Prime World: Defenders Interview with Sergey Galyonkin

The upcoming Prime World: Defenders, available on Steam this June, is a unique title that winningly combines tower defense and card strategy and melds them into a entertaining new take on their respective genres. Intrigued by the decision making process behind this charming title, I got in touch with Sergey Galyonkin, Marketing Director of Nival via email and asked a few questions about the mechanics and creative direction of the game, including what DLC plans they have in store for the future. Read on!

What inspired you to make Prime World: Defenders a tower defense game instead of pursuing another genre? 

One of the jokes we had when developing original Prime World is that you can't actually build towers in that game, once it's destroyed, it's gone forever. So when we thought about creating a new game in PW universe we thought about that joke and made tower defense game.

What games does Defenders draw inspiration from? 

We were inspired in part by Defense Grid: Awakening and in part by Magic: The Gathering. 

Let's talk about the mechanics: Do you see the card collecting and leveling up elements being implemented into a game of a different genre? 

Actually we have these elements in original Prime World done in a little bit different fashion. And I personally think this is a great mechanic for three-acts structured gameflow – you'll have action phase (battles in PW, defense levels in PW: Defenders), leveling phase and collecting phase. We're use cards as a interface and design solution where Diablo, for example, uses socketed items, that can be upgraded. 

Cards are a simple way to present collectible items – everyone at least heard about M: TG, so it's easier to understand. When we stated Prime World: Defenders we actually just used towers and spells without all those fancy cards, but early testers got confused and that's where we decided to go with CCG interface.

How do you balance a game like Defenders to keep the challenges from becoming tedious? After all, there's a bit of grind that could easily get out of hand if the monsters are too difficult for the player. 

We did a lot of tweaking based on beta stats we've gathered from gamers and it seems we did manage to balance challenge and leveling with latest patch. 

Random missions are generated based on story level they accompany in a way, that hard levels are bit easier than story mission.

Story levels have predetermined difficulty and our game designer actually can reach level 14 (out of 23) without doing any side missions. 

Your experience will obviously differ and sometimes random numbers generator can be a bit cruel, but it is absolutely possible to beat a game without ever getting some rare cards.

Have you any plans to create expansion packs for Defenders? The whole card collecting element seems like it'd be fertile grounds for the possibility. 

Actually, yes, we do.

We'll start with endless mode, based on two free-form maps with tiered rewards – this will be a free update for sure. 

We also have several cards (towers and spells) in development that we will release a bit later – I can't tell for sure if it will be paid DLC or free update.

What are your thoughts as to the development of co-op or even competitive multiplayer game modes for Prime World: Defenders? 

We really want to create a multiplayer version of Prime World: Defenders, either coop or PVP. 

We already have some internal playtests for both, but haven't hit that sweet spot yet where we can announce anything. So, yes this is definitely a possibility.

What's next for Nival?

Currently we're busy with US beta for Prime World – our main project in Prime World universe, competitive RPG with collectible card mechanic and persistent leveling – you can actually join closed beta at http://playpw.com. 

We're also working on several new games outside Prime World universe, some of those based on our old properties that gamers remember and love. I hope to announce more ‘till the end of this year.

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For more on this title, be sure to read the Gameranx review. Prime World: Defenders releases on Steam on June 5, 2013. 

This interview with Sergey Galyonkin was conducted by Ian Miles Cheong on May 31, 2013 via e-mail. It may not be reposted in its entirety without permission. Holly Green contributed to this piece.