We're Here at PAX East 2015: An Exclusive Interview with Terry from Sarod Studios

Hey everyone, this is Steve from Gamers Nexus.net, and we're at PAX East 2015. We're currently at the Castle Story Booth, which is a game developed by sarod Studios. I'm joined by Terry, who has been on the project for a while, and wants to talk to us about some of the project timelines and the game's current status.

For those who aren't familiar with Cast and Story, can you give us a very brief elevator pitch of the game? Okay, well, Cast Story is a little mix between an RTS and like a puzzle game with Lego. So, the goal is to protect your Crystal against waves of enemy in Survival Mode, but there's also a Sandbox Mode where you can just create all sorts of things. That's that's the main goal of the game right now.

The project was kickstarted, and we recall the value of the Kickstarter. We gained like $7,750 from the Kickstarter, so that's how we got funded. We worked on the project for about a year from that funding, and now the game is in Early Access. When was the Kickstarter first launched? It was about 2012, which is right. Well, right.

The Prototype came out first, followed by a prototype for early backers, then an early Alpha. Where's the game currently? Like I said, it's currently in Early Access. We're still trying to develop it more, and our goal is to reach version one that we had in mind when we launched Kickstarter, which was for January 2016.

For the moment, there are a new couple of new features we're trying to implement, like more enemies, more animation, and more AI. That kind of stuff. Have there been any major hurdles in development? Any major obstacles that have kept us up?

Well, at first, when we did the Prototype, the engine wasn't solid enough. We did a lot of system remade since then, and what we've clearly been doing for the past year is trying to get that new feature, which was the big uh obstacle of. And, uh, is it on Unity 4 or it's still on Unity 4? We don't have plans for Unity five right now, but maybe eventually.

The current development team size and how has it grown over the past 3 years? Okay, so when the project started, there were only three Developers. Now, we're six almost seven, because we're trying to hire more people, uh, and the whole team for management and things like that, it's at 14 people.

Do you have a response to community criticism over the timeline over the past 3 years? There's if you look around on forums there's some criticism that development has been slow. Well, obviously, games take time, and since we're like we're never made any game before, we mostly did a lot of uh beginners errors. But now we're really trying to catch up, and like I said, we're aiming for 2016 to finish the thing every month.

But like I said, the version we wanted for Kickstarter isn't the final one, clearly because we still want to develop the game and had more feature after that. So, that's it. And uh any closing thoughts or items here for fans and backers? Well, continue to support us. I mean, we read almost all emails since the beginning, and we really like the feedbacks. That will help us improve the game. So, continue doing that.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone this is Steve from Gamers nexus.net we're at PAX East 2015 this is day two of pax just got back from GDC Now We're Here I am at the Castle Story Booth which is a game developed by sarod Studios and I'm joined by Terry who uh who's been on the project for a while and wants to talk to us about some of the the project timelines and the game's current status so for those who aren't familiar with cast and story can you give us a very brief elevator pitch of the game okay uh well cast story is a little mix between an RTS and uh like a puzzle game with Lego so the goal is to protect the actual goal for the moment is to protect your Crystal against waves of enemy with survival mode but there is also a sandbox mode where you can just create all sort of uh of uh Gast stol um that's that's the main goal of the game right now and the the project was kickstarted y do you do you recall the value of the kickstarter how much money brought in uh we uh uh we I I think we gained like 7 750 100,000 from the kickstarter so that's the way we got found uh we worked uh the the past year from that funding and uh now the game is ear access when uh when was the the kickstarter was first launched in about 2012 is that right yeah it's right well right so uh the the Prototype came out first there was a prototype for early backers uh then there was sort of an early Alpha and uh where's the game currently okay uh like I said it's currently in Early Access we're still like uh trying to develop it a more uh our goal is uh to reach uh a version one that the the kind we had in mind the the kind of uh version we had in mind when we it launched Kickstarter uh for January 2016 and uh for the moment there's a new a couple of new features we're trying to implement uh like more enemies more uh more animation more AI uh that kind of stuff have there been any major hurdles in development any major obstacles that have kept up progress uh yeah well uh at first when we did the the Prototype um the engine wasn't uh solid enough so we did a lot of systemic rment since then and uh that what we clearly been doing the past year and uh in uh December uh last year we finally reach a level where we can finally add new feature so that was the big uh the big uh Obstacle of and uh is is it on Unity 4 or it's still on Unity 4 uh we don't have plans for Unity five right now but maybe eventually what's the the current development team size and and how has it grown over the past 3 years okay so uh the when the project started we uh there were only three Developers uh now there are six uh almost seven because we're trying to hire more people uh and the whole team for management and things like that it's at 14 people do you have a uh how do you respond to community criticism over the timeline over the past 3 years there's if you look around on forums there's some criticism that development has been slow do you have a response to that well obviously uh games take times and since we're like we're we never made any game before we we mostly did a lot of uh beginners errors but uh now we're really trying to catch that up and like I said we're aiming for 2016 to finish the theion every mon but like I said the version we uh wanted for Kickstarter isn't the the final one clearly because we we still want to develop the game and had more feature after that so that's it and uh any any closing uh thoughts or uh items here for the fans and backers well continue to support us I mean uh we we read almost uh all emails uh since the beginning and uh we really clearly like the feedbacks and that that will help us uh improve the game so continue to do that so you heard it here leave keep sending feedback and emails and very rare for developers to check all those emails so uh the game it looks like is targeted for a quarter 1 or January 2016 exactly and check out links in the description below for more information we will see you all next timehey everyone this is Steve from Gamers nexus.net we're at PAX East 2015 this is day two of pax just got back from GDC Now We're Here I am at the Castle Story Booth which is a game developed by sarod Studios and I'm joined by Terry who uh who's been on the project for a while and wants to talk to us about some of the the project timelines and the game's current status so for those who aren't familiar with cast and story can you give us a very brief elevator pitch of the game okay uh well cast story is a little mix between an RTS and uh like a puzzle game with Lego so the goal is to protect the actual goal for the moment is to protect your Crystal against waves of enemy with survival mode but there is also a sandbox mode where you can just create all sort of uh of uh Gast stol um that's that's the main goal of the game right now and the the project was kickstarted y do you do you recall the value of the kickstarter how much money brought in uh we uh uh we I I think we gained like 7 750 100,000 from the kickstarter so that's the way we got found uh we worked uh the the past year from that funding and uh now the game is ear access when uh when was the the kickstarter was first launched in about 2012 is that right yeah it's right well right so uh the the Prototype came out first there was a prototype for early backers uh then there was sort of an early Alpha and uh where's the game currently okay uh like I said it's currently in Early Access we're still like uh trying to develop it a more uh our goal is uh to reach uh a version one that the the kind we had in mind the the kind of uh version we had in mind when we it launched Kickstarter uh for January 2016 and uh for the moment there's a new a couple of new features we're trying to implement uh like more enemies more uh more animation more AI uh that kind of stuff have there been any major hurdles in development any major obstacles that have kept up progress uh yeah well uh at first when we did the the Prototype um the engine wasn't uh solid enough so we did a lot of systemic rment since then and uh that what we clearly been doing the past year and uh in uh December uh last year we finally reach a level where we can finally add new feature so that was the big uh the big uh Obstacle of and uh is is it on Unity 4 or it's still on Unity 4 uh we don't have plans for Unity five right now but maybe eventually what's the the current development team size and and how has it grown over the past 3 years okay so uh the when the project started we uh there were only three Developers uh now there are six uh almost seven because we're trying to hire more people uh and the whole team for management and things like that it's at 14 people do you have a uh how do you respond to community criticism over the timeline over the past 3 years there's if you look around on forums there's some criticism that development has been slow do you have a response to that well obviously uh games take times and since we're like we're we never made any game before we we mostly did a lot of uh beginners errors but uh now we're really trying to catch that up and like I said we're aiming for 2016 to finish the theion every mon but like I said the version we uh wanted for Kickstarter isn't the the final one clearly because we we still want to develop the game and had more feature after that so that's it and uh any any closing uh thoughts or uh items here for the fans and backers well continue to support us I mean uh we we read almost uh all emails uh since the beginning and uh we really clearly like the feedbacks and that that will help us uh improve the game so continue to do that so you heard it here leave keep sending feedback and emails and very rare for developers to check all those emails so uh the game it looks like is targeted for a quarter 1 or January 2016 exactly and check out links in the description below for more information we will see you all next time\n"