From the main theme to the inspirations behind our game , we checked in with the writers of Mad World to see what they have in store for us in today’s dev diary.
What is the main role of the writing team?
To fully appreciate Mad World, players need to indulge in the world as if they are actually living in it. From the ground up, we had to build the base for every single thing that exists in our game to make it as immersive as possible while keeping the Mad World’s own reality alive. We are doing our best to build the setting that maintains the level of believability while keeping the gaming aspects alive.
Can you briefly describe to us the setting of Mad World?
Mad World takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. A civilization matchable to that of early renaissance was built, only to be destroyed mercilessly by the hands of the Demons overnight, dragging the civilization back to its primitive times. From massacre,starvation and diseases,more than 90% of the total population perished after a series of disasters hit them. Under the control of the Demons, those who managed to survive now live in absolute despair That’s the setting of Mad World:, a world of despair.
What makes the setting of Mad World different from the ones of other MMORPGs?
Usually the story of an MMORPG revolves around a main character who eventually becomes a hero, journeying through a world full of legends and fantasies. In contrast, the world of Mad World is full of despair. This new world order was built by the ones who lost in touch with humanity after going through absolute desolation and fear brought by the demonic apocalypse. The Players will be required to maintain their humanity while battling between the choice to remain good or end up giving up into evil.
In Mad World, players will need to make many choices. Depending on what choices they make, results will vary, offering players different experiences, influencing the NPCs and their related stories. . As to what extent they will be affected, we are currently experimenting with various game mechanics and methods.
What are the Demons in Mad World?
The word “Demon” has a deep-rooted history. In Christianity, good and evil are very confrontational. In Mad World, we took out the concept of good part, only leaving the evil one interpreted from human’s point of view.
For example, let’s say your home is infested with termites and you decided to eradicate them with an ant killer. In this case, you wouldn’t necessarily be considered evil from a human’s point of view. However, to the termites, that act is absolutely evil. The humans living in Mad World are just like the termites. The evilness of the demons in Mad World are not absolute but relative. That’s the concept behind the demons in Mad World.
Can you tell me more about the Demons in Mad World?
Each of the demons in Mad World takes extreme pleasure in a particular thing. For example, one of the greater Demons in our game, named the Corpse Collector, takes extreme pleasure in feasting on flesh. . It constantly gulps everything in its sight to maintain its level of pleasure. It would be nice if it decides to prey upon the flesh of other demons. Unfortunately he goes after humans to stay sated because they make an easy prey. Needless to say, that act is evil in human’s eyes.
If a demon takes pleasure in love, he/she will try to stay that way by cherishing and loving humans. He/she is good in human’s eyes. However, the only thing they indulge in is taking pleasure, and what each demons takes pleasure in can come in various shapes and forms, allowing us as game developers to come up with all kinds of unique types of demons. Emotions exist as a spectrum, giving us unlimited resources of ideas for creating unique demons.
What are the challenges you have to go through creating the demons and writing the story of Mad World?
Trying to build a setting for demons uniquely designed for Mad World that are not cliche is a big challenge because we as a company value in creativity and challenging the status quo.
Mad World is a fantasy-based game, but we are trying to ground it in some bases of reality.
It takes much imagination to build a completely unique setting from the ground up, something that’s unlike the usual fantasy tropes we’ve become accustomed to. To break out of the typical mold, we had to get rid of all the common denominators of so called fantasy.
It was as if we had to throw away all our traditional values, and fill them with new ones, which was a difficult task indeed. Generally speaking, when a studio develops an MMORPG, many times, systems are built first, followed by the setting that the game will take place. However, we are doing our best to do it the other way around.
In closing
Mad World will offer a very interesting setting especially to the ones who enjoy making the tough decisions that are not possible in real life.
Thank you for the read, and see you in the next dev diary.
JandiMan
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