… It’d be good for people to hopefully have their states (offer) the same kind of support.”įully embracing the niche space that CRPGs occupy, Broken Roads basks in its philosophical occupation and distinctive setting, and one of its major mechanics is the “Moral Compass” system. He went on to say, “I can absolutely say that Broken Roads would not be where it is without the support of Film Victoria and people like that.
“I hope that people appreciate just how much these Australian bodies are doing to allow Australians to stay competitive in a world where the barrier to entry for making games is incredibly low,” he noted. To assist with production, Drop Bear Bytes has been fortunate to receive Australian state funding and support, and Ritchie sang the praises of those systems. After all, Torment: Tides of Numenera, Pillars of Eternity, and Wasteland 2 remain among the top 10 most backed and highest-funded video game projects on Kickstarter. Granted, the CRPG genre has largely been consigned to the graveyard by major publishers, but its crowdfunding-driven renaissance through the last decade has proven that a game like Broken Roads is still financially viable.
It’s a niche genre that I’ve spent more time playing than any other.” Ritchie would back that claim up throughout the conversation, name-dropping and drawing comparisons to RPGs as thematically and temporally disparate as Disco Elysium, Jagged Alliance, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Those journalistic pursuits introduced him to some of the complexities of making games, but RPGs had always been Ritchie’s passion, as he said, “It’s what I know and love. “I spoke to a lot of the developers of many of my favorite games and really got a feel for how things are done, watched a whole bunch of projects, some successful, some unsuccessful.” “I did a lot of making-ofs of classic RPGs,” he said of his time in journalism. This bowerbird-like gathering of skills over the years was one of the things that pushed him into action when a developer friend asked him, “Why don’t you actually try to give it a go and start your own studio?” That was December 2018, and Ritchie knew exactly the kind of game that he wanted to make - a project that would take advantage of his experience, familiarity with CRPGs, and good old business sense. Along the way, he had opportunities to gain familiarity with the ins and outs of development, ranging from QA to production, including running pre-alphas for EVE: Valkyrie during a stint at CCP Games. Long before Ritchie got into game development, he worked in the realms of journalism and PR. What would I do if I was actually there?’” It was really interesting to be put there. I want them to be like, ‘Wow, that was a really tough decision. “I want them to have amazing experiences. “I want them to have fun with it,” said Craig Ritchie, game director of Broken Roads and founder of developer Drop Bear Bytes. Broken Roads may be a journey through post-apocalyptic Australia, with turn-based strategic combat and plenty of classic CRPG questing, but it’s also going to dig deeper into critical thinking, morality, and philosophy than any trek through the apocalypse you’ve had lately.
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