Q&A With Magicka Developer, Arrowhead Game Studios

Vietnam DLC And The Near Future

Ed.: This story was written prior to Arrowhead's Vietnam DLC release, which is now available. Magicka: Vietnam hit digital distribution vendors on April 12 for $4.99.

As previously mentioned, Arrowhead is gearing up to release a DLC pack set in Vietnam. It was first announced at GDC 2011 back in March, revealing that the four mages will be traversing through the country's war-torn jungles trying "to do what so many '80s action stars have done in the past: blow stuff up." This is a long way from the Norse-themed fantasy world. What was the inspiration behind the upcoming Vietnam expansion pack? Why take gamers into Vietnam after previously leading them through the fantasy setting? This I had to know.

"At first it was just blurted out by someone at the office, and the more we thought about it, the more it seemed awesome," Lasota explained. "We started discussing it back and forth and decided to go with it, and Magicka Vietnam was born."

What other settings are planned for Magicka in the future? New York City? Outer space? Will the mages save Santa Claus from devious goblins trying to take over the North Pole this Christmas? "I can't give much away at the moment," Lasota said, probably grinning from ear to ear. "Let’s just say that we will try to keep you on your toes."

So what's next for Arrowhead after Magicka? I couldn't get anything out of either Lasota or Stenmark other than the studio's DLC plan and patching. "Other than that, well, time will tell," Lasota offered.

Although the title strikes a sensitive nerve, the DLC features Vietnam-based maps, weapons, and vehicles. But the antagonists will consist of Goblin-Cong and other fictional adversaries. The mission at hand is to liberate prisoners from a POW camp and then make way through a jungle towards the evacuation helicopter. In addition to that scenario, the DLC also contains a new survival challenge map with increased difficulty in direct response to requests from the community.

  • vexun11
    This is a fun game, worth the $ for sure
    Reply
  • belltollsforthee
    Great game, love the comedy and elemental spells
    Reply
  • Ragnar-Kon
    Great game, that is for sure. Arguably the best $10 I've spent in my life.

    Also a great article, particularly regarding DirectX/OpenGL and APIs. I remember reading an article a while back talking about removing the API and coding on the hardware directly. Having done some DirectX/OpenGL work myself, the first thing that came to mind for me was "wooah, thats gonna take forever." Glad someone else on this planet agrees with me. Just not feasible for smaller studios.

    Although he does seem to be a fan of DirectX, which I am not. Not only do I think OpenGL is easier to code with, using OpenGL could easily open up a whole new market for games, especially with the ever-increasing Mac popularity (not to mention make our Linux friends happy).
    Reply
  • jrnyfan
    This is one of my top 5 games I currently play, it's worth ~$20 but the fact that it is ~$10 makes it amazing. I haven't had this much fun in multiplayer since Goldeneye64...
    Reply
  • cknobman
    I just picked up Torchlight off of Steam and am currently having a blast. Magicka looks very appealing, especially for $10, but reading reviews it seems as though the game is very very buggy and unpolished. As the game was released 4 months ago can anyone comment on the state of the game now? Have any of the bugs been fixed or is it something you just have to live with?
    Reply
  • Bought this game on Steam a couple of weeks ago. It's fun, but be aware that multiplayer may not be on the standard that you're used to. It's very much P2P hosting, which comes with its usual problems of having the right ports open/forwarded. The hosting machine has the save file, so if the person who's been hosting isn't available, the rest of you will have to start anew. Dedicated server software is something that would be pretty desirable here.
    Reply
  • teaser
    cknobmanI just picked up Torchlight off of Steam and am currently having a blast. Magicka looks very appealing, especially for $10, but reading reviews it seems as though the game is very very buggy and unpolished. As the game was released 4 months ago can anyone comment on the state of the game now? Have any of the bugs been fixed or is it something you just have to live with?So far ....21 updates since january,the game is in a much better state then it was on release day........
    Reply
  • sirmorluk
    Best $10 I have ever spent. My 6 year old spends hours on it and has completed it a couple of times along with the Nam challenge. Me? Well I suck at it.
    Reply
  • Camikazi
    sirmorlukBest $10 I have ever spent. My 6 year old spends hours on it and has completed it a couple of times along with the Nam challenge. Me? Well I suck at it.QRSAER as weapon enchantment or as AE spell is very helpful :) and FQFQAAS for a beam :)
    Reply
  • Gman450
    Magicka is a great game. Really nice.
    Reply