This year at PAX Prime, I got the opportunity to interview The Behemoth about their latest game, Pit People, as well as other pressing questions I had. The following is a transcript from that interview, with my questions in bold.
1. First off, how on earth did you come up with a premise as delightfully bizarre as Pit People?
When the prototype of the game was first conceived, every interaction took place in an arena. Over time, adventuring became a big part of the game and the story came up naturally as our group discussed ideas. For example, Will Stamper, our narrator for Pit People, took a look at one of our characters and joked that he thought the character looked like a blueberry farmer. This was how Horatio, the blueberry farmer, was created!
2. Was the tactics genre one Behemoth has been interested in trying out for a while?
For the most part we’ve all grown up playing various tactics based games, but in terms of actually wanting to develop something for this genre, it was Dan who initially came up with the idea. He wanted to create a turn-based game that would be more accessible to non-strategy gamers while maintaining depth for hardcore strategy gamers, and have the option for couch co-op.
3. Will Pit People have more character development than previous titles? I only ask since, from the demo last year, I recall specific characters with distinct personalities.
Yes! Pit People has a larger cast of characters with background stories than any of our previous titles. You get to know Horatio, Pipistrella, Yosef, Sofia, and Gluten right off the bat in the story demo we’ve been showing off at expos.
4. Regarding gamers new to Behemoth, what would you say is the best selling point for Pit People?
It’s a fast-paced, turn-based, co-op adventure–with poop. The accessibility of the game, option for couch co-op, and humor injected into the story are what really make it a Behemoth game.
5. I can’t help but notice that, although Behemoth has been around for 12 years, you only have made four games. Was this an intentional choice?
We’ve been around for 12 years and we’ve made four games for multiple platforms and millions of players. We’re pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished and wouldn’t have done anything different.
6. I notice that there seems to be recurring threads in the stories of some of your games. Is this perhaps leading to some giant crossover event?
We like to allude to our previous works in all the titles we develop. There have already been multiple crossover characters and other Easter eggs in each title.
7. Behemoth seems to do things differently from other companies in the field, taking risks and making an impression with fans. Do you feel that approach is integral to the success of your company?
Keeping fans and consumers in mind is definitely integral to what we do. We love making games and we also want to make games that people love.
8. How big of a shift has it been to start as flash games and work your way to consoles and Steam?
It’s been a huge journey. We went from Alien Hominid on Newgrounds, to the retail space with publishers, and finally to the digital download space that allows us to self publish. In a sense, we went full circle to going back to doing things the way we want to as independent developers, but now we have an even larger reach with the games we create!
9. Any chance I’ll ever play a Behemoth game on a console other than Xbox?
Never say ever! We actually had the original Alien Hominid release first on PlayStation 2 and GameCube. Castle Crashers is currently available on PlayStation 3. We’d love to be on every console and platform, but we’re still a fairly small team working on a couple projects at a time. Who knows what’s next in the future space?
10. Any idea how soon players can enjoy the final version of Pit People?
No release date yet, but we have the largest team we’ve ever had working on one of our games, so we’re doing our best to output a quality game as quickly as we can.
I would like to thank The Behemoth, specifically Megan Lam, for their time! I would also like to give a shout out to Geni Bela for help with the awesome featured image!
