The release ofVampire Survivorshas inspired many games to follow in its footsteps, with some even viewing its approach to gameplay as a new genre. Upcoming SurvivorslikeBlack Dragon Mageplans to adopt many conventions of that “genre” and establish itself among the new traditions born fromVampire Survivors’massive impact.
The creator ofBlack Dragon Mage, Tom Nemec, sat down with Game Rant to discuss the burgeoning genre and the unique history that his game has had from debuting under a green comet to being inspired in part by a very cinematic figure from Nemec’s past.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
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Q: Can you start by introducing yourself?
A:Of course, my name is Tom Nemec. I’m the solo developer onBlack Dragon Mage,and it’s my first commercial title. I have been in a variety of different careers field. I dropped out of computer science, and for a couple of years, I did tech journalism. Then I went into various tech startup jobs and did some development work there. And a couple of years ago, I decided to go full-time into games. Istarted a game jam projectcalledSpace Elevator, which won first place in the game jam that I was participating in. I was super happy about that and took that as additional confirmation that I should continue down this path.
And then 666 days after winning that game jam, I put out the trailer toBlack Dragon Mage, not realizing that it was such a fun, fun number to get started with–it was just a complete coincidence. The night that I put out the trailer for the game, a comet visible to the naked eye flew over our little town here in Germany with a green trail. It was completely magical. Never seen anything like it in real life, just YouTube videos. So that was completely magical. Lots of interesting things have been happening since I started work on this, and I’m extremely hyped to see where this journey goes.
Q: What inspiredBlack Dragon Mage?
A:So when I picked up the Steam Deck, the handheld made by Valve, I played through all of my back catalog andeventually I discoveredVampire Survivors. I thought, “Wow, this is very different.” It is very engaging and also beautifully noncommittal. It’s just something that I could pick up and play. And on a busy day for someone who’s a 30-something or older, it’s just fantastic to have something on a handheld that plays like the old arcade games, just something that I can jump in any time with little commitment, but still have that feeling of progression and wanting to come back a little bit stronger than next time.
The Steam Deckin tandem withVampire Survivorsimmediately gave me a vision of what else this game could be. Then, I played20 Minutes Till Dawn, which is more of a top-down shooter take on the genre and has a bit of gunplay. And I thought: What if this couldn’t be more like a Super Nintendo game on steroids, having that cartoony look that we all know and love from the 16-bitMarios andZeldas, and so on, but with more timely modern visual effects still in the pixel domain, everything quantized and retro-looking but very lively and focused on game feel and audio-visual experience?
I kind of had that vision, put it to the side, and started to write some music first, which is kind of a super weird approach. Usually, music in games is like the afterthought that the developers come to later on, but I’ve alwaysreally enjoyed composing music, writing music. I have this big back catalog of unused music on my hard drive that I go back to, and there’s a lot of stuff on there. When I listen to it, I immediately visualize what a game would play like if it fitted that soundtrack. I wrote some orchestral music, worked on that for a while, had four or five tracks, which are now the soundtrack of the game. And based on those, I pictured what the game would look like and progressed the visual development of the game based on that.
I really wanted it to feel more kinetic than other games in the genre. By that, I mean, having enemies actually hurled around by physics, because usually, other Survivorslike games emulate physics on a rather superficial level–stuff gets pushed around, but it’s more if you had pebbles underwater being pushed around. It wasn’t the kind of look for the swarms of enemies that I wanted.
I had this abstract idea of the field that I wanted to portray there; it should look lively, dynamic, and epic. They should also have eight-directional sprites, like you had in a top-down 16-bit era. That was also something that bugged me aboutVampire Survivorsa bit because the art typically faces you, and you don’t have a good idea of the look or direction of enemies. So I wanted to improve upon that. Make it a bit nicer to look at, because a lot of my friends also criticized that–they did find the idea of these Survivorslikes enticing, but they didn’t match their need for aesthetics. They were still looking for that one game that would entice them to play the genre, so I thought maybe this is an interesting challenge that I can take on.
Q: Survivorslike are a pretty new “genre.” How do you define the genre?
A:There are a lot of early influences that laid the groundwork for the genre. I think even going back toAsteroidsandearly arcade games like thatyou already had the groundwork of intense dodging, shooting swarms of enemies. Then,Vampire Survivorsitself was inspired by, I think it’s calledMagic Survival, the mobile game.
I think that there are a lot of different influences that come together in the genre, but the unique appeal can be defined as a bullet heaven, as opposed to bullet hell, in the sense that the player becomes the bullet hell themselves. You have this scaling power-up dynamic, hordes of foes, meta progression, but also relatively simple patterns in terms of how the enemies behave: pretty straightforward movement mechanics, pretty accessible controls, ample power-ups, relatively dynamic power scaling. And, most importantly I think, very short run times between 10 to 30 minutes. That’s something that I feel is approachable for even people who put the game aside for a while and want to jump in later. The barrier for re-entry is super low.
Some of the games incorporate automatic attacks, just firing projectiles towards the nearest target, which frees up the player from having to push additional buttons. It effectively could even be played on an arcade machine quite easily. That was one of the aspects where I think the genre is now evolving. Not all have incorporated it, but with newer entries likeHalls of Tormentor even20 Minutes till Dawn, you have a bit more player agency and control. And that’s also what I want to lean into and merge with what the genre has.
Q: You’ve touched on this a bit already with things like the kinetic nature ofBlack Dragon Mage, but what else separates it from other Survivorslikes?
A:I think the key differentiators are that it’s a cohesive visual experience, s all the assets should be fitting together nicely. The visual effects should be very cohesive with the rest of the game feel, and sound effects that I design–I attempt to make everything into one extremely cohesive whole–and it should feel like you’re actually playing one of these 16-bit era games, but in the format of a bullet heaven. That’s on the aesthetic experience side of things. And then on the gameplay side of things, I think what differentiates that is also that you have the weapons feeling a little bit like the rocket launcher inQuake 3 Arena–that’s one of the inspirations as well asthe weapons inEnter The Gungeon. The weapons are not hitscan, that is, hitting the enemy immediately, but you have a bit of travel time. I find that quite meditative to play because your brain constantly does this calculation of anticipating enemy movement and not just weaving through the enemy. But you have to time your attacks, you have a mana budget for the attacks.
It also meshes with these ARPG-style abilities, as I would call them, inspired by the olderDiablos. You have three ability slots that you populate, per run. So you start out with three empty slots and then on set milestones, get more through your level-ups. You’re not adding to a stack of automated attacks that you have relatively little control over positioning and timing, but you’re actually using them for strategic and tactical purposes. You decide when you trigger your Shield of Frost and may have the chance to freeze a certain enemy that is a particular threat to you that you’re unable to take on at that particular moment.
There’s also the third aspect of the dragon and the mage forming companionship, and having a bit of a journey. Because typically, the genre is very “fill everything in yourself”-style when it comes to the lore and to the backdrop, but I provide a little bit of author-designed backdrop with the story of the mage, landing in the desert through a teleportation mishap, an accident, and the mage ends up in this arid hell. It’s kind of a time loop kind of situation where the mage is attacked by all of these demonic abominations, the plant life seems also hostile, everything is hostile. The mage discovers an egg, which has been left behind in the desert, it hasn’t been incubated yet, but there is still room for it. The mage feels a strong instinct to protect the egg from being alone in the desert and takes it along with him to this hub area.
Also, I think a standout point for the game, inspired byHades, is that you visit this hub area at the start of your time loop. This is where you can purchase meta upgrades, but also evolve your relationship with the egg and then the dragon hatchling. Later on, the hatchling matures to an adult dragon who is the ticket for the antihero mage to get out of this conundrum. It symbolizes also this tale of personal growth along a metaphorical hero’s journey and making the most of the potential personally, but also by helping another living being realize their potential. The dragon becomes this kind of Tamagotchi kind of entity in the beginning, it’s very helpless. After hatching, it follows you around and is very sleepy and cute. It’s all safe in this Hall of Relics.
As it matures, it becomes the most powerful entity in the game, and you can shape it in an evolutionary sense. You can imbue the properties that you think your dragon should have, which gets us also to build variety. You can use it synergistically with your other abilities. The current plan for the mature dragon is that you call upon it at the moment that you want to use it the most. It’s kind of an ultimate attack, similar tohow ultimates in games likeOverwatchwork. You build up your ultimate meter, when the time comes you can use it for a set duration, and the Dragon will arrive. You can hop on and use it as your mount, fly around the map, and have a lot more damage output or strategic impact on the battlefield. You can decide wherever you want to use it on the boss at the end of the map or wherever you need it in a particular conundrum that you’ve gotten yourself into if you need it as a Get Out of Jail Free card.
Q: Where did the idea of this dragon mechanic come from?
A:One of my best friends from childhood, who I kind of adopted as my mentor when I was a teenager, had a black dragon tattooed on his chest. I’m not quite sure what the origin story of that was. He’s a huge Bruce Lee fan, maybe that’s where it came from? I don’t know. But this black dragon for him symbolized this perseverance in life, to keep moving forward, even in the most dire of situations. I wanted to pay homage to my friend, so that’s also where the name of the game comes from.
I started with the mage as a remix of Link. I didn’t want to go with Link. I didn’t want to go into melee combat so much, as I thought projectile combat would be more interesting, so I went the mage route. That’s also the kind of class that I pick in RPGs a lot. So, my friend Khan gave me fantastic inspiration for my antihero mage character.
Q: You mentioned that you developed the music for the game pretty early in the process. Can you tell me what kind of music you went for?
A:My idea was that it should communicate aDungeons and Dragonskind of setting, a typical fantasy kind of setting, so I went for orchestral instruments. There are a lot of dramatic string staccatos, there’s a lot of brass in there. But alsoinspired byThe Elder Scrollssoundtracks, there’s a lot of choir staccato–a huge choir singing short, impactful syllables. I thought it was intriguing and amusing to combine this top-down pixel art look with characters that are 16 pixels tall, and this epic orchestral choir fantasy music which dance in contrast to each other in a way that I really, really enjoy.
Part of the music is also more retro-synthesizer chiptune style music, how I would envision a modernized Super Nintendo game to sound, particularly when the player is leveling up. I play a different theme to underscore the mechanics of upgrading your attributes and just to provide a contrast from the battle moments themselves because it feels like visiting a shopkeeper in an RPG; that’s what I wanted to communicate there. When you are in the hub area, the Hall of Relics, it’s a little bit of an arabesque feel there with Middle Eastern style instrumentation, which should also communicate the mystique of being there. It’s not quite clear what this place is, and why there are so many ancient relics and mysterious statues that you feel strongly connected with. There’s an atmosphere of this cool underground area as opposed to the heat of the desert that you first encounter.
And so there are essentially these three modes: the epic orchestral, the more chiptune arcadey for certain moments like the upgrades, and then finally, the more Middle Eastern mystique feel to the hub area.
Q: One of the things that you do in the hub area is equip yourself to, as the promotional material puts it, “avenge your own death.” What is avenging your own death like?
A:At the core of the genre, I feel, is this roguelite aspect of always feeling like even a moderately successful run gives you a tiny bit of an advantage because you can already afford the next meta upgrade or at least you have a plan of what to try next. So when you fall in battle, you reawaken in the Hall of Relics. This gives you a chance to engage with those demons once more, as if time was rewinded and you get another chance to aim for the ultimate result of getting out of this whole loop. Part of that is your death, which is always the reset point.
Q: What are some of the most exciting abilities players can equip themselves with?
A:We have fire, ice, and void damage as the main weapons. There’s also an arcane beam weapon, which immediately fires an arcane beam. It travels as fast as light basically, and it slows enemies down as you melt them. The longer you stay on target, the more you are rewarded by giving you a better ramp-up as in how much slowing and damage it does. This is a precision-type weapon inspired byGauntlet: Slayer Edition, which is also overall one of the biggest inspirations to this game It’s a fantastic dungeon crawler game, a remake of the originalGauntletarcade game, but in top-down 3D.
Testers really love casting the pentagram, and this is one that you’re able to use to incinerate an entire area. Lure enemies into that area… and it can be evolved in different ways. So every ability in the game can be upgraded, as can the attributes of your character, main weapon, and dragon. For the pentagram, the desire of the testers is to increase the area that it can cover–make it bigger and more epic. One that they also enjoy is the spiral strike, where you can basically relax from having to aim your attacks for a second and cast damage in every direction at the same time.
In terms of interacting with the map, I think this is also a bit of a unique aspect. I always lovedplayingBombermanon my Game Boywhen I was little, and I really enjoyed being tactical about where I would place bombs and having chain explosions trigger in a way that would hit the enemy just right or provide safe passage to me because they couldn’t pass through the fire. I integrated that with the explosive flora that you meet on the different maps. In the desert, for instance, it’s strange dry cacti beings that can be aggravated by the proximity of enemies or the mage, and they start pulsating and then trigger different kinds of explosions depending on the species. One of the abilities that is pretty fun to play with generates rain on the map so that these plants can regrow and that gives you the opportunity to lure enemies back into areas where you know that you can tactically guide them into these traps. It is really satisfying because you get to feel like the cunning tactician.
Another one, I keep forgetting to mention but everyone loves it, is that you can do theGod of Warsmash-down move after leveling up. This is also an acquired ability that you can possess after acquiring the right meta upgrade so that, every level up, the mage starts levitating and is imbued with the power of the souls of the slain enemies. That’s where you pick your upgrade. And then as the mage comes back down, this happens with differing levels of force. If the mage comes down in a really powerful way, this will also dislocate enemies and push them away. It happens with a really satisfying thunderclap kind of sound, which is also a tester favorite.
Q: What is your favorite build?
A:So I’m a big fan of going the elemental ice path. It’s kind of a purist build since you can combine all the elements in any way you deem practical or interesting. I really like how the Ice Staff turned out as the projectiles are a little bit slower. You hurl these icy balls of energy toward the enemy with a chance to freeze them, which changes up the battlefield a little bit because other enemies are then blocked from getting to you, as long as the targeted enemy’s frozen. After you’ve acquired your three abilities, there is the level where you obtain your weapon mastery. This is one of three upgrade paths that each primary weapon has, and you get to shape how this weapon works even more.
Currently, my favorite mastery for the ice weapon is the ice spikes mastery, which generates additional areas on the map where these ice crystals form. And they slowly decay on the map. So you get to build a little bit of a barrier even if you don’t particularly hit the right enemy. There is a chance that these ice spikes travel back from the point of impact towards your direction. They will build a little bit of a barrier and allow for interesting movement, and if you really, really buffed those up and lean into those you can kind of generate this little circular area that is all encompassed by ice. This gives you an opportunity to think and to plan your next move.
Q: What are some challenges that are waiting for players in the game?
A:I wanted to be very accessible, but also challenging around the mid-level of the game. Rounds in the current mode take 30 minutes, so it should start out with you feeling comfortable, then there’s an intensity curve that matches what I think good music should match. Good music builds up to the first chorus with more and more tension, and then there’s a release. And then you build up to the second chorus. This is more pop music, with more tension, tension, tension, tension, and then another release. But you keep the hype intensity for the entirety of the course. That’s how I kind of envisioned these rounds. It starts out relatively manageable, and then you get increasingly challenging enemies in terms of their movement patterns. Enemies can charge, enemies can be explosive, and enemies can be elites that stomp on other enemies as well.
There is also the Reaper, which periodically appears and can either be instrumentalized as your personal weapon if you know how to do it. Otherwise, it is very, very harsh and typically gets you in the first couple of rounds when he appears. What he does is steal your heart, butnot in a romantic way, unfortunately. He absorbs one heart container with every contact that you have with him, so what you build up during a run can also be taken away from you by elite characters, and the Reaper is one of those. You will have multiple encounters with the Reaper, and then we work toward more and more intense encounters with more capable enemies that can also fire projectiles.
At the end of a run, you encounter a boss and this is where the game stops being a bullet heaven and becomes a mix of bullet hell and bullet heaven, which is inspired byPicayune Dreams. That’s coming out next year, and I absolutely loved the demo, which handles boss fights in exactly the way that I would envision a game of this genre to handle them. Basically, all the mobs disappear. And you, for instance in the desert, you meet this ancient, arcane, and massive pyramid being which is the first boss that you have to tackle, and it emits projectiles and various patterns that you have to dodge.
The environment is involved as well. This is where you think great boss fights always involve the environment and change the environment and phases. I don’t want to spoil it all and give it away, but essentially, I think good bosses should have story beats to make it feel like a journey themselves. It’s a great opportunity for the game to shift the tempo around and give you different challenges.
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