Artifex Mundi has become a surprised favorite developer of mine recently. The developer turned publisher focuses on casual games, but with the twist of combining Hidden Object, Adventure Games and logic puzzles to create an interesting genre that can appeal to a wide mix of people. They have made a number of games this way, while also featuring female protagonists as all their leading characters. After enjoying their previous games, I wanted to talk to them about their process of creating these elevated casual games.
The following interview was done with Szymon Bryła, PR and Marketing Director for Artifex Mundi
1. My first question is for the people reading this who may not have heard of Artifex Mundi. What is the history of your studio and what kind of games do you make?
We are a Polish studio getting ready to celebrate our tenth anniversary. We have mostly focused on creating adventure games. We now have around 30 in our portfolio. We also recently moved into the role of publisher.
2. Looking through your game catalog, Artifex Mundi has certainly embraced the casual market. Was this a conscious decision from the studio’s inception, or something that happened by circumstance?
The decision to focus on Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure games (HOPAs) was conscious. This market has a bright future, and there’s still so much about it left to explore. We decided to run with this idea, and it turned out to be a great one.
3. Continuing with the casual market theme, we’ve seen all kinds of games sport the “casual” tag. What does “casual” mean to you as a developer?
That’s a tough question. The market is so huge and diverse. We’re trying to keep our games “light” and entertaining, without unnecessary negativity. There is no extreme violence or PVP competition in our games. You can leave the game and get back to it at any time without worrying you’ll miss out on something. We are trying to cater to different gaming habits, thus the multiplatform nature of our games.
Elements like trophy pages, variable difficulty and a hint system, help to make Artifex Mundi titles appealing to a wide audience
4. One of the elements that drew me to Artifex Mundi’s games is the mixture of genres: Hidden Object, adventure game and logic puzzle solving has become the foundation of your titles.
What attracted your team to working on such a mixed design as the basis for your titles?
The combination of these elements yielded the best results, and was very well received by our players. As I previously mentioned, there is no pressure or competition in our games, but it doesn’t mean there are no challenges. Our games are based predominantly on logical thinking and observation, and as it turns out, this gives as much satisfaction as beating another player in a PVP setting.
5. Another part that I want to touch on is balancing your games for different skill levels. Elements like the hint system, difficulty levels and even the option to skip certain parts. Could you talk briefly about some of the challenges of making a game that can be enjoyed by players of multiple skill levels?
We’ve got so much more experience now incorporating these elements into our games and we know our customer base pretty well. Still, we are constantly evolving, trying to adapt to the changing needs of the market and the expectations of our players.
Artifex Mundi titles feature different types of puzzle and adventure game design along with hidden object sections
Obviously, when the game is still in development, it goes through numerous iterations and testing as we try to balance the difficulty of the puzzles and minigames so they fit into different game phases (for example: the puzzles at the beginning of the game will have a different difficulty level from those closer to the end).
Generally speaking, there is a fine line between “challenging” and “frustrating,” and we’re doing what we can to avoid the latter. That’s why there’s always a “hint” button that the player can use if she or he gets stuck.
6. Continuing from the last question, with your focus on making games accessible to a wide audience, how do you approach balancing your games? When is something too hard and needs to be toned down, and when is something too easy?
Like I mentioned earlier, our games are meticulously tested before release. We are running beta tests so our own users can have their say with regards to the difficulty levels of puzzles, etc. However, despite this, we always try to meet everyone halfway, hence the different difficulty levels, the “hint” button, easy to understand tasks and story, and sometimes even optional alternative minigames like Mahjong (in the Nightmares from the Deep series).
7. Moving on, let’s talk about the stories of your games. Despite featuring the same kind of design, your games have vastly different stories; even some between games of the same series. Can you go into a little detail about what goes into developing the narratives for your games?
The narrative is obviously crucial for a good adventure game – without it – the puzzles, minigames and Hidden Object scenes, would really be a set of pointless challenges randomly put together. A good story motivates the player and encourages her or him to explore, so they can see what happens next.
8. Another element of your stories is that they all feature female protagonists. With more discussions happening around the Game Industry becoming more inclusive to women, could you talk a little about designing stories centered around female characters?
The protagonists in our games are women, because women still constitute more than half of our players in terms of demographics (although this is slowly changing). Hence there is always a female at the center of the plot, on a quest to save the world or her loved ones. We’re empowering women by showing different stories from a woman’s perspective, but we do that in a subtle way and without being to vocal about it. There is enough space for both sexes in video games.
Every title despite having similar gameplay, features completely different storylines and settings.
9. To wrap things up for this interview, I have two more questions. First, can you give us any teasers about what’s coming next from Artifex Mundi?
Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart will debut on the Xbox One this fall.
Secondly, we are working on Grim Legends 3 and Enigmatis 3, and we want both games to appear sometimes in Q1 2016. Also, we’re planning to publish about 10 titles developed by outside studios by the end of 2015. Last but not least, we are preparing to break ground in a new genre, but it’s far too early for more details about that.
10. And finally, do you have anything you would like to say to the fans reading this interview?
Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter, enroll in our Beta tests, and sign up for our newsletter. These will help you stay tuned for more info about our projects, and it will help us hear your voices and keep making our games better! And for that, we thank you!
