New Asmadi Games Title Emphasizes Solo Play and Female Characters

Games which accommodate both solo and cooperative play seem to be especially valued in the market these days. This trend was noticed by developer Chris Cieslik of Asmadi Games, and inspired the new Kickstarter game One Deck Dungeon. Whether it’s the straightforward mechanics, solo play support, or the deliberate decision making behind the character artwork, the project has already accumulated over $85,000 in backer support.

Explained simply, One Deck Dungeon is basically a rogue-like dungeon crawl in a single box. Instead of an intricate board, tons of miniatures, or detailed character sheets, the game simplifies things by relying on a deck of cards, and dice mechanics. Players roll a number of D-6 dice equal to their character's particular statistic value. This result is then compared to the required number to defeat whatever monster is being encountered, or overcome the myriad obstacles and traps littered throughout the dungeon deck. Each successfully completed challenge will yield loot which can be used to enhance a number of different aspects of the heroes. If players make it to the final level they can look forward to a difficult boss monster encounter to try and seal their victory. We sat down with Cieslik to learn more about some of the more unique aspects of the game like the inclusion of a soundtrack, and the all-female cast of champions.

Jesse Tannous: Why did you decide to build the core experience of One Deck Dungeon as a 1-2 player cooperative game?

Chris Cieslik: Back when I first thought of the idea, we were discussing the rise of the solo game. Many Kickstarters and other games were touting solo-play, and I thought about what kind of game would work if it were designed with solo-play first! A roguelike was the perfect match. From there, I decided that it really made sense to allow for multiplayer co-op as well, to reach more of the market. There aren't a lot of games designed for 1-2 players, we thought it was neat!

JT: Most tabletop games don't concern themselves with providing a soundtrack, but yours does. Why is that?

CC: I love video game music — it's pretty much exclusively what I listen to, and always have. We have a composer friend that's worked with us on our KS video music and a couple upcoming projects, and a roguelike was a perfect match for his style of music. Honestly, it's as much for my benefit as it is for the backers to have a soundtrack! Again though, we thought it was a unique thing we could do that most people don't — and that's fun. I like breaking new ground.

JT: Tell me a little bit about what inspired the creation of the four main heroes that players can choose from.

CC: Speaking of new ground, our selection of heroes has attracted quite a lot of attention. All four (five including the stretch goal hero) are female, and that's just not a thing that happens in gaming very often. When the first piece of art came back, we discussed it and said 'What if all four heroes were women?' We thought that'd be pretty cool, and so we did it! We have received a ton of positive feedback on our choice both to have an all-female cast, and to have them in non-sexualized armor/clothing. Sadly we have also received some threats, harassment, and other trolling. It's pretty silly to think that one game with four female characters threatens the masculinity of some folks on the Internet, but evidently it does! (Note from editor: see our Political Correctness article in the Spring 2016 issue of Casual Game Insider for more on this topic).

JT: What made this particular game and Kickstarter campaign the right one to start making retailer options available? Has this played a significant role in the success of the project?

CC: We've toyed around with the idea of retailer options for campaigns, and the idea of a store-titled dungeon sounded like a fun addition for this one. We haven't had a ton of participation at the store level yet, but there's still some time. It's an experiment we may repeat. We do want to support stores, but typically for a retail outlet, tying up money for future inventory isn't easy. I prefer in general to work with our distribution partners to get our games to stores everywhere.

(End of interview.)

The campaign has only a few days remaining for those interested in picking up a copy of One Deck Dungeon. The $20 pledge level seems to be the most popular by far, which is the first tier that includes a single copy of the game. However, anyone hoping to play cooperatively with more than two people will need to pick up an extra copy of the game to support additional players.