Posted March 06, 2023
Mortal Glory is an outstanding, fantasy-themed tactical roguelike game about recruiting a team of gladiators and pitting them against brutal competition in a blood-soaked tournament. We are incredibly excited that this title has joined our catalog and is now available on GOG!
Moreover, we had the pleasure of talking to its creator, Tuomas Auronen from Redback Games, who told us more about the game itself, his inspirations, what can we expect from the upcoming sequel, how he managed to create such a cool game while simultaneously working a regular office job (it may even include some tips for all the indie devs out there), and more!
Let’s jump right into it.
Brutal fantasy world, gladiators, roguelike gameplay, simplistic graphics full of old-school charm. When we list those Mortal Glory elements like that, it sounds like a recipe for an excellent game. But it was you who came up with those great ideas and put them together. Could you shed more light on how Mortal Glory came to be?
It all basically boils down to childhood nostalgia. I've always enjoyed tactical turn-based games and back when I was a teen, I used to play a lot of this Finnish indie classic called "Areena 5". I haven't encountered any similar games that would scratch the same itch so I set out to make a modern version of the same concept; Taking what I enjoyed the most in the original game and adding new features that I thought would fit well - mostly from modern roguelikes (my favorite genre!). I'm really happy how the game turned out, but credit for the core concept definitely belongs to the original Areena game series.
Besides being awesome, it is also your first game with very little experience in game development prior to that. What’s even more impressive is that you’ve managed to finish it in 9 months, all while working an office job. Could you talk us through that experience?
It all still feels pretty crazy thinking back to it... When I started, I had never opened Unity and besides a little bit of hobbyist experience with Python, I was very much a beginner with coding as well. In the first weeks the progress was very slow and I struggled with many aspects of development. But I kept putting hours into it and little by little I kept learning and making some actual progress.
It took 9 months to finish the game and during that time I had spent around 1000 hours on the project. It was very stressful juggling different aspects of my life and I had to sacrifice most of my free time during those months. But on the flip side, it was all also very exciting and a big portion of it felt more like a fun hobby than actual work. Being emotionally supported by my wife was also a big help in keeping my spirits up. After development it also didn’t hurt that the game became much more successful than I had ever hoped.
Your success is also an inspiration to many other indie devs who try to make their dream come true and begin their adventure within the gaming industry. Is there perhaps a message you’d like to share with them? Any advice for them?
There's so much I could say! To keep it short I will limit my advice to just two points, which are the most instrumental for success.
#1 Start now. Most people are just too damn good at procrastinating. I was as well and I should have started years earlier. If you want to make a game, start now! Watch a tutorial on YouTube and download a game engine. Then put an hour into it every day - that's all it takes. Too many people fall into the trap of waiting for the perfect moment.
#2 Keep your butt on the seat. This is the second toughest part. It's inevitable that you will encounter problems that seem overwhelming and you will feel like you aren't cut for the job. It's very very tempting to quit at that point. But I guarantee that if you keep your butt on the seat and just keep struggling one agonizing hour after another, you will get past it eventually. I have faced many problems that were "too hard" and I have tackled each one of them. As a nice bonus, you will gain so much confidence in your skills when you get past these bumps.
I would also like to mention that becoming a game developer has never been more accessible as it is now. Modern game engines make the journey a lot smoother and there are so many tutorials and so much support available online. As a shameless plug, you can also find more tips and details about my experiences with gamedev HERE
We’re super excited to have Mortal Glory join our catalog and allow our community to enjoy its bloody, gaming goodness. What’s even more exciting is that its sequel is also coming soon to GOG! What can we expect from Mortal Glory 2?
Basically, more of everything! I think the core gameplay loop is really satisfying so I'm going to focus a lot of my energy into increasing variety: More unique skills/gear, more tactical opportunities and more choices to make. As just two concrete examples I could mention 1) new unique items similar to relics in Slay the Spire that will significantly alter your playstyle and 2) environmental hazards in battle like spreading fire tiles or instant death pits to knock your enemies into.
My main goal is to make the game super replayable and keep the game fun with each new run. As a side-note, I am also re-writing all the code from scratch so there will be lots of quality-of-life improvements on all fronts.
Was working on Mortal Glory 2 a different experience after the success of the first part? If yes, could you tell us how?
Definitely! Everything is just easier now development-wise with more experience and it also helps to know that there is an existing fanbase waiting for the sequel. As a downside, there is more pressure and I am now also more demanding of myself; I constantly need to remind myself that with most things "Good enough" is good enough. As a brazen beginner this was definitely easier.
Is there something you’d like to tell our community before they recruit their team of gladiators and start bringing glory to their name?
First of all, I hope you enjoy the game! Secondly, I tried to make the game harder than most so don't feel bad if at first you are struck down. As with real life, every fall is an opportunity to rise back stronger.
We’d like to thank Tuomas very much for this awesome conversation! Now, there’s only one thing left to do: enter the arena and enjoy the sea of fun provided by Mortal Glory! Make sure to also wishlist Mortal Glory 2 – this way you won’t miss its release or any special offers. Have a good one!
Moreover, we had the pleasure of talking to its creator, Tuomas Auronen from Redback Games, who told us more about the game itself, his inspirations, what can we expect from the upcoming sequel, how he managed to create such a cool game while simultaneously working a regular office job (it may even include some tips for all the indie devs out there), and more!
Let’s jump right into it.
Brutal fantasy world, gladiators, roguelike gameplay, simplistic graphics full of old-school charm. When we list those Mortal Glory elements like that, it sounds like a recipe for an excellent game. But it was you who came up with those great ideas and put them together. Could you shed more light on how Mortal Glory came to be?
It all basically boils down to childhood nostalgia. I've always enjoyed tactical turn-based games and back when I was a teen, I used to play a lot of this Finnish indie classic called "Areena 5". I haven't encountered any similar games that would scratch the same itch so I set out to make a modern version of the same concept; Taking what I enjoyed the most in the original game and adding new features that I thought would fit well - mostly from modern roguelikes (my favorite genre!). I'm really happy how the game turned out, but credit for the core concept definitely belongs to the original Areena game series.
Besides being awesome, it is also your first game with very little experience in game development prior to that. What’s even more impressive is that you’ve managed to finish it in 9 months, all while working an office job. Could you talk us through that experience?
It all still feels pretty crazy thinking back to it... When I started, I had never opened Unity and besides a little bit of hobbyist experience with Python, I was very much a beginner with coding as well. In the first weeks the progress was very slow and I struggled with many aspects of development. But I kept putting hours into it and little by little I kept learning and making some actual progress.
It took 9 months to finish the game and during that time I had spent around 1000 hours on the project. It was very stressful juggling different aspects of my life and I had to sacrifice most of my free time during those months. But on the flip side, it was all also very exciting and a big portion of it felt more like a fun hobby than actual work. Being emotionally supported by my wife was also a big help in keeping my spirits up. After development it also didn’t hurt that the game became much more successful than I had ever hoped.
Your success is also an inspiration to many other indie devs who try to make their dream come true and begin their adventure within the gaming industry. Is there perhaps a message you’d like to share with them? Any advice for them?
There's so much I could say! To keep it short I will limit my advice to just two points, which are the most instrumental for success.
#1 Start now. Most people are just too damn good at procrastinating. I was as well and I should have started years earlier. If you want to make a game, start now! Watch a tutorial on YouTube and download a game engine. Then put an hour into it every day - that's all it takes. Too many people fall into the trap of waiting for the perfect moment.
#2 Keep your butt on the seat. This is the second toughest part. It's inevitable that you will encounter problems that seem overwhelming and you will feel like you aren't cut for the job. It's very very tempting to quit at that point. But I guarantee that if you keep your butt on the seat and just keep struggling one agonizing hour after another, you will get past it eventually. I have faced many problems that were "too hard" and I have tackled each one of them. As a nice bonus, you will gain so much confidence in your skills when you get past these bumps.
I would also like to mention that becoming a game developer has never been more accessible as it is now. Modern game engines make the journey a lot smoother and there are so many tutorials and so much support available online. As a shameless plug, you can also find more tips and details about my experiences with gamedev HERE
We’re super excited to have Mortal Glory join our catalog and allow our community to enjoy its bloody, gaming goodness. What’s even more exciting is that its sequel is also coming soon to GOG! What can we expect from Mortal Glory 2?
Basically, more of everything! I think the core gameplay loop is really satisfying so I'm going to focus a lot of my energy into increasing variety: More unique skills/gear, more tactical opportunities and more choices to make. As just two concrete examples I could mention 1) new unique items similar to relics in Slay the Spire that will significantly alter your playstyle and 2) environmental hazards in battle like spreading fire tiles or instant death pits to knock your enemies into.
My main goal is to make the game super replayable and keep the game fun with each new run. As a side-note, I am also re-writing all the code from scratch so there will be lots of quality-of-life improvements on all fronts.
Was working on Mortal Glory 2 a different experience after the success of the first part? If yes, could you tell us how?
Definitely! Everything is just easier now development-wise with more experience and it also helps to know that there is an existing fanbase waiting for the sequel. As a downside, there is more pressure and I am now also more demanding of myself; I constantly need to remind myself that with most things "Good enough" is good enough. As a brazen beginner this was definitely easier.
Is there something you’d like to tell our community before they recruit their team of gladiators and start bringing glory to their name?
First of all, I hope you enjoy the game! Secondly, I tried to make the game harder than most so don't feel bad if at first you are struck down. As with real life, every fall is an opportunity to rise back stronger.
We’d like to thank Tuomas very much for this awesome conversation! Now, there’s only one thing left to do: enter the arena and enjoy the sea of fun provided by Mortal Glory! Make sure to also wishlist Mortal Glory 2 – this way you won’t miss its release or any special offers. Have a good one!
