Inside Tides of Annihilation

This interview was conducted through an interpreter, whose responses on behalf of the developers are reproduced here. It has been edited for clarity and length.

Jake Lucky: I'd love to start this off by having you both introduce yourselves.

Translator: So next to me is Pengfei. He's the lead level designer on Tides of Annihilation. And this is Kun Fu, he's a producer and the company's CEO, and also a co-founder.

Jake: And when it comes to the story you're trying to tell in Tides of Annihilation, could you describe the world, and the story, that players are being dropped into?

Translator: So our story is about an otherworldly invasion into reality, which causes the real world to fracture and fall apart. We've set it in London, and we're also drawing on elements from the King Arthur legends, bringing those mythical pieces together with the real world.

Jake: Could you tell us a bit more about Gwendolyn, the main protagonist, and what role she plays in the overall story?

Translator: So Gwen is our protagonist, the game's female lead. As for the exact plot, or more details, we can't share yet, but I can give you some background. She's the sole survivor of the catastrophe, and after it happened, she fell from London into Avalon. And there are also many stories built around her journey.

Jake: Why London?

Translator: So first of all, our combat, the idea started with the combat system, and also with the idea of fighting alongside a squad of knights. After doing our research, we found that King Arthur fit perfectly with these elements, because of the knights in the Arthurian legend. And we know the birthplace of the King Arthur legend is the UK, and London is the capital of the UK, and there are also lots of different cultural aspects in London.

That's why we decided to go with London.

Jake: Did you always know that the Arthurian angle would be Gwen controlling the knights? Or did you ever consider other ways to weave Gwen into the King Arthur mythology?

Translator: So our core combat system is built around a squad of knights.

We always had this idea of a commander leading a squad of knights and fighting alongside them. And we feel that having a female protagonist works really well with the knights, because it combines both elegance and strength.

Jake: The combat, the fighting and the boss battles, looks really impressive, and it feels great to play.

Obviously it was a big focus for you, but what kind of work went into making it look and feel as good as it does?

Translator: So our team, we're all big fans of action-adventure games. And we see ourselves as looking at all these classic titles like God of War and Devil May Cry. We see them as shoulders for us to stand on. And we feel like we've learned a lot from these classics.

And then we refine them, and blend them into our own work. If anything, we just feel like we're learners, but we also have some creative ideas of our own.

Jake: I got the chance to look at Mordred and her dragon, which looks stunning. I'm curious how long it takes for an idea like that to be fleshed out and designed, and then implemented, because it looks so good, Mordred and her dragon.

What was the timeline for putting all of that together?

Translator: We've seen it that way from the very beginning.

We want to deliver something really epic, especially in the mythology scenes, and we're doing our best to make that happen. First, we have to be happy and satisfied with the results ourselves. Then, of course, we want it to satisfy the fans too. That's why we're constantly refining the performances and the scenes, so I can deliver the best performance possible.

Jake: With Gwendolyn and her knights, and then the bosses who can also have their own knights, there's just so much happening on screen at the same time. I'm curious, what's the hardest part technically about getting all of that to work together in one shot? In terms of design and implementation, how challenging is it to make sure the scene still looks polished while having all these characters appear at once?

Translator: The way Gwen's knights are deployed actually comes from the "ready" stance, so when they appear is determined by the player's own needs. Mordred's knight order, on the other hand, mainly comes from the boss applying pressure on the player. And when the boss isn't launching an attack, Gwen's knights will either make way for her or take up a defensive role. So the overall rhythm ends up feeling like a constant back-and-forth shift between offense and defense, almost like a chess match.

Like you said: for example, Gwen's knights are summoned by the protagonist, so the player decides when to call them in. And on the boss side, Mordred, when they charge at the player, the other side shifts into a defensive role. So the whole flow feels like this back-and-forth between charging and defending.

Also, with Mordred specifically, she actually stole four living knights, at least according to one of her victims.

Jake: I saw that, yeah, I saw it. This might not be on your end, but you had Jennifer English voicing Gwendolyn, who unfortunately had to step back for health reasons. I was wondering if you were working with her to find the new voice for Gwen.

Translator: So, Jennifer has been a really important part of our project, and we completely respect her decision to prioritize her health. And even though she's no longer working as the dubbing actor, she's still part of the project, helping us find a successor and supporting us along the way.

And we're also really happy that Angela [Sant'Albano] was able to join us and embark on the next journey.

Jake: What has been the biggest challenge of making this game?

Translator: The hardest part, really, was that we were a startup team. So a lot of things, whether it was setting up our project workflow, or the way I worked and how the team operated, we were building it all from scratch.

As I mentioned, we see ourselves as standing on the shoulders of giants, so we've learned a lot from the classic titles. For our part, the original idea we developed was the Knights' Squad, and we've spent a huge amount of time and effort building that concept into our combat system. And since we're a startup team, we've also put a lot of work into establishing our workflow and design process, which has involved plenty of trial and error. But we're really happy to show what we've made to the fans, gather their feedback, keep improving, and truly listen to what they have to say.

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Thanks to Xsolla for sponsoring our Gamescom coverage this year. Xsolla works with developers around the world, giving them tools and support to launch, monetize, and grow their games. This year, Xsolla had a scholarship program that flew 20 indie devs from across the world out to Gamescom, giving them the opportunity to showcase their games, meet the industry, and get their projects in front of more people.