Meet Leo Batelli the Creative Director for Alchemist Adventure
Hello everyone,
Now that Alchemist Adventure is out in early access, we wanted to introduce the team behind the game to you, and what better way to do so than by posting interviews with the team!
We're going to start things by introducing Leo Batelli, the Creative Director of Alchemist Adventure.
[h3]Hello Leo Batelli thank you for taking the time to talk with us. What were you doing just before we picked you up for this interview?[/h3]
Hello! I was working on the ending to Alchemist Adventure. It’s been a lot of work, but I hope that everyone enjoys it!
[h3]That's an interesting area to be working on, we can't wait to see what you've all created!
Let's jump into everything, so can you briefly introduce yourself? Who are you and what do you do for Alchemist Adventure?[/h3]
My name is Leo Batelli and I am actually the co-founder of Bad Minions. I work as a creative director, but in an indie team, everyone ends up doing a little of everything. For Alchemist Adventure, I had a hand in the story, game design, and a lot of coding. Seriously, it never ends! I was coding just now!
[h3]Ahh, that's true! In smaller teams, everyone has to put in a double shift! So, can you tell us what is it like working as a Creative Director for Alchemist Adventure, and do you have any funny stories that you’d like to share from your time working on Creative Direction?[/h3]
Well, Alchemist Adventure is a special project for me as it is actually my first big game and has given me an opportunity to really experiment with many different game mechanics and narrative styles. What's more, I've got to meet incredible people from all over the world, attend events and conventions that in the past I could only read about! I guess it's right to say that it has been a lifetime experience!
In the end, the game is the result of our dreams and a looooooot of hard work. It’s actually been a 6-year project so we have many stories!
One of them is about the dragon theme in Alchemist Adventure, we have a dragon as a dungeon boss. Normally it usually takes around a month to do the concept art, 3D model, rigging, and a few animations. But after 3 months, the dragon wasn’t ready. Every time I checked with Peter, the character artist, he usually said “Don’t worry, you will receive it on Wednesday!”. So, every day I was asking Peter “And the dragon?” and he always replied with “you will receive it on Wednesday!”. So in the end, I spoke with him and he said that he never said which Wednesday he was going to provide the model.
After six months(!), I received the dragon and guess what - it was a Friday. So whenever someone asks “and the dragon?”, everyone just laughs at the studio. To be honest, I never want to see a dragon in a Bad Minions game again!
[h3]Well that explains the whispers of dragons in the game! So, from that, I can tell that working as a Creative Director can be quite challenging. If you compare yourself now to your previous position, what is the biggest difference between that and working with Alchemist Adventure?[/h3]
Developing games is hard.
I really don’t know if the players realize how much work is needed to create a good game. At first, your battles are against the necessary skills to do a game, such as art, coding, game design. For example questions like “how do I make the character jump?” is just common for anyone working on a game!
I'd say that it’s especially difficult if you are new to the industry with no one to guide you, but thankfully as time passes, you get used to being a problem-solver. Think of it like playing puzzle games every day. That said, that's also the fun part of the job!
What most game developers don’t know (at least until they get into everything) is that there is a business side to consider as well. Questions like, How to market your game? How to get the project funded? How to keep everyone working to avoid “And the Dragon?” cases? all need to be tackled. I think that surviving all those difficulties is the biggest challenge as a game developer.
[h3]That really is a lot to take in, we're glad to know that you survived that experience!
That does lead to the question, how were you introduced to Alchemist Adventure in the first place?[/h3]
Simple - we were developing mobile games and it was a dream to make a bigger game, like the ones that we used to play on our childhood back in the 80s and 90s. Felipe (the Bad Minions co-founder) always wanted to create a game based on Alchemy and I found the idea very interesting. The first version of Alchemist Adventure was really a totally different game, it had a male hero and he was able to control homunculi. It was fun, but it was also missing something - looking back we know that it needed alchemy in the gameplay. So, that led us to create a system to combine ingredients, to let players do whatever they want with the potions, the concept proved to be really fun at the time, and we developed it on from there!
[h3]It's good to know that this is a passion project! So, can you tell us what your favorite thing is about Alchemist Adventure? Is there any reason why you like this feature in particular?[/h3]
I love the gameplay. It was built up pretty much every day during the 6 years of the project's life. What's more, since the first week, every chance we’ve got, Alchemist Adventure was tested with players.
For the most time, the gameplay was our main concern. But personally, I always liked RPGs, CRPGs, and the many story-rich games. And to be completely honest, as indie developers, we don’t have that many resources, so we have to choose just one thing to focus on, it was very clear early one that it would be the alchemy system. Other aspects such as the narrative were always there, but as environmental storytelling, so at some point, we saw that the game needed a story.
For the story, I wrote many different versions, trying to find one that could fit the gameplay. In the beginning, I was writing big stories with dozens of characters with hundreds of missions. The guys here usually liked them, but we felt that they were just ordinary stories, like you find on most games. Ultimately, it was just an excuse to kill thousands of enemies and do the craziest things, so I went back to the drawing board and did a bit more research.
Looking at other games, such as “That Dragon, Cancer”, I realized that the stories that moved us the most are the ones based on our real life and in our personal tragedy. Even inside the greatest contexts, the connections that matter are to the ones closest to us.
To make this answer short (too late!), we connect to people, not the context. And that was the biggest learning point that I had with Alchemist Adventure. When I realized that, something special was born and the team could finally have a strong connection with the game.
[h3]That was a very deep answer, thank you! You seem to put a lot of thought into your work, doing a lot of research to give you a good starting point. So we guess that you were also playing a lot of games, what is your favorite gaming genre and platform, and are you currently playing now?[/h3]
I guess that it should be obvious now that I like adventure, RPGs, management, strategy, and story-rich games. This is the combination that we want for our future projects.
Living in Brazil, consoles, and PCs are very expensive, so, I always played old games - think 5 to 6 years after the release. Because of that, I had a few consoles, but I end up playing PC games a lot more.
[h3]So looking outside of gaming, what do you like to do when you’re not working?[/h3]
I think it’s very hard not to play games when you work as a developer. I spent a lot of my spare time playing PC/Console and tabletop games. That said, I do like to read technical books, mainly about game design, production, narrative.
I do have a lot of hobbies, like cooking, playing Go, collecting stuff, watching soccer games, cf course!
[h3]Well, this has been really interesting, but now we’ve come to the end of our interview! Is there anything you want to share with our readers? Maybe a favorite game that no one knows about, or something similar?[/h3]
We’ve put our hearts on the development of Alchemist Adventure. There is a part of us in this game so I really hope that everyone will enjoy playing it. The world is suffering many changes, and they may cause us pain and suffering. I hope Alchemist Adventure can bring some light for those who need some moments of joy.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
And that's the end of this interview! We hope that you've enjoyed this insight into the team! We'll be back soon with another interview. Perhaps there is someone that you'd really like us to interview next? If so do let us know in the comments section!
Now that Alchemist Adventure is out in early access, we wanted to introduce the team behind the game to you, and what better way to do so than by posting interviews with the team!
We're going to start things by introducing Leo Batelli, the Creative Director of Alchemist Adventure.
[h3]Hello Leo Batelli thank you for taking the time to talk with us. What were you doing just before we picked you up for this interview?[/h3]
Hello! I was working on the ending to Alchemist Adventure. It’s been a lot of work, but I hope that everyone enjoys it!
[h3]That's an interesting area to be working on, we can't wait to see what you've all created!
Let's jump into everything, so can you briefly introduce yourself? Who are you and what do you do for Alchemist Adventure?[/h3]
My name is Leo Batelli and I am actually the co-founder of Bad Minions. I work as a creative director, but in an indie team, everyone ends up doing a little of everything. For Alchemist Adventure, I had a hand in the story, game design, and a lot of coding. Seriously, it never ends! I was coding just now!
[h3]Ahh, that's true! In smaller teams, everyone has to put in a double shift! So, can you tell us what is it like working as a Creative Director for Alchemist Adventure, and do you have any funny stories that you’d like to share from your time working on Creative Direction?[/h3]
Well, Alchemist Adventure is a special project for me as it is actually my first big game and has given me an opportunity to really experiment with many different game mechanics and narrative styles. What's more, I've got to meet incredible people from all over the world, attend events and conventions that in the past I could only read about! I guess it's right to say that it has been a lifetime experience!
In the end, the game is the result of our dreams and a looooooot of hard work. It’s actually been a 6-year project so we have many stories!
One of them is about the dragon theme in Alchemist Adventure, we have a dragon as a dungeon boss. Normally it usually takes around a month to do the concept art, 3D model, rigging, and a few animations. But after 3 months, the dragon wasn’t ready. Every time I checked with Peter, the character artist, he usually said “Don’t worry, you will receive it on Wednesday!”. So, every day I was asking Peter “And the dragon?” and he always replied with “you will receive it on Wednesday!”. So in the end, I spoke with him and he said that he never said which Wednesday he was going to provide the model.
After six months(!), I received the dragon and guess what - it was a Friday. So whenever someone asks “and the dragon?”, everyone just laughs at the studio. To be honest, I never want to see a dragon in a Bad Minions game again!
[h3]Well that explains the whispers of dragons in the game! So, from that, I can tell that working as a Creative Director can be quite challenging. If you compare yourself now to your previous position, what is the biggest difference between that and working with Alchemist Adventure?[/h3]
Developing games is hard.
I really don’t know if the players realize how much work is needed to create a good game. At first, your battles are against the necessary skills to do a game, such as art, coding, game design. For example questions like “how do I make the character jump?” is just common for anyone working on a game!
I'd say that it’s especially difficult if you are new to the industry with no one to guide you, but thankfully as time passes, you get used to being a problem-solver. Think of it like playing puzzle games every day. That said, that's also the fun part of the job!
What most game developers don’t know (at least until they get into everything) is that there is a business side to consider as well. Questions like, How to market your game? How to get the project funded? How to keep everyone working to avoid “And the Dragon?” cases? all need to be tackled. I think that surviving all those difficulties is the biggest challenge as a game developer.
[h3]That really is a lot to take in, we're glad to know that you survived that experience!
That does lead to the question, how were you introduced to Alchemist Adventure in the first place?[/h3]
Simple - we were developing mobile games and it was a dream to make a bigger game, like the ones that we used to play on our childhood back in the 80s and 90s. Felipe (the Bad Minions co-founder) always wanted to create a game based on Alchemy and I found the idea very interesting. The first version of Alchemist Adventure was really a totally different game, it had a male hero and he was able to control homunculi. It was fun, but it was also missing something - looking back we know that it needed alchemy in the gameplay. So, that led us to create a system to combine ingredients, to let players do whatever they want with the potions, the concept proved to be really fun at the time, and we developed it on from there!
[h3]It's good to know that this is a passion project! So, can you tell us what your favorite thing is about Alchemist Adventure? Is there any reason why you like this feature in particular?[/h3]
I love the gameplay. It was built up pretty much every day during the 6 years of the project's life. What's more, since the first week, every chance we’ve got, Alchemist Adventure was tested with players.
For the most time, the gameplay was our main concern. But personally, I always liked RPGs, CRPGs, and the many story-rich games. And to be completely honest, as indie developers, we don’t have that many resources, so we have to choose just one thing to focus on, it was very clear early one that it would be the alchemy system. Other aspects such as the narrative were always there, but as environmental storytelling, so at some point, we saw that the game needed a story.
For the story, I wrote many different versions, trying to find one that could fit the gameplay. In the beginning, I was writing big stories with dozens of characters with hundreds of missions. The guys here usually liked them, but we felt that they were just ordinary stories, like you find on most games. Ultimately, it was just an excuse to kill thousands of enemies and do the craziest things, so I went back to the drawing board and did a bit more research.
Looking at other games, such as “That Dragon, Cancer”, I realized that the stories that moved us the most are the ones based on our real life and in our personal tragedy. Even inside the greatest contexts, the connections that matter are to the ones closest to us.
To make this answer short (too late!), we connect to people, not the context. And that was the biggest learning point that I had with Alchemist Adventure. When I realized that, something special was born and the team could finally have a strong connection with the game.
[h3]That was a very deep answer, thank you! You seem to put a lot of thought into your work, doing a lot of research to give you a good starting point. So we guess that you were also playing a lot of games, what is your favorite gaming genre and platform, and are you currently playing now?[/h3]
I guess that it should be obvious now that I like adventure, RPGs, management, strategy, and story-rich games. This is the combination that we want for our future projects.
Living in Brazil, consoles, and PCs are very expensive, so, I always played old games - think 5 to 6 years after the release. Because of that, I had a few consoles, but I end up playing PC games a lot more.
[h3]So looking outside of gaming, what do you like to do when you’re not working?[/h3]
I think it’s very hard not to play games when you work as a developer. I spent a lot of my spare time playing PC/Console and tabletop games. That said, I do like to read technical books, mainly about game design, production, narrative.
I do have a lot of hobbies, like cooking, playing Go, collecting stuff, watching soccer games, cf course!
[h3]Well, this has been really interesting, but now we’ve come to the end of our interview! Is there anything you want to share with our readers? Maybe a favorite game that no one knows about, or something similar?[/h3]
We’ve put our hearts on the development of Alchemist Adventure. There is a part of us in this game so I really hope that everyone will enjoy playing it. The world is suffering many changes, and they may cause us pain and suffering. I hope Alchemist Adventure can bring some light for those who need some moments of joy.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
And that's the end of this interview! We hope that you've enjoyed this insight into the team! We'll be back soon with another interview. Perhaps there is someone that you'd really like us to interview next? If so do let us know in the comments section!
