Interview – Djinn Tales, Sean Northridge
“Set the World Right, Save the Love of your life, and explore the world of Human, Anthro and Jinn. This is Ankythera, and it needs a savior.”
A few weeks ago, we stumbled across or we were invited to join a page on Facebook (really can’t remember which it was), something called ‘Djinn Tales:The Game’, well being the curious little gamers that we are we decided to check it out and we were kind of taken aback by what we were looking at. Djinn Tales, is the working of a small Irish production team aiming to develop and publish their very first game, an Indie RPG styling itself on similar gameplay styles as to that of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series.
We are instantly drawn to the artwork and level of detail in the panels and structure put into bringing the world of Undercity to life.
Desperate to know more we’ve gone and bugged the man leading the team of ‘Dysteric Skies’, Sean Northridge, to tell us everything he can about Djinn Tales and don’t worry…we also asked him to give us some special insiders information too!
Firstly, what is Djinn Tales? Who are the people behind it?
Djinn Tales is a a Post Apocalyptic Victorian role playing game with fantasy elements. You play the game as a “Detective”, a local community protection enforcer who immigrates to the Undercity with his life partner a Djinn named Kirissa. I cant say too much more without spoiling the story.
The group making the game is Dysteric Skies, which is compromised mainly of about of 5 people full time, and about 8 part time.
Do you guys have any experience with making a game? Where did the idea for it come from?
We do have experience making games, but this is our first venture into actually making a game we can sell. Beforehand we were mainly just making games for fun, such as clones of games like Daggerfall, Final Fantasy 7 and numerous platformers!
The idea for the game itself came from me, when I tried to write a novel, and I realised I was more interested in making it a game then making it as a book. I proposed it to the group, and here we are!
What can you tell us about game itself? What sort of mechanics can we expect?
The game itself is an RPG, in the same style as games like Fallout 3 and the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.
The game is can be played in both first person and third person, and focuses heavily on investigation and exploration skills, as well as heavy melee based combat. There are other game play mechanics too but we aren’t ready to reveal just yet!
Is there any game out there at the moment that you could compare Djinn Tales to?
There isn’t one game to say “Oh, we are like that”. We’re a mix of everything, from Fallout to Bioshock, to Final Fantasy 13-2 and the original Devil May Cry series! We’re a bit mad!
The Irish video game industry has kind of had a boom with big companies taking up offices here but as for Irish developers, they still seem to be few and far between. Would you agree with this and why?
There has been talk of this “Boom”, but I haven’t seen it yet. Anyone who calls Bioware Ireland a studio is sadly mistaken, as its basically a call centre for The Old Republics fans at the moment! I would love to see the Irish game developers to rise up and take on the world, and hopefully we can help start it off!
What is the plan for Djinn Tales? Where would you guys like to see it go?
At the moment, the plan is to get a demo done that we can hopefully show off soon! We wouldn’t mind porting it to consoles or tablets and smart phones, but we want to focus with the PC, as it is the most open platform to develop for at the moment.
Stating the obvious, we would love to see it be successful, and we want it to be as unique and timeless as possible!
We have some other Djinn Tales related projects in development, and well let The Arcade know as soon as possible!
Aside from building your own game, what other games are you playing at the moment?
I myself have been playing Skyrim, Gotham City Imposter’s and I am still an advocate for playing old games, such as Daggerfall, Fallout 3, System Shock 2 and Bioshock! I seriously don’t know how I keep development going!
Where can we find more information about the game? Are you still looking for people to be involved or help out?
You can find more information, become a fan and ask questions about the game at https://www.facebook.com/DjinnTales and we should have a Website and forum up very soon!
We are always looking for new members for our team, we just ask that you have some knowledge of game design before hand and a strong sense of hard work. All applications can be sent to us at snorthridge@gmail.com for the time being!
Finally if you were trapped in an Arcade for eternity, what one game would you play to pass the time?
Kidō Senshi Gundam: Senjō no Kizuna (機動戦士ガンダム 戦場の絆, lit.Mobile Suit Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield)
I would play this for the most part! Always wanted too!
For more information and to keep up to date with the development of the game, click the links below and follow the guys!
Facebook Page – Djinn Tales: the Game
We can also reveal to you today that Sean and some of the team behind the game will be bringing Djinn Tales to ArcadeCon and will be running a fantastic competition for one lucky attendee to feature as a character in the game!
This is something we here at the Arcade are very excited about and we promise we’ll keep you posted as news of the game is announced!
Editor-in-Chief, part-time super villain and hoarder of cats. If you can’t find me writing, I’m probably in the kitchen!
