Comics, game development, and Skittles
The Battle Chasers: Nightwar Kickstarter is in its final days, and to help celebrate its resounding success, comics legend Joe Mad, creator of Battle Chasers and Darksiders, has answered a boat load of questions from you, the Destructoid community. Topics covered include the potential future of the Darksiders series, the infamous lateness of the Battle Chasers comic, his favorite Zelda game, and even the potential for Battle Chasers to crossover with Shovel Knight, Darksiders, or Indivisible.
Thanks so much to Joe for taking the time out to chat with us, and if your question didn’t get answered, be sure to hit Joe up on Twitter starting today at 5pm CT today for a special AMA event.
Kevin Bowyer: Wii U version? Loved Darkstalkers II for the Wii U.
Joe Mad: It’s not currently in the plan, unfortunately. We are a small team on a tight budget, so we had to be choosy about which consoles to launch on. Doesn’t mean it won’t happen further down the road though.
Jesse Johnson: How does he feel about the new apple flavored skittle? I feel it ruined the candy as a whole. I’m a bit pissed really.
Joe Mad: I actually really like it (sorry!). I usually buy Darkside Skittles (because I like to pretend it says Darksiders) but for some reason the yellow skittle in the blue ‘Tropical’ bag is one of my favorites. Pineapple I think?
ThePich: How does that armor bra on the redhead work?
Joe Mad: I honestly have no idea. Magic, probably!
Dango: Who are these Darksiders that the games are named after?
Joe Mad: It was meant to describe the Horsemen, but really encompasses the game as a whole, since even the ‘good’ guys are ‘dark’ characters. You seek the aid of Dead Lords and go on quests for Demons. Angels are corrupt. It’s not your typical ‘save humanity’ hero story!
Cosmonstropolis: What’s your go-to while pooping? What book are you currently reading?
Joe Mad: Usually, if I’ve forgotten to bring my phone into the bathroom with me, I’ll just grab at whatever’s nearby—shampoo labels, toothpaste, etc. But I’m currently reading The Lies of Locke Lamora and The Black Company. And don’t worry, I always put my phone back in my pocket before I touch anything nasty. Swear!
Barry Kelly: With a very ambitious game and what appears to be a very frugal budget and development time, which changes in the industry over the last few years do you most attribute to being able to deliver a project like this? Better experience? A tighter, closer knit team? A more focused and defined game design and scope? Better development tools? etc
Joe Mad: All of the above! Our small team is very experienced, and we’ve all worked together for years. We carefully scoped this game to be manageable for our team size and budget from the onset. You’d be surprised what a small dedicated team can do when it’s a passion project.
Alex Heat: Darksiders 3 when?
Joe Mad: We get this question a lot. The information is out there, but for those that don’t know, Vigil Games was dissolved when THQ went bankrupt, and Darksiders was sold to Nordic Games. They own it now, and seem very committed to continuing to do great things with the series (Check out the Deathinitive Edition, coming out in October!) We are just as curious/excited as you guys about the possibility of a DS3! It’s out of our hands!
Ahr Ech: Why is the guy from Berserk just standing in the background of that header?
Lex: Same reason why Miss Fortune is in the front maybe?
Joe Mad: Heh. Not taking the bait!
Keiichi Morisato: What is your favorite Zelda game?
Joe Mad: Gameplay wise, Ocarina of Time. Art wise, Windwaker!
John Seiler: Are we going to see new collections of the old Battle Chasers book along with new comic stories? I really liked the issue that Adam Warren did and would love to see other writers and artists take a stab at that world. Really, I just miss that world.
Joe Mad: Thank you. Yes, I plan on making all the old books available again in physical form. Stay tuned for details!
Brandon Dunlap: From what we see from the game play videos there will be 3 active players and everyone else will be reserved, will there be an on the fly swap feature in combat, and why did you choose to go with 3 active characters, and not 4?
Joe Mad: There’s more weight to choosing your party makeup when you’re forced to pick 3 (out of 6 available characters). You can switch them out at any point when you’re in town prepping for your adventure. It also speeds up the combat a bit, the pace feels better. And visually, it allows the characters to all be larger on screen. So, lots of reasons!
Adolfo Arredondo: Have you thought about selling Battle Chasers action figures? Cartoonish like Disney Infinity or more detailed?
Joe Mad: Yes! There’s no solid plan at the moment, but it’s something we all geek out about, so hopefully we can make it happen before too long!
Anthony Griego: Any chance we will see Akimon in the game? He was one of my favorites and I was always bummed he was *spoiler* killed!
Joe Mad: Actually, Akiman is very much alive, it was Bengus who we saw get blasted (though there’s no proof he’s actually dead). I will for sure touch on these guys in the books again—as far as the game, we will have to wait and see.
Toshiro Miphony: Will Battle Chasers the game be released as timely as Battle Chasers the comic? If so, I can’t wait until it’s released in 2021.
Joe Mad: No, it’ll be on a tighter schedule.
Mastersith40: Will Liquid! return to color the comics?
Joe Mad: I would really love for this to happen. Both Aron Lusen and Christian Lichtner have gone on to become video game art director rock stars, so they are out of the comics biz these days. But I will use all my powers of persuasion (and guilt!) to try to lure them back when the time comes…
churchofvirus: Why no physical copy of the game at any backer level? This turns off a large amount of potential backers.
Joe Mad: We would really love to do these! We decided against it for Kickstarter since we were strongly cautioned against it by some of our good friends who had large successful KS campaigns. It mainly comes down to (very unpredictable!) shipping costs, production costs, and managing order fulfillment (among other reasons). Maybe we can make it happen later down the road. I’d love one sitting on my shelf too!
Mike Payne: Of your own work, what sticks out in your mind as some of your favorite pieces? what’s your least favorite?
Joe Mad: I definitely think my BC era stuff is among my best as far as comics go. I was really happy with the splash art I did recently for Battle Chasers: Nightwar. Sadly, I tend to hate most of my stuff shortly after I do it, so I don’t latch on to specific pieces very often. And of course, I absolutely hate all the older stuff I’ve done, like Excalibur, Deadpool, and a lot of my X-Men stuff (sorry guys!!! ). I was just going through growing pains still as an artist back then, and I only see the bad when I look back on it, never the good!
Mike Payne: When you started to bring anime into your style were you ever unsure about it? Did editors ever make you doubt your style choices?
Joe Mad: No, actually the editors were very supportive! It was some of the fans who really, really hated it and made me doubt, lol! Specifically on the Uncanny X-men stuff. I’d get comments on the dumb hairstyles, missing nostrils and giant eyes quite often. Back then, we still had fan mail in the form of letters, so I would have these huge piles of hate mail that I eventually stopped going through in order to preserve my sanity!
Jonathan Holmes: I’d love to see Battle Chasers crossover with other games, like Darksiders, Shovel Knight or maybe Skullgirls. Is it possible? Do you want me to get you in touch with those guys? The Skullgirls team just announced just announed a party based RPG, so it could be a perfect fit.
Joe Mad: Oh man, Shovel Knight rocks. You don’t know how bad we wanted to make a Metroidvania game (cannot wait for Chasm!). An intro would be awesome. I definitely wouldn’t rule out a Darksiders crossover. We are still good friends with those guys (which is why they let us use the Chaoseater in Battle Chasers!)
And Indivisible looks fucking gorgeous. I’m backing it for sure.
