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Sub Terra II: Inferno's Edge is now live on Kickstarter. To celebrate, we spoke to Peter Blenkharn from Inside the Box Board Games.
Peter, thank you for speaking to us, particularly as you must be pretty snowed under as your new game is live on Kickstarter right now. When did you first get into gaming and how did you end up working in the gaming industry?
I first started playing board games with my family as a kid. I was particularly fond of a game called Mandarin, a zodiac-themed set collection and push-your-luck game I played dozens of times with my mum. Later, I collected (a lot of) Pokemon cards and dabbled in the original Star Wars TCG in the 00’s.
When I hit 10 I started on the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game by Games Workshop. I also explored into Warhammer Fantasy and 40k throughout my teens (and ever since). I got back into board gaming at Thirsty Meeples while at uni, and it was Simon, the manager there, that suggested me and my best mate try making a game, so we did! Launched that bad boy on Kickstarter and the rest is history!
Let’s cut to the chase! Sub Terra was one of the biggest games of 2017. What’s new with Sub Terra II?
Yeah, it's mad to think that it was one of the biggest games. Sub Terra II is basically a sequel, rather than a re-implementation of Sub Terra. We basically stripped it all back and worked out what was good, why, and how we could use that experience to make something familiar but new.
Where Sub Terra was about tension, dread, and panic - Sub Terra II is about adventure, being intrepid and bold, and more of a classic action-adventure feel over a survival-horror tone. Where Sub Terra was cave, modern, darkness; Sub Terra II is volcano, 1900s, FLAAAMES.
For those who missed the boat first time round, or are new to the whole gaming experience, what is Sub Terra about and what is it like to play?
Sub Terra (original flavour) is a survival horror co-operative game for 1-6 players. You take the role of professional cavers who get trapped in the lower levels of a cave system and attempt to escape before their lights run out of battery and they are lost in the darkness forever. It’s a tile-laying, action management and team-coordination game where you have to make the most efficient use of your actions, abilities, and choices laid out in front of you to stand the best chance of surviving the various hazards that crop up throughout the game. It’s essentially an evolving puzzle and tiles revealed unveil the next part of the cave, and the randomly activating hazards determine what’s dangerous, when.
What are you most excited about people finding when they receive, unbox and play their copy of Sub Terra II at fulfilment?
The production quality, I think. Not just the manufacturing bits, but the artwork too. We spend a pretty insane amount of time thinking about everything in the artwork and the product design, learning from all the past mistakes and successes. Things like the exact font choice, textures etc - that all add to the experience. Little flourishes that make it all feel as immersive as possible. There are already some amazing stretch goals that I think people will really love once they get to see them up close.
Many of us are totally smitten, if not addicted to Kickstarter. What’s it like being on the inside and bringing a game to market through the platform?
YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH - Jack Nicholson, Kickstarter creator.
Honestly, it’s a combination of dread, terror, excitement, panic, more excitement, and sometimes a massive downer if something goes wrong. Not far from a game of Sub Terra! It’s ultimately a great experience, but I’m losing more hair than my brother who is six years older than me - which sucks!
I used to be a teacher and we often would finish a lesson with two stars and a wish. What are two of the best things about working in gaming and what would you like to see change/would make the industry better?
That’s a really good question!
Star #1 - Working in gaming can often feel like being part of a family. That’s not always a good thing, but by and large, the camaraderie, support and willingness to help each other is infectious.
Star #2 - I get to make things, pretty much every day. Although a lot of my job is admin, finance, and paperwork, it’s also creative, exciting, innovative and all the things you’d wish from a job.
Wish - In my opinion, the industry needs to do a lot to start maturing, and creating more opportunities for people to learn, grow and ultimately create more stable permanent jobs across lots of different companies. Not everything will work, but companies need to be bold, and not simply sit around wondering what the next thing they can fund is, but also think long term about how the industry and community is changing.
Top 9’s appear to be making a comeback in a lot of the gaming groups. If we were to look at the front of your gaming kallax, what nine games would take pride of place in your game room?
Obviously, I have a tonne of kallax shelves haha. Here goes.
- Snowblind by Pleasant Company.
- Expedition: Northwest Passage by Matagot.
- Pantone The Game by Cryptozoic.
- Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder.
- Netrunner by Fantasy Flight.
- Blood Bowl by Games Workshop.
- Terraforming Mars by Stronghold.
- Eight Minute Empires by Red Raven.
- Dinosaur Island by Pandasaurus.
Do you have anything else in the pipeline that you can share with us to get us even more excited about?
There are a few projects we’ve talked about or previewed recently, like Aquanauts, for example. But how about a teaser? We’re working on something that’ll launch (hopefully) in late 2020 that takes inspiration from one of the most successful games of all time, and attempts to learn from a range of other games and products to deliver a comparable experience, in a different format, for a fraction of the cost.
Peter, thank you again for your time and looking forward to getting Sub Terra II to the table very soon.