Do you hate kaiju? Yes! So are we. Godzilla needed to take a pin or two, if you ask us, but you didn’t. Well, now you can live the kaiju battles of your dreams Dawn of the Monsterslatest game from Archery bow 13AM developer and WayForward publisher, created by themselves Contrast 4 and River City Girl.
Dawn of the Monsters is a couch co-op kaiju beat you play like a kaiju to fight other huge monsters, and in that you destroy a bunch of cities along the way because that’s what kaiju do, honey.
We spoke with 13AM CEO and the game’s creative director, Alex Rushdy, about the playable, customizable kaiju, the game’s technical challenges, and what to expect from DOTM before launch on March 15, 2022…
Nintendo Life: Many of our readers may know you best about Runbow and Double Cross, but Dawn of the Monsters is a perfect start. Can you take us back to the beginning of development and talk about how the project came to be?
Alex Rushdy (Creative Director): Well, back in the distant 2016 period, we developed a prototype for a kaiju fighting game and sold it to a number of publishers. We had some great meetings but in the end no one was willing to pick a fighting game because it’s a competitive market. We put ideas aside, work on Double crossand released in 2019.
There are many kaiju fighting games, but no one thinks to beat kaiju!
Once that was done, we needed a new project so we pulled the kaiju fighting game concept off the shelf and talked about it, ultimately deciding that it would be more fun to turn it into a game. cooperative play.
There are many kaiju fighting games, but no one thinks to beat kaiju! It seemed like a “chocolate and peanut butter” combination and we knew it was a great idea so we started developing it. Apparently the publishers agreed!
We went to E3 and showed a bunch of publishers the prototype, including WayForward, who we were working with at the time. WayForward fell in love with it almost immediately, and it wasn’t long before we worked together to finish the game!
Can you tell a little more about your fascination with Kaiju Monsters and their history, and why was that important in development?
When I was about 4 or 5 years old, I walked into Zellers (a now defunct Canadian department store) and saw a dinosaur I didn’t recognize in the toy aisle. When I asked the babysitter about it, she explained to me, “It’s not a dinosaur, it’s Godzilla. He’s big, he’s strong, he breathes radioactive breath, and he lives on monster island with other monsters like Rodan. And for a kid obsessed with dinosaurs, that basically turned my world upside down. She bought me my first Godzilla (which I keep on my desk) And the rest is history. I’m obsessed with anything and everything kaiju; Godzilla, Gamera, Ultraman, all.
As a child I watched Godzilla and Ultraman for its bright colors and cool creatures, as an adult I am still amused by stories of nuclear war, environmentalism, fear of things don’t know yet
I think the reason why kaiju was so important to this project is also why I still love kaiju to this day. On the one hand, watching giant monsters fight and destroy cities is highly entertaining, even for children. On the other hand, these films discuss rather hotly and scathing concepts core to the human experience. Kaiju allows us to easily talk about problems on a social level – problems that all humanity has to deal with.
So as a child I watched Godzilla and Ultraman for its bright colors and cool creatures, as an adult I am still fascinated by stories of nuclear war, environmentalism, fear fear of the unknown, etc. Godzilla, who was literally born from the bomb and Godzilla The film was born from the idea of the fears expressed from its use in real life. There’s a great mix of basic entertainment with high ideas that keep the kaiju genre going more than 65 years after its birth!
For those who are new to, or perhaps just watched the previous trailers, what can we expect from the gameplay in Dawn of the Monsters?
Dawn of the Monsters is a 2.5D side-scrolling beat-up that follows the vein of classics like The last battle and Street inspirationbut with the depth of modern action games like Bayonetta and God of War.
It features over 35 quests, equippable DNA Supplements to upgrade your monster’s abilities, Platinum Game inspired rating system, fully dynamic kills, 2-player co-op play, Great Flood attacks and brutal finishing moves to replenish your health! It takes about 8-10 hours for a first playthrough and then you have a lot to unlock by gaining an S+ Rating for every mission.
Can you tell us the campaign structure and the four monsters the player can use?
The game follows DAWN (Defense Alliance Worldwide Network) as they enlist a team of four giants to defeat the evil Nephilim that threatens the planet. That is:
- Megadon – The dinosaur brute force of the group, he is an all-rounder and can direct magma through his body to spew fire and create volcanic explosions with his fists. He can burn enemies with his “burn” disease.
- Ganira – A giant crustacean, she is unique in that she can summon a monster minion to fight alongside her. Great for beginners, she can extend her claws to pull enemies towards her and slow them down with her “grooving” ability.
- Aegis Prime – As a giant Ultraman-style hero, Aegis is the fastest character and a great choice if you want to do lengthy juggling. He can break through enemy defenses with his “eroding” disease.
- Tempest Galahad – A giant mech with a massive cannon, Tempest focuses on ranged combat and her unique “reload” ability that powers her up. She can stun enemies with her “shock” disease.
The campaign takes place across four separate locations (Toronto, Foz Do Iguacu, Cairo, and Tokyo) and each has a collection of quests you must complete before you can move on to the next. At the end of each mission, you’re given a rating based on your combat performance (think Bayonetta), and that rating determines the quality of the DNA Augments you can choose from the loot screen. You then head back to the command center, where you can equip, sell, or rewind Augments, buy cosmetic, health and rage upgrades, check inventory, or listen to calls Chatting happens around DAWN HQ.
You have emphasized that this is a collaborative project with many artists involved; Can you tell us more about that?
The core idea of this game is to make the ultimate kaiju game, and in the end we really don’t want it to sound like a parody or mockery. We wanted it to pass the ‘sniff test’ for huge monster movie fans, and for that, we wanted to attract some of the top kaiju talent to show us what we’re doing. How serious is this project.
We want it to pass the “sniff test” for giant monster movie fans
So back in 2019, I actually visited Japan and talked to a few artists, and then through some friendships and connections in the kaiju community, I was able to talk to many more. more. In the end, everyone was really excited about the project and happy to be a part of it.
We found Shinji Nishikawa (designer for some Godzilla movies and recent movies Gridman anime) to design a boss for us. We have Yuji Kaida (famous illustrator who used to work Godzilla, Gamera, giant, Gundam and popular games like Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, Thiefand Strider) to create a large poster illustration that adorns the limited edition Running Game collection box. We have Matt Frank (who worked on Godzilla, Transformersand giant comics) to design a miniboss for the game.
We have a lot of people involved in so many ways! Some of these people are people we contact just because I’m a big fan, like Zander Cannon (who created Kaijumax manga series by Oni Press). The game is truly a celebration of the classic genre, so I’m really glad we’ve got creators from all over the world on board.
With large-scale actions, destructive environments, etc., is optimizing for the Switch a technical challenge?
The game is almost entirely built in full 3D, dynamically illuminated, and dynamically destructible. That’s paramount to us because it feels great to smash buildings in a kaiju game!
There were definitely challenges! Although stylized to look like a graphic novel or manga, the game is almost entirely built in full 3D, dynamically illuminated, and dynamically destructible. That’s paramount to us because it feels great to smash buildings in a kaiju game!
However, having a dynamic light source, loads of 3D models, multiple characters, etc can be daunting for any console.
After a lot of hard work from our team, we’ve achieved something truly amazing that I think Switch fans will be delighted with. I’m really glad we didn’t have to sacrifice resolution for the game to look as sharp on the Switch as it does on any platform at a full 1080p dock and 720p handheld. It looks really slick on the Switch screen!
Aside from having massive monsters on mobile screens, what are the pluses of playing Dawn of the Monsters on Switch?
Honestly, and I might be biased here, the game just feels “at home” on the Nintendo Switch. We were previously Nintendo-focused developers, and the Switch version has always been a big focus for us at 13AM Games. I feel like Nintendo fans equally appreciate 2D (or in this case 2.5D) and couch co-op as we do, and we even designed the campaign to Play in quest-based 5-10 minute sections with mobile play in mind.
Do you have a final message for our readers?
Thank you for taking the time to read this interview and thank you for your interest! It really means a lot to our team, especially after working on this game through a global pandemic and finally being able to share it with the world.
We are extremely proud of what the team at Limited Run Games has come up with physical version and the collection’s edition even comes with a download code so you don’t have to wait to play.
Please check ours websiteFollow us at Twitterjoin us Discordand share your experience with us when the game launches!
Thanks to 13AM, WayForward and Alex Rushdy for their time! Dawn of the Monsters will be available on Nintendo Switch on March 15, 2022.
