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Discord Games Talks Indie Game Chasm

Taking a page from old school games like Legend of Zelda and Mega Man, the team at Discord Games hope to resurrect some of the (as Producer James Petruzzi puts it) “mastery” elements back into their new game Chasm with a component that he feels has been lost in games.

When asked about his childhood influences and why the rewind of focus on certain aspects of those games of “yesterday” Petruzzi explains, “I really want to get back to the roots of fantasy games, and present an interesting and mysterious world that players don’t want to leave. I think both Zelda and Mega Man have had a huge influence on Chasm. The original Legend of Zelda was probably my favorite game as a kid, and it definitely left a big impression on me. Both the gameplay and the world itself are amazing, and I’ve tried to instill that same sense of mystery and atmosphere in Chasm.”

With their Kickstarter campaign goal met (and the ability to pay their bills ) Petruzzin and Dodd can commit to spending their days working on Chasm full time and tweaking some difficult platforming elements for gamers seeking a bit more grit.

When asked about beginning setbacks on Chasm development Petruzzi describes more than a few, but explains them with an almost grinning confidence, “After a couple of months I decided to pretty much scrap nearly everything and start over with the main focus on the dungeons. I had actually done a prototype of side-scrolling dungeons randomly assembled from various rooms earlier that year, so I decided to go back to that with what I had learned in the meantime.” Petruzzi elaborates on the challenges and successes and goes on to say, “I made a prototype in about 4-5 months, and took it to GDC to look for a publisher. Things didn’t work out as I had hoped, so after I got back home I finished up the Kickstarter and launched it.

The Chasm Kickstarter campaign reached its $150,000 goal in short order so it seems there are plenty of gamers who wish to relive their own childhood memories along with the creators.

Jesse has been writing video game related articles and interviewing industry professionals for almost 3 years and strives to become a professional nerd.