THIS IS BELGIAN | Interview with ROGUE6, a very young indie start-up

During GameForce, a number of Belgian games were presented, with the support of the VAF, FLEGA and games.brussels. Because we know that not all of you were able to come to GameForce, we will take a closer look at them on 4Gamers. This time we had a conversation with the people behind ROGUE6, the developer of Nova Dawn: Overload.

ROGUE6 is a young Belgian studio currently working on its first game Nova Dawn Overload. We spoke to three of the five founders: Andries, Romy and Lisse.

4Gamers: Hello everyone, thank you for taking some time for us. Let’s start with a little introduction of you and ROGUE6.

Andries: I am one of the five founders of ROGUE6. We are all equal partners and within the company I am mainly responsible for game design and am also somewhat of the face. I dare to chat with people and that is not so normal among gamers (laughs).

Smooth: I am mainly concerned with visual effects and the textures of the models, and I am also concerned with the business side within ROGUE6.

Romy: I am part of the art team, where I mainly work on character and concept art. I also work on the UI and the story.

“We all come from the same education”

4G: Five equal founders, that doesn’t seem like the easiest way to set up a studio.

Andries: We all come from the same education, namely Multimedia Design – Specialization Game Development at the LUCA School of Arts in Genk. Outside of Lisse, we were all in the same year and we were able to do many projects together throughout our training. As a result, we have become somewhat attuned to each other.

After our studies, when it was time to enter the real working world, we immediately jumped in and founded our own company. We’ve been working on the game together for about a year now, although we’ve only been officially founded since April 2023.

At least for the time being we have not had any major issues with egos taking over, for example. We all have our own specialization and respect the knowledge that everyone has.

4G: But it was a deliberate choice to immediately start your own company.

Andries: Yes, during our internship we noticed that in Belgium as a developer you still work a lot for other companies and as a beginner you are quickly put on that kind of work and less on the studio’s own IPs. However, we felt that now was the time to take the risk of making something for ourselves and launching our own game.

4G: Have you put a timing on that? “We give ourselves X years to make our dream come true.”

Andries: Our contracts officially run for three years, but a lot will depend on the funding and how smoothly everything goes. But at the moment I don’t think anyone will really want to stop after those three years. We also just want to remain our own boss. If it turns out that Nova Dawn: Overload doesn’t really get off the ground, we can still look at working for clients to keep the ship afloat.

“The VAF is really an important partner for the entire Flemish gaming landscape.”

4G: Ultimately, you are five inexperienced people. Developing a game and learning how to run a business at the same time can’t be easy.

Andries: You don’t really learn a large project like this stronghold at school, although it is not that bad. But setting up a company and running a business involves a lot of learning, adapting, making mistakes and relying on help from others. Fortunately, Lisse’s parents are also independent, so they can help us a lot.

We also receive help from the VAF, of course. Their Game Track works with coaches for newly started companies to guide them. Our coach is Kevin Haelterman from LuGus Studios and he really helps us a lot. We are extremely grateful for that.

The VAF is truly an important partner for the entire Flemish gaming landscape.

4G: On GameForce you had your first contact with the gamer who could play your game. That was undoubtedly exciting. What was that first experience like?

Andries: Yes, that’s where we came out for the first time with our game and yes… I didn’t sleep that night. Nova Dawn: Overload is still in its fairly early stages, but we wanted to gather as much feedback as possible and I think we’ve gotten a lot of use out of GameForce.

You are also standing there among a lot of other companies that attract a lot of people and we are happy with three players in an hour, but that has really helped us progress.

4G: Are there any people who surprised you?

Andries: What surprised me most is that a number of people came back multiple times. It was positive and very surprising that people really got a taste for it. I didn’t expect that, but it was really nice to see that people see potential in our game.

As a designer you often look very colorful. You keep working on certain elements that you keep adjusting and in your head “it all makes sense”, but then someone comes to play and says “why is that?” Then you are confronted with things that you take for granted. It also helps when people actually ask questions.

“Hades has been one of the biggest inspirations”

4G: Tell us a little more about Nova Dawn: Overload, because as you say not many people have seen it yet.

Andries: Nova Dawn: Overload is an Action Roguelite that revolves around companions – small robots called Nova – who dive into a cyberpunk city with the player to search for lost technology.

You can then use that technology to upgrade the companions so that they can help you during your battles. The character still gets some of the upgrades, but it is mainly your companion who becomes stronger.

Hades was one of the biggest inspirations, but from Vampire Survivors came the idea of ​​the companion who mainly does the heavy work. Also Sonic Battle Adventures 2, where you have a Chao Garden full of Chaos that you can care for and upgrade. That whole interaction was actually a big driver for how we approached those companions.

4G: How difficult is it to do something different within a genre, without going too far out of the box so that people no longer understand it?

Andries: It is not that difficult to come up with something completely new within the roguelite genre. It’s so big, you can do so much with it. It’s basically just a skeleton that you can stick a lot of things on. The biggest challenge remains simply making a game.

You want to make your game new, but not too new that players don’t get it. And that’s where I think the biggest challenge lies.

“Demo end of 2024, but release not until 2025”

4G: What are the future plans for the game? When can we get started with it?

Andries: We want to launch a free demo on Steam between the third and fourth quarter of 2024. Then, depending on the amount of feedback and how we implement it, we want to release the game. But the full release won’t be until 2025.

4G: Let’s look a little further, into the future of ROGUE6. What is the big dream project that you would like to work on with an unlimited budget?

Andries: I might like to make an autobattler roguelite. After all, with a big budget you can create many different characters. So I would look in that direction.

Romy: Above all, I want to get to a point where everyone on our team can show their true capabilities. In an indie studio there are often things that have to be done or where you have to make certain trade-offs to ensure that the thing is eventually completed. I think that if we have large budgets, everyone can really focus on their specialty.

Smooth: If I could do what I wanted to do, I would just want to put more detail into the art. We currently have an anime style in terms of art, but I think we could just put a lot more detail into it. And that’s what I like, so that’s what I would do.

4G: All three of you are actually making a similar point, that you have to eliminate or adjust things because of budget. How painful is that?

Romy: I don’t have children, but that feels like saying no to your child. That you want to give it a lollipop, but you have to say “not today”. It won’t kill you, but it’s always quite a shame.

4G: And in the meantime, you also have to make sure that you are satisfied with what you make.

Romy: That is indeed a thin line.

4G: Finally, one more question. You are all fans of roguelites and do you share tips or something?

Andries: There was a time when everyone except Romy played a lot of Spelunky 2. Then we would do races to see who could get to the end fastest. But we don’t really compete against each other that much, although we do enjoy multiplayer. That’s why we also want to add multiplayer to Nova Dawn: Overload.

4G: Okay, thanks and we’re looking forward to Nova Dawn: Overload!