In late 2012, two sophomore students, Duncan
Drummond and Paul Morse, embarked on a university project focused on programming. It eventually culminated in the action platformer
Risk of Rain the following year. What’s more, for the sequel, they transformed
the first game's pixel art aesthetic into fully rendered 3D characters and environments,
all achieved with a team that never exceeded three in-house developers. Risk of Rain’s Development Journey began
with sketches on scrap paper, as Duncan and Paul aimed to combine different genres to
create a game that had all of their favorite gameplay mechanics in a single package. The duo have been close friends since third
grade and grew up playing lots of platformer games together. Once they decided to create their own platformer,
they began infusing it with popular roguelike elements, including high replayability, permadeath,
and a constantly randomized experience. In the game's initial prototype, players defended
their crashed ship from an onslaught of monsters, and straying further from the ship would increase
the difficulty. However, Duncan and Paul quickly realized
that players lacked a strong incentive to leave the safety of their ship and explore
further. That's when they came up with the "time = difficulty"
mechanic that gave Risk of Rain its own identity. Simply explained, the longer you stay alive
in each run, the more the difficulty ramps up. Players were now required to reach and activate
a teleporter to progress to the next randomly generated level, all while upgrading their
gear and surviving an endless swarm of increasingly formidable enemies as time went on. While fine-tuning the difficulty, the two
students experimented with how monsters would scale in power relative to the player. Originally, the faster you dispatched enemies,
the more powerful they would become. Essentially, as players collected more items
and upgrades, becoming more efficient at eliminating enemies, those very same foes became tougher
to defeat. However, after some time, Duncan and Paul
noticed this didn't result in a rewarding gameplay experience. “From a design point, it took out your highs
and lows, and I think that’s what’s really interesting about the game: when you feel
you’ve broken it, for a little bit at least. Or if you feel absolutely overwhelmed. If we did the scaling with you correctly,
I think it’d make every round feel the same.” Consequently, they chose to lean more heavily
on the "time = difficulty" system and make monsters grow stronger the longer you survive. This created a more impactful sense of urgency
and forced players to make tough decisions often—something Duncan and Paul really wanted
to emphasize. They made an exception for bosses though,
as those always inflict damage proportional to a specific percentage of the player's health. According to Paul, this was implemented to
ensure boss encounters always feel challenging and scary, regardless of the player's strength. Although it's clearly indicated that the difficulty
increases every five minutes, there's a lot more happening behind the scenes than players
might expect. The difficulty actually increases every single
minute. To get a bit more technical, for each minute
that passes, the game raises the power value of the monsters. This power value scales their health semi-exponentially
and their damage output semi-logarithmically. These values are also influenced by the player's
health and damage output, adjusting accordingly to prevent late-game scenarios where the player
can deal excessive damage or be killed by enemies in a single hit. This system has the benefit of creating a
more gradually challenging experience while preserving the dynamic highs and lows during
gameplay. Players might power up quickly by gaining
XP and collecting upgrades, allowing them to wipe out enemies with ease. However, the enemies will eventually catch
up and could potentially overwhelm you sooner than you anticipate. Duncan and Paul admit that it's possible to
break the game if you gather a specific set of items—like becoming invincible or being
able to kill everything on-screen without moving—but they consider this part of the
fun in a single player experience. Risk of Rain's pixel art style was chosen
for two significant advantages. Not only did it enable the duo to rapidly
create sprites, but it also gave them the artistic and technological freedom to design
enormous boss sprites that could fill a big chunk of the screen—a key element Duncan
and Paul wanted to include. Moreover, the undemanding art assets afforded
them the chance to incorporate lots of dazzling special effects aimed at keeping players visually
engaged. Despite using pixel art, the duo did eventually
encounter performance issues when testing the enemy spawn rate. See, enemies not only grow stronger the longer
you keep a run going, but they also start to spawn more frequently. This process is controlled by an AI. Here's how it works: each second, the AI is
allocated a certain number of points. The number of points it receives every second
increases as time goes on. Every two to 15 seconds, these points are
automatically used by the AI to spawn monsters. For instance, a lemurian costs five points,
while a boss costs 800 points. Depending on its point balance, the AI may
attempt to spawn as many lemurians as possible. This led to an issue where GameMaker, the
engine powering the game, began hitting its limitations and performance significantly
dropped. Fortunately, Duncan and Paul quickly found
a solution: when the spawn AI has enough points to place at least five monsters of the same
type on the battlefield, it instead spawns one powered-up version of that monster. This approach not only solved the problem,
but also made combat more dynamic. Before we move on, I’d like to talk about
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buyraycon.com slash thatguyglen to get 15% off your Raycon purchase today! Raycon, Power Up Your Everyday. Now back to the video. Growing up, Duncan and Paul mostly played
PC games that largely ignored the use of a mouse. So it's no surprise that they adopted a similar
approach when designing the keyboard layout for Risk of Rain. They aimed to provide a control scheme that
was simple enough for anyone to pick up and play, whether you're a seasoned gamer or a
newcomer. For those who prefer not to use keyboard controls,
Duncan and Paul added controller support as well. Before each run, the player chooses a character
class. Ensuring each class was unique, yet maintained
similar controls, was a crucial part of development. The majority of the characters were designed
around a specific weapon and a certain skill each character would most probably excel at. For instance, they envisioned HAN-D as a giant
robot capable of taking on large groups of enemies using only its fists. They realized this concept by providing HAN-D
with personal healer drones he could utilize to seek out monsters and steal their health
while he continues to fight. Furthermore, it was important that each character
possessed abilities that could showcase the player's skill. The Bandit for example can chain many different
skills together by correctly timing headshots. While the game's title might not immediately
make sense from just playing it, Duncan and Paul explained to Polygon they had good reasons
for choosing it. "Starting on, we wanted something that was
easily 'google-able' so people could identify us. Eventually, we were set on the idea of idioms. After we looked through idioms meaning 'chance,'
we both mutually agreed that Risk of Rain was the coolest sounding one. We felt this name fit the game; there is a
risk of rain, a risk of failure or bad things happening." As you can tell from all the unused sprites,
lots of enemies, bosses, items and stages were either cut or reworked to better fit
the final version of the game. One intriguing set of items that didn't make
the cut includes the Hero’s Cap, the Hero’s Garb, and the Hero’s Boots. These items are a nod to the Legend of Zelda
games, specifically referencing Link’s outfit. According to the developers, if a player had
managed to gather all Hero items, a special effect would have been activated. However, they never reached this point in
development before deciding to remove these items. By April 2013, after about five months of
development on a shoestring budget of just 100 dollars, the game was more or less complete,
aside from some additional refinement and polish required. That being said, it was still missing a soundtrack
at this stage. After reaching out to several composers via
email, they decided to try their luck on YouTube. They typed in "best music composer top 10"
and stumbled upon a track by Chris Christodoulou. This piece, used in an indie game called Droidscape:
Basilica, was impressive enough to convince Duncan and Paul to email Chris. To their delight, he simply replied, "Hey,
sounds good. Let's do it." Naturally, Chris wouldn't be working for free. Besides needing a soundtrack, the team also
wished to upgrade their version of GameMaker, which meant purchasing either GameMaker Studio
or GameMaker 8.1. Therefore, to fully realize their vision for
Risk of Rain, they would need to spend significantly more than the initial 100 dollars. As full-time college students, they didn't
have much extra to spare. This prompted them to set up a Kickstarter
campaign in April 2013 under the name Hopoo Games, with a funding goal of 7,000 dollars—enough
to cover the cost of the soundtrack, GameMaker, and polishing the game. Just four days later, the project was fully
funded, leaving ample time to reach additional stretch goals. In total, the Kickstarter campaign raised
over 30,000 dollars, thanks to the generous support of 1690 backers. It allowed the small team to add extra features
such as more customization options and additional classes. The Kickstarter campaign itself attracted
a great deal of attention. So much so, that indie game developer and
publisher Chucklefish offered to publish Risk of Rain. Duncan and Paul accepted their proposal. Chucklefish not only provided them with a
website, complete with a forum, but also connected the team with Matthew Griffin, a developer
who had previously collaborated with Chucklefish. Matthew lent his expertise to help Hopoo Games
establish and support online co-op. Although the game already supported local
co-op at this stage, Paul and Duncan assured players that the addition of multiplayer would
not compromise their commitment to creating the best possible single-player experience. While the two developers were busy making
sure the game works, Chris was given free rein to craft the soundtrack as he saw fit. Paul and Duncan fully trusted Chris’ expertise
and ability to compose great music. Once Chris had compiled a collection of songs,
he simply sent them over to Duncan and Paul, who then determined where each track would
best fit within the game. In November 2013, less than a year after development
started, Risk of Rain was released on PC. Garnering positive reviews, a devoted fanbase
rapidly formed post-release, keeping the co-op servers busy. The game even became an award-winning success,
with Duncan and Paul being honored with the 'Best Student Game' award at the 2014 Independent
Games Festival. Development on Risk of Rain 2 began around
late 2016. Earlier that year, Hopoo Games had developed
and released a stealth action-hybrid game called Deadbolt, yet Risk of Rain continued
to gain popularity three years post-release, partially due to its debut on PlayStation
4 and PlayStation Vita in April 2016. By this time, Duncan and Paul had graduated
from college and were dedicating themselves full-time to game development. They also welcomed Jeffrey Hunt to the team,
who assumed the role of the main programmer for the sequel's development. Although Risk of Rain 2 would eventually transform
into a three-dimensional third-person shooter, it didn't initially start off this way. The team’s primary objective was to do something
different with the sequel, something more innovative. The original twist was that players would
control the monsters this time around. Additionally, Duncan was particularly enthusiastic
about incorporating the ability to display items on characters, an idea inspired by fan
art they frequently encountered online. The initial prototype started off with 2D
pixel art. However, according to Duncan, visually representing
items on characters proved challenging. As a solution, they transitioned to 2.5D graphics. In order to achieve quality results in this
art style, Duncan and Paul began crafting 3D models for the items and characters and
displayed them in a 2.5D perspective. When they completed a new prototype, they
thought to themselves, “We’re almost in 3D at this point. Should we just give it a shot?”. The transition from 2D to 3D took place over
a span of less than a month. Once they had familiarized themselves with
a 3D workflow and felt confident about their capabilities, things escalated quickly. That’s when the real work started. In an interview with PC Gamer, Paul mentioned
that the game dev experience they had gained from Risk of Rain and Deadbolt didn't exactly
translate to their first 3D project. Consequently, they had to relearn a lot before
development could properly begin. For example, Duncan, who had only utilized
Paint for creating sprites in the prior game, had never done any 3D modeling before Risk
of Rain 2. It was a significant leap for him to learn
all the rules and technical nuances of 3D modeling, and getting accustomed to the sequel’s
engine, Unity. Even as they became more familiar with this
new way of working, numerous tasks proved to be far more time-consuming compared to
their 2D game development experience. “The cost of time per asset has gone up
a lot. With our previous projects, we did a lot of
our design via iteration. We would do a very rapid prototype and then
refine it. But in 3D it doesn't work that way. A lot of times, if you want to change step
two, you ruin every step afterward. You have to start over from scratch. You can't refine and iterate in the same way.” During the early stages of development, the
team had one primary focus: would it still be fun to play in 3D if they used the same
characters, items, difficulty system, and gameplay objectives from the original game? As a result, the first prototype incorporated
the Commando player character along with two familiar monsters, the Lemurian and the Golem. However, they soon realized that they couldn't
directly adapt any of the original gameplay elements into the sequel. Every class and monster taken from the original
had to undergo substantial revisions. For instance, melee monsters were considerably
easier to overcome since players now had an extra dimension for strategizing their approach. As a response, the Golem, which was previously
a purely melee-based monster, is now equipped with a laser so it can also attack from a
distance. Similarly, the Lemurian was given the ability
to shoot fireballs. According to Duncan, the shift to a 3D environment
also significantly impacted the game mechanics. Being able to see far into the distance, as
opposed to only seeing what’s within the screen, drastically altered the effectiveness
of certain abilities. In the original 2D game, players were restricted
to shooting enemies that were right in front of them, but the transition to 3D now allowed
targeting of different monsters. Furthermore, some abilities became more challenging
and engaging to use effectively, such as the Commando's FMJ, which fires in a straight
line. In 2D, it was far easier to hit multiple enemies
with this ability, but in 3D, players need to align themselves along a line of monsters
to use the ability effectively. This change introduces a greater level of
challenge but also yields a more satisfying experience when executed properly. This early prototype confirmed that Duncan
and Paul were on the right track and strengthened their confidence. That said, the duo admitted they were very
nervous about announcing Risk of Rain 2. They recognized the need to skillfully blend
familiar content with new elements, given the dramatic shift in visuals and gameplay. Despite this, they were uncertain about how
well players would accept these significant changes. About six months into development, in May
2017, Hopoo Games officially announced Risk of Rain 2 on their development blog. It's important to note that by this point,
Hopoo Games had parted ways with publisher Chucklefish, meaning marketing and other business-related
tasks fell back on Paul and Duncan. This is partially why Risk of Rain 2 was announced
so early in development. Without the luxury of a dedicated person or
team to maintain the hype, they felt compelled to advertise as soon as possible, alerting
their fans that a new game was on its way. By December 2017, the studio had completed
its first map. At this point, the developers were considering
whether to incorporate procedural generation. Given that the stages were going to be larger
than those in the original game, they weren't sure if permutations would be necessary. The team experimented with this for a while,
but the challenge of creating memorable procedurally generated maps in 3D proved too demanding
for a team of their size. Instead, they focused on providing as much
variation as possible by giving each stage multiple regions with plenty of secrets to
discover. When it came to the story and lore, the developers
sought to replicate the approach of the first game and expand upon it. Duncan and Paul favor creating games without
interruptive cutscenes during gameplay, which is why both Risk of Rain games convey their
narratives through various logbook entries. Although gameplay always comes first, the
logbook entries provide the option for players to immerse themselves in the game's world
and lore. Even though online co-op was more of an afterthought
in the original Risk of Rain, ensuring an easily accessible online multiplayer experience
took center stage during the sequel's development. This priority was established even before
Duncan and Paul considered switching to 3D. The feedback from the first game made it clear
to them that there was a significant demand for a more streamlined multiplayer experience,
more so than they had initially expected. With much more experience under their belt
this time, they managed to make connecting with players online as easy as pressing a
single button. Creating exciting item variety has always
been a core principle for the team, and the design of each item starts with a specific
purpose in mind, while also considering player choice whenever possible. Take the Monster Tooth, for instance. While it might not be the most thrilling item
in the game, it serves a crucial role of keeping players in the fight by rewarding them with
a healing opportunity after every kill. The team at Hopoo Games could have simply
programmed this item to gain X amount of health for every monster defeated. Instead, they designed it so that as players
eliminate more monsters, more health orbs begin to spawn around the map. This gives players the choice of when to heal
themselves, if at all. As mentioned earlier, a primary motivation
for the studio's transition to 3D was to display collected items on the player character. This decision was made not only for aesthetic
appeal but also to address the lack of tangible progression in the first game. By ensuring that players could visually perceive
how their items and equipment were transforming their character during gameplay, they hoped
to enhance the sense of progression. The transition to a fully 3D environment required
that most items from the original Risk of Rain be redesigned. However, this shift also unlocked a vast array
of possibilities for item effects and their uses. For example, one of the team's favorite new
items, the 'Royal Capacitor', which targets a specific enemy for a massive lightning strike,
was only made possible due to the switch to 3D. When introducing new characters and items
into the game, the team often considered their impact on both singleplayer and multiplayer,
as both were equally significant this time around. For this reason, they implemented a system
that scales the difficulty level based on the number of online players to ensure a challenging
experience for everyone. Hopoo Games knew the development of the 3D
sequel would take significantly longer than the original, but they didn’t want to deprive
fans of a new Risk of Rain experience for much longer. Therefore, in late 2018, the team started
assembling a plan to launch Risk of Rain 2 in Early Access. After extensively studying other successful
Early Access games, they zeroed in on three key goals. First, they aimed to cultivate a robust community
of players with whom they could actively communicate during and after the game's Early Access period. Second, they strived to maintain a steady
pace of development, avoiding any content drought by releasing regular patches and substantial
content updates. Lastly, they wanted to gather as much feedback
and ideas as possible, ensuring Risk of Rain 2 would align with players' expectations. The Early Access version launched in March
2019. In an effort to entice players to experience
the significantly improved multiplayer, the studio initiated a "buy one, get one free"
promotion for the first few days. Selling one million copies within a single
month, this proved to be a savvy decision. Community feedback played a pivotal role in
balancing items, characters, enemies, and stages. Item balancing, in particular, was a frequent
topic of discussion among the developers. With so many item variations and tiers, there
was always something that needed tweaking. Moreover, the team strived to prioritize player
skill over luck to prevent the game from feeling as though success relied solely on finding
good items. “One of the more major ways we are trying
to stray players away from those feelings is with the character system. Even if the player doesn’t get a specific
item or equipment at the start of the game they can extend their run by playing smart
and actively influencing certain outcomes in the game to help them bridge that gap.” Once again, Chris collaborated with Hopoo
Games to create the soundtrack. He wanted to make it feel like a continuation
of the previous soundtrack, without being repetitive. The tracks are heavily influenced by progressive
rock and electronic music from the 70s, drawing inspiration from King Crimson, Pink Floyd,
Vangelis, and Jean-Michel Jarre. Naturally, he incorporated his own influences,
sensibilities, and unique style. Chris describes the soundtrack as standing
firmly on the foundation laid by the original Risk of Rain soundtrack, with many motifs,
themes, and even entire sections carrying over. The soundtrack was composed parallel to the
game’s development. Duncan and Paul let Chris play a portion of
the game very early in development, enough to understand how it works and how it’s
both similar and different from the original. The “time = difficulty” system is directly
reflected in the compositions, which, almost to no exception, start more relaxed and build
up to huge climatic crescendos. Moreover, the use of multiple voices, intricate
counterpoints, and so on, known as the baroque style, mirrors the busy gameplay. The shift to Early Access directly impacted
Chris's workflow. For instance, they needed a sufficient number
of tracks for the Early Access launch, which meant using unfinished music. This was a difficult decision for Chris, as
he was aware that players would become attached to tracks that would undergo substantial changes
in the future, possibly causing people to get upset. Which is exactly what happened. Despite player feedback, Chris is extremely
proud of the outcome, considering the compositions in Risk of Rain 2 to be better mixed, a result
of careful consideration and hard work. Similar to how Chucklefish reached out during
the first game’s Kickstarter phase, Gearbox Publishing partnered with Hopoo Games during
the sequel’s Early Access period to facilitate ports for the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo
Switch. On August 11th, 2020, nearly four years after
development began, Risk of Rain 2 left Early Access and Hopoo released version 1.0 for
PC. The response from critics and gamers was even
more positive compared to the original. Reviewers described the game as immensely
satisfying to play, with few flaws or shortcomings. Some even hailed it as one of the greatest
roguelikes of all time. As a result, Risk of Rain 2 saw concurrent
player peaks of over 70,000 on Steam, surpassing games such as The Binding of Isaac, Loop Hero,
Darkest Dungeon, Hades, and Dead Cells. What’s more, as of March 2021, over four
million copies have been sold on PC alone. An expansion pack called 'Survivors Of The
Void' was released in 2021 for PC, adding new player characters, enemies, bosses, items,
and stages. However, in November 2022, the announcement
that the rights to the Risk of Rain IP had been sold to Gearbox caused concern among
many fans about the future of Risk of Rain 2 and potential sequels. Duncan and Paul explained that while they
loved working on Risk of Rain, they were continually exploring new creative opportunities, which
may not necessarily fit within the same genre as Risk of Rain. However, they expressed their desire to continue
supporting the community and providing exciting new content. After three years of collaborating with Gearbox,
it seemed a logical decision to hand over the reins and entrust them with carrying forward
the IP. Shortly after selling the rights, a remake
of the original game, titled 'Risk of Rain Returns,' was announced and this project is
a collaborative effort between Hopoo Games and Gearbox. Initially, Duncan and Paul were quite hesitant
about updating the original game. However, they believe that as long as the
remake stays true to the original design and improves several player pain points, they
could create something truly special for existing fans. Additionally, this would give players new
to Risk of Rain a chance to look back where it all started. Importantly, the Risk of Rain modding community
is directly involved with the remake, ensuring that everything remains faithful to the original. Hopoo Games remains independent as of this
video’s release and in an interview with Gamerant in May 2023, the developers assured
fans that they’re keeping a watchful eye over their beloved IP. “I think we'll always be interested in how
it's going with Risk of Rain. And if there's ever a need for help, or if
we want to see what's going on, I think it's always going to be collaborative between us
and Gearbox. But mostly, we just want to make sure that
the IP is in good hands and all the products are great. Our biggest focus right now is making sure
all this stuff that comes out is still quality, that people are happy, and that it’s fitting
the vision. After that, Duncan and I can make something
new.”
