available and what investors are looking to invest in.Which place does your company rank in the AI adoption curve for AI? To find out, take our AI survey.Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance might be a game that emphasizes action more than role-playing but any project that includes Drizzt DoUrden or the Companions of the Hall will add to the Forgotten Realms' lore.Tuque Games, creators of Dark Alliance, might be the most powerful player in the world.In June, the Tuques game received mixed reviews. It was a game I loved more than others. The lore is one reason I liked it so much. The studio takes The Crystal Shard, the first Companions novel, and adds a chapter that feels lost. This concludes Icewind Dale's appearance of evil artifacts. The best part is that Dark Alliance allowed Tuque and Wizards of the Coast to allow iconic humanoids like goblins or duergar to showcase their personalities in an adventure such as Lost Mine of Phandelver and Out of the Abyss.It also allowed Tuque to find a way for Levistus (the imprisoned Lord of the icy layer in Stygia) into the video game.I interviewed Jeff Hattem, head of Tuque Games, about the Dark Alliance's lore and world-building shortly after launch. Below is an edited transcript from our interview.Goblin gabImage credit: Tuque GamesGamesBeat: My kids ask me a question about goblins: What does bofa suk mean?Jeff Hattem: It's a pejorative and I don't think we would want it to be translated for our children.It's quite cool to learn the goblin language. The language building for goblins took a lot of time and effort. We collaborated with Wizards. It was quite common to hear goblin language in Eberron. We kind of lean in on that. We took some liberties with the fact that our goblins were these tribes from Icewind Dale. This is where some of our language came from.GamesBeat: How did the goblins learn their language but not the verbeeg or frost giants and duergar?Hattem: D&D has been a community project for many decades. It is hard work to build the entire world for all the factions. We chose the most common. Goblins can be found all over the Dale as you play the game. They are involved in many missions. We felt they deserved a little more in the language than others. There is more. The giants, and even the cultists. We tried to reproduce some of the language development from Wizards' past.GamesBeat: How was it possible to convince Wizards to tell a story from the Realms' past? Considering that most of its stories today take place in the future, what was the process like?Hattem: We set the story 100 years ago, primarily because we wanted it to be based around the Companions of the Hall characters and their timeline. We are located slightly after the events in the Crystal Shard. We decided to put it there. We also had a bit more creative freedom to explore areas we thought were important for our players.GamesBeat: Was there a problem convincing Wizards this was a good idea?Hattem: It wasn't difficult. They wanted to know about our intentional creative choices in the lore and story. They gave us the directive to be very precise about what we were building. It was all about the characters. This does not necessarily mean all frost giants look like this. These are the ones that matter. This gave us creative freedom to make them ours.Clear motivationsImage credit: Tuque GamesGamesBeat: What attracted you and your team towards Crenshinibon,Hattem: We tended to the Companions of the Hall more. This was what attracted me and my team. We went to Drizzt. I have vivid memories of Drizzt being kind, quick, and zippy. Amazingly choreographed combat scenes were featured in the book. We wanted to bring that to life. Crenshinibon was a great antagonist to Drizzt, the Companions, and Drizzt. It's impossible to spoil the books. However, they have been around for decades so it isn't considered spoiler. Crenshinibon returns and is always present in The Legend of Drizzt world.GamesBeat: What limitations did Crenshinibon's final fate place on the development of your story?Hattem: Crenshinibon is defeated but not destroyed in The Crystal Shard's events. Crenshinibon does what Crenshinibon likes: he waits, draws in more bearers, and claims that Crenshinibon is in control. We know the answer thanks to Akar Kessell who makes a return in the game. It was a lot of fun. We didn't go too far with Crenshinibon's timeline.Crenshinibon returns later. Events with mind flayers, and the red dragon were happening before this timeline. That didn't mean there were no limits.GamesBeat: I have not been able find any references to Crenshinibon's cult in any lore book, novel or article. This was the creation of your team?Hattem: One-hundred per cent. This was 100 percent from our team. Crenshinibon worshippers seemed like a great addition to the lore. They are human but become corrupted by magic powers of the Crystal Shard. They believe the only way to capture the essence and power of the Crystal Shard would be to bring back Akar Kessell, the largest bearer of the Crystal Shard. They don't want to spoil the story, but their game is about world building and keeping D&D true to its world. So, I suppose we were talking about lore. This is their motivation.GamesBeat: I enjoyed the way the cult fit into the scene. You'll hear comments about whether the cult made mistakes in bringing Kessell back, or why they are wasting their time with him. I was very attentive to what would lead to combat and what the enemies were saying. Is it a deliberate attempt to get all these different races or factions to work together in some way, but they still snipe at each other?Hattem: Completely. The Dark Alliance is where we get our title. This is a semi-formal agreement among all the monsters who descend upon the Dale in order to claim the Crystal Shard. They give up their grievances to let the best monster claim the Shard. They don't trust one another. They are always at each other's throats. I'm glad you paid attention. There are tons of banter lines in the game. It was the best vehicle for our game and for those who want to delve into the lore and learn more about what's happening. You can learn a lot by listening to the monsters who are talking, rather than interrupting the action to tell the story. You can listen to what is going on if you really want to.GamesBeat: It seems that the duergar are the most skeptical. Are they just being a part of their personalities or were they making a deliberate world-building decision?Hattem: That's a great question. I don't know. I don't know. They are primarily pitted against dwarves. We wanted to give them a unique identity that was not always hostile to dwarves. They serve a higher purpose. They are all about business, right. They lack the same flair as dwarves. They don't like ornate designs. It's all industrial. It's all business. They are not happy singing songs, which is why they sing a song while mining crystals. They are not happy. They chant rhythmically to keep the pace.Icy schemesImage credit: Tuque GamesGamesBeat: Why is Levistus, an archdevil lord from Stygia, included in the Nine Hells?Hattem: Levistus is a passion of mine that I wanted to weave to bridge the gap between D&D's Blood War which is more current than the past. In the timeline of archdevils, one hundred years is nothing. His ice pyramid has held him captive for so long. He has been trying to find a way out and to climb the ranks to get down the ranks and maybe even get into Nessus. The Crystal Shard is what he sees. It has incredible heat capabilities and can incinerate any Realms object. Perhaps that is the key to his escape from the ice prison.GamesBeat: That link is great. Crenshinibon was created by liches, who used the sun to power it. Another link I wasn't clear on about Levistus was: is he the one behind the cult or just taking advantage?Hattem: He is certainly a higher power. I would suggest that the cultists are within his domain of influence.GamesBeat: Levistus is the archdevil I find the most fascinating. He is here in his iceberg prison plotting. The reason he is there has nothing to do the power grabs of other archdevils. It's more about cheating with archdevils. Why is Levistus so interesting to you? This sounds like something you were passionate about.Hattem: Levistus sounds really cool. Echoes of the Blood War is the last DLC we have in our current DLC set. The Blood War is a never-ending battle between the devils, demons, and humans. One simple, powerful artifact could change the tide of the Blood War. Levistus wants that.Why Levistus? It's just fascinating to me the infighting among all the archdevils, and how they want their ranks and levels of Hell to be lowered. The Blood War is my favorite. Levistus is my favorite patron, he's your get out of prison free card. You can make a deal if you are in trouble. But you will have to pay. My view was that short-term gain is always better than long-term gain.Personally, I feel like I'm going outside D&D for some time, but in general, I believe that we are always faced with short-term gain-versus long-term gain in our daily lives. Sometimes the easiest option for the short term may not be the best choice for the long-term. It's always hard. Game development was about making choices. We have goals and dates. Sometimes we make short-term decisions, but what does that mean for the long-term? It's part of the reason I find him super-interesting.I can't help but be selfishImage credit: Tuque GamesGamesBeat: I find the goblins a bit silly. But what I see isn't the silliness but the fact they can't make anything that isn't a joke. I see the tower they made. That was your interpretation? They just couldn't resist corrupting their work.Hattem: It's perfect. They can't help but be selfish. They always have grand plans and grand ideas, but they just end up failing. They make it far but don't have the ability to get over that hump. They are booyahg boyahg booyahgs [goblin magi]. They are just fun to bring to life.GamesBeat: You also put a lot of effort into your dialogue when fighting.Hattem: Yes. In a lot games, goblins are often fodder monsters. It's easy to make bad heroes out of good monsters, but that is not very interesting from a lore-building perspective. There are many motivations that lie in the gray zone between good and bad. This is where we want to look at the beliefs and showcase them. We wanted to show these monsters with rituals and other customs. This was a major focus for us. We felt that the goblins were so prominent in the game, we had to show them extra love. Most games give them a bad name. These are more multidimensional.GamesBeat: When the duergar is approached, does the beholder use magic? Or does it use its power and influence to persuade the duergar?Hattem: It's a combination the chardalyn sandstones they are mining and the beholder. Mining crystals has its own corrupting power, so it's like mining asbestos. After a certain time, it can get the best of you. This weakens them until the beholder has such an influence on them.GamesBeat: Was it difficult to make the verbeeg feel more than a smaller hill giant?Hattem: Very difficult, as they are a bit related to hillgiants. One can see the various editions of D&D, but sometimes the verbeeg don't exist anymore. In these cases you will find hill giants. The evolution of verbeeg and mountain giants is obvious. Our verbeeg are more resilient than the hill giants, but they're still verbeeg. Their skin is a bit scruffy, as you can see. These grayish tones are what it has. The skin of a walrus inspired us to make their skins impermeable against the Frosts of Icewind Dale. They are all about dwarves and all about dwarves. They love to eat those delicious dwarves.GamesBeat: I found the dialogue and combat barks to be very interesting. They are very focused in this instance, but also very funny. Is that deliberate?Hattem: Yes, absolutely. Verbeeg and goblins were more comic relief in the creation of the monsters. We wanted to show a variety of personalities when choosing monsters for the game. Goblins are a refreshing contrast to darker cultists. You could even say that they have darker undertones. They are definitely intentional.GamesBeat: Whose idea it was to marry encounters between cultists and the verbeeg. These are difficult.Hattem: Yes, those are difficult. It was one of our top designers. They can be difficult. They have many [areas of effect] abilities. The verbeeg usually consist of one to three verbeeg in a scrum. They are able to use a variety of unblockable attack, such as the red-outlined attacks. They can do a lot of things with the harpoon spear. They are strong.True to DrizztImage credit: Tuque GamesGamesBeat: Drizzt is now introspective.Hattem: Yes, that's a great question. This topic was something we struggled with early on in the project. The key was to understand what type of game we were creating. This is not a Legend of Drizzt-type game. This game features the Companions of the Hall and an action-packed setting. It would be a Legend of Drizzt-type game.The introductions to each mission where Drizzt performs his monologues are available. This is not as reflective as the other parts of the book, where he does have those introspective scenes at specific moments. That's something I agree with. These moments are strong in the book and offer insight into Drizzt's character. Drizzt is a beloved character because of his introspective moments. He talks about his hunter nature, trying to overcome his inner drow while remaining true to his principles. He talks about his Companions of Hall and how he wouldn't be anything without them. This was the part where we got our inspiration for this game. He talks about Bruenor, Wulfgar, and Catti-Brie in great detail. It's not clear what book it was, but the part where he describes them is amazing. He has all these achievements as a ranger, but without his companions. This was part of what inspired the game.GamesBeat: This will ensure that you don't feel betrayed by the character by omitting it.Hattem: I don't think we were betraying Drizzt. We brought out his combat skills and dexterity. D&D, R.A. Salvatore's books, are their own mediums and do what they do well. We have many advantages and disadvantages as a videogame compared to other mediums. It is difficult to have introspective moments with Drizzt in a movie or on TV. It's possible to get the best out of a book like the R.A. Salvatore books. It's a different perspective in the game. However, I believe that interstitials in missions can give you insight into his thoughts and opinions if you look at them from this angle. But I can hear what you are saying.GamesBeat: Why do you choose Kartik the deep gnome as your merchant?Jeff Hattem: The story of Drizzt and Belwar Dissengulp is a good one. It's a tribute to Belwar that Kartik is there at the base camp. While we were set after The Crystal Shard's events, it is not a literal representation, but we want to pay some tribute to other elements that occur before or after the timeline. Catti-Brie, for example, has the Seaspray cosmetic sets she can get. This is a reference to events afterward. This is the reason.GamesBeat: Are players sad about Regis' absence? Or are people just glossing over it?Jeff Hattem: It's a sad day at the studio. It's a sad thing. It would have been wonderful to see Regis come to life. After The Crystal Shard, the game was set in the same place. However, it changed a little in the timeline. It was right where Regis was off doing his own thing when we began building the game. He's not always there. He can leave and come back. He was gone when we began building the game. We wanted to pay tribute to him by using dialogue that you have with the merchant. Regis is his idol, and he talks often about Regis. He asks his Companions, "Have you seen Regis?"Monstrous flavorImage credit: Tuque GamesGameBeat: Is it correct that duergar cannoners have pipes in the mouths of their feces?Jeff Hattem (Yes, they do). They have pipes and use them to light their bombs, duergar bombers. They have a good eye.GamesBeat: I also found it interesting that all of the monsters are either giants or humanoids, with the exception being the beholder. There are no remorhaz and other creatures in the Dale. Is that deliberate?Jeff Hattem: They were not meant to be omitted. The D&D is so large, we were somewhat limited. The Monster Manual contains hundreds of monsters. We cannot bring everything into the game. We had to make choices. The Dale has a long history of Remorhazes, as are other creatures. Who knows? We may add more famous monsters to the next update.GamesBeat: The Crystal Shard was not a limitation on the number of beings with minds.Jeff Hattem says: No, no. According to the story, conflict is where it makes sense. The story also explains which monsters would like to descend to claim the Shard. There are native Icewind Dale monsters that would not be drawn to Shard. This could be quite interesting. It is interesting to consider that Icewind, the white dragon who drives the Crystal Shard, isn't actually driving the game, but he does feature as an antagonist because of her Dale. It is her name.GamesBeat: Was the legend about Kelvins Cairn, where the frost giants rest and the dungeon and crystals there all Tuque? Or was it created by Wizards and you based on it?Jeff Hattem: It wasn't just me. Ryan Galleta was our narrative designer. That was his baby. The whole Kelvins Cairn tale, how it was flipped upside-down, and the thread with Utar, in the lineage Kelvin the Great, was his story. He was trying to regain his power. It was also super fun to create.GamesBeat: It's nice to see that the frost giants (which D&D portrays mostly as reavers) now have a motivation beyond fighting to become more powerful.Jeff Hattem, Yes, the Ordning involves a lot of fighting between giants trying to move up and down the ranks. But the frost giants can be proud. They are honorable. They are not power hungry, mindless giants. Similar is the case with all monster factions. This was something we tried to highlight in interstitials. Frost giants were great fun. Kelvin the Great: We go inside Kelvins Cairn. It is sort of an upside-down mountain that has been flipped. It was great to build.GamesBeat: What was the most disappointing aspect of the story you cut?Jeff Hattem: Yes, we did have the storyline. I don't want to spoil anything that is coming up. We did have a storyline we had to drop earlier in development because we wanted to be able to concentrate on other monsters. It got deeper into Hell's depths. It was disappointing not to be able get into the game. It was a cool idea to create a new character to serve Levistus as a lieutenant. Perhaps we'll get to that in a future update.
