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Indie game developer interview with Patrik Hansson

At Pocket Gamer Connects London, we met a host of indie developers, one which stood out was Konunger Games. We managed to speak to the team and get an indie game developer interview with Patrik Hansson, CEO and founder of Konunger Games AB. 

Indie game developer interview with Patrik Hansson

My name is Patrik Hansson, CEO and founder of Konunger Games AB, a studio me, Dan Nilsson and Ludwig Sjöberg created on the side in 2017 to work with games that I personally have dreamed of creating, namely tactical/strategic story-driven games with roleplay elements, where games like old roleplay games, UFO and Final Fantasy Tactics has inspired me most over the years, but to make something new and fresh based on the inspiration of these old turn-based games

Can you tell us about Rise of Darkness, what makes it awesome?

The Old Gods: Rise of Darkness is a game inspired by the work of H.P. Lovecraft and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, set before the start of the first world war and with deep research and rich story we show a conspiracy that leads up to the start of the first world war, involving secret societies and cosmic gods. All set in a wonderful black and white visual experience that blends roleplay games with board games.

What has the journey been like making this game?

The game started out as a pretty simple turn-based roleplay game, but as we progressed and dug deeper into story, research and gameplay we soon discovered we had something really different than what most games have, exploring madness in new ways, connecting real events and real historical people to the game and making something that is easy to pick up and play, even for beginners, but if you dig deep you can master advanced combat tactics as well as some very disturbing conspiracy stories that may change the way you look at history. It has really been a work of joy and love, and instead of getting tired of seeing the games after spending soon two years already on it, we got more and more excited the more we add to it, and it seems that the few who have tested the game so far has really enjoyed it (we have been very silent so far about the game)

What got you into making games and making indie games in particular?

I got into games when I first played Space Invaders on a coin-up at the airport when I was a kid. After that I knew what I wanted to do in my life, but had to wait until the personal/home computers arrived, like the Commodore family. Even though we are game veterans, had our own companies for 20 years and built massive games ourselves, and even bigger for our clients, we have always been indie people at heart. Some call us “the last indie” in the game business, when they not call us “the legends” for all the crazy stuff we have made over the years. However, that is a whole book to write, on that matter, so let us just say that we are and have always been indie developers, just more of a AAA type of indie and mainstream has never really interested us.

What have you learnt from making games?

What we have learnt from making games? Well, we are the people behind the first game school of higher education in the world, we set it up around year 2000, so we really are the “old school” of game developers, starting with Z-80 and 6502 processor programming. We have learnt everything, and invented much that is used today, but are still in love with the industry because there is always more to learn, and when it is nothing more to learn then we leave the game industry and do something else 😉

If you had advice for indie games makers, what would it be?

My advise for indie game makers is that if you do not have the passion then choose something else to work with. It is one of the hardest and least rewarding (money wise) businesses that exists in the world, but if you have the passion and have the dream game you want to make, then do not listen to others and just do what you can do make that dream come through. It is all worth it, and as you once got inspired by a game, you will probably inspire someone new with your product(s) in the future.

How can people support you and your game?

Right now we are still keeping most parts around the game in quiet mode. We feel we want to get more tested and finished before showing everything to the public, but we will during the coming months set up a Steam page and try to create a small forum where we can post more and more information the further we progress. Right now look us up on our website at http://www.konunger.com or search for our Facebook page. We promise to start adding more images from the game on the website the coming month and also start presenting something new on the FB page every week, during the same time.

Where can people buy/play the game? And learn more about your studio?

We will soon have the Steam page up for the game, but check out our FB page and website (http://www.konunger.com) as we will update this a lot the coming month.

Thanks for reading our Indie game developer interview with Patrik Hansson. Find more features on indie game developers on the Into Indie Games features pages