Do-it-yourself dungeons
The two-person indie studio helping hobbyist designers take on Nintendo at its own game
Husband-and-wife team Julian and Linda Treffler share a long-held ambition to make a Zelda game with do-it-yourself dungeon crafting. “Originally, the idea came from Julian, because when he was a child he thought that it would be super-cool to be able to just build your own dungeons in the
Zelda games,” Linda explains.
Julian’s first attempt came when he was aged 12 and tried making a Zelda game using RPG Maker. “But RPG Maker is more for classic JRPG-type combat stuff,” he says, and trying to force the program into making something in the Zelda mould never worked. “That made me frustrated back in the day, which was also kind of a reason why, in the future, I went into programming, so I could finally create the stuff I really wanted and not be hindered by a tool that only offers specific stuff.” And with Super Dungeon Maker – released into Early Access on Steam back in February, and currently raising money for a Switch port via Kickstarter – the Trefflers are realising that dream, and giving new players the opportunity to do just what the young Julian could not.
As the title hints, it was the release of
Super Mario Maker that first provided Julian and Linda with a sign that a Zeldastyle dungeon creator game might work, especially when, following the Wii U game’s release, some corners of the Internet began excitedly wondering whether Zelda Maker would be next. That never happened, and so Firechick, Julian and Linda’s Düsseldorf-based studio, stepped in to fill the gap.
Emulating the likes of Nintendo is a bold move for a tiny, two-person studio – and there’s also the concern that Nintendo might still overshadow Firechick’s efforts by releasing an official Zelda Maker. “I don’t think we could reach the type of quality they deliver, simply by being a way smaller studio,” Julian says. But he’s also fairly confident that Nintendo won’t enter this market.
“I don’t think they will do it, at least not in the near future, because it’s a little bit more of a niche product, I think, than Super Mario Maker is. It takes more time to create an interesting dungeon than it takes to create an at least somewhat interesting Super Mario level, because in a Super Mario level you have the start and the finish line, and if you put a few obstacles between those two spots, then it’s already a level. But I think for dungeons, it’s a bit more tricky. It takes a little bit more work to make it a fun experience.” Is this not a concern, then, when it comes to Firechick’s own offering? “If we only reach a smaller audience, it can still be enough for us to make it profitable,” Julian says. “For Nintendo, it would have to be way, way bigger.”
For Super Dungeon Maker, Julian has been on programming duties, while Linda has been faithfully recreating the 16bit Zelda look. “I really, really, really love the sprite work of A Link To The Past,” she says. The pair are open about the inspiration, but Linda has been careful not to directly copy any art from the series. Their feathered hero, Fink, might wield a sword (and there is, of course, the matter of that name), but otherwise bears little resemblance to Nintendo’s. “Chickens are always seen as plain and boring, and I wanted to give them a bit of a nod [and say], ‘Hey, chickens can be cool, too’,” Linda laughs. She notes the parallel between nest building and dungeon making, as well as how the chicken hero references the cuccos in Zelda.
Pixel art is time-consuming, however, especially if you’re the lone artist – which is why there’s only one character to choose from right now. “If I introduce a new character, I have to redraw every animation and interaction for everything in the game,” Linda laments. Otherwise, though, Super Dungeon Maker already has a wealth of options, and Julian says the goal is for players “to be able to create most of the stuff that you would find in Zelda games and recreate the dungeons as best as possible”. The team is also considering adding a feature to enable players to join dungeons together and create whole games. And players have already come up with some impressive builds. “Someone has already tried to recreate the Deku Tree from Ocarina Of Time,” Julian notes.
The game fits snugly into the growing trend for player-driven creation, alongside high-profile examples such as Minecraft and Dreams, and Linda likes the idea of introducing young players to the notion that making games is something they can achieve. “We’ve had requests from some universities who want Super Dungeon Maker for their game-design students, so they could play around with level design, and I think that’s super awesome – to give students a chance to somehow get into game design and making games. Because making games is awesome.”
The goal is for players “to be able to create most of the stuff that you would find in Zelda games”