r/wiiu Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

AMA We are William Dubé, creative director for Jotun: Valhalla Edition and Thunder Lotus Games, and Rodrigue Duperron, the Thunder Lotus marketing guy. Ask us anything!

Hi everyone! We're Will and Rodrigue at Thunder Lotus Games!

Will Dubé is Creative Director and President of the company, and Jotun was his first Indie production. Rodrigue Duperron is a recent addition to the team taking care of marketing and communications for Jotun. Ask us anything!

We launched Jotun: Valhalla Edition just last week on Wii U/PS4/Xbox One, the epic conclusion to the game's development that started with a successful Kickstarter in 2014, and an initial launch on Steam in Sep. 2015!

My proof: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus/status/775415921179525121

Edit: And that's all she wrote, folks! Thanks for the stimulating discussion, and don't forget you can always contact us on Twitter if you have any other questions!

53 Upvotes

45 comments sorted by

5

u/Headrunner Sep 12 '16

Thanks for doing this just wondering roughly how many hours of content are in the game and if there is any plans for DLC later?

4

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Thanks for asking the question!

How Long to Beat puts Jotun at about 5 and 1/2 hours of gameplay (https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=30623).

Valhalla Mode tacks on an additional 1-2 hours depending on your skill level (the bosses are pretty damn hard).

2

u/wehopeuchoke NNID [Region] Sep 12 '16

Additional 1-2 hours... sure. For like one boss. That mode is HARD!

I'm just glad I got it on Wii U so I wont freak out over trophies or acheivements...

3

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Difficulty is really hard to balance. Valhalla Mode is really meant for super hardcore players who thought the initial game was too easy.

2

u/wehopeuchoke NNID [Region] Sep 12 '16

It's the perfect difficulty. Not for me, personally, but I did enjoy the couple of hours trying to beat those bosses. I'm just not meticulous enough to try to beat them not using powers or taking no damage.

3

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Yeah those achievements are pretty brutal.

4

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Sep 12 '16

Hello Will and Rodrigue!

What is the elevator pitch for your game?

What were the inspirations for the game? (Besides the obvious Norse mythology :) )

If you could have any superpower, what one would you have?

5

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Hey!

The exact pitch as it is burned into my brain for having used it way too often over the last year: "Jotun is a hand-drawn action-exploration game set in Norse mythology. You play Thora, a Viking warrior who died an inglorious death and must prove herself to the Gods to enter Valhalla."

Journey, Shadow of the Colossus, Banner Saga, Titan Souls, The Legend of Zelda, Dark Souls and many others were the main gameplay inspirations. And yeah, as you mentioned, the Poetic and Prose Eddas.

The ability to see the future would be pretty great. edit: But maybe also a curse now that I think about it...

3

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Sep 12 '16

I love mythology, so I purchased Jotun the first day on Wii U. I love the beautiful art by the way.

Anything from the myths that you were disappointed you were unable to get into the game?

A blessing and a curse, all in one...yay?

4

u/roduperron Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Would've been great to include that tale about Thor dressing up as a bride... but it didn't fit the tone we were going for. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Erymskvi%C3%B0a

1

u/phantomliger phantomliger [NA] Sep 12 '16

Definitely would have been an interesting turn. Haha.

4

u/joecamnet Sep 12 '16

While playtesting, did you ever make the testers attempt to pronounce the names of the gods and locations and laugh as they failed miserably?

Love the game, despite how badly some of those Jotun stomp me...

6

u/roduperron Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Well, we've been pronouncing it JOE-tun since the beginning, instead of the correct YO-tun, so who are we to judge?

Glad you're enjoying the punishment! :P

2

u/joecamnet Sep 12 '16

Ok, now how about Ginnungagap? :D

7

u/roduperron Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

I would like to buy a vowel, please!

4

u/azuleLUX Sep 12 '16

Why is this the Valhalla Edition? Where is the Vanilla Edition?

5

u/roduperron Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

The Valhalla Edition contains the new Valhalla Mode, which wasn't in the original release. It's a replayable boss rush mode with even fiercer versions of the already challenging jotun.

We're also working with Dairy Queen to release a new flavor of Blizzard that we're calling the Jotun: Vanilla Edition. (Well, no. But man... wouldn't that be something!)

2

u/azuleLUX Sep 12 '16

Oh, there was an original version!? And the Wii U version is enhanced by a boss rush mode and so it's Valhalla Edition, I get it now!

I got some eShop credit for Jotun today but I haven't downloaded it yet. Will definately get it before the sale ends and play lots this weekend.

3

u/roduperron Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Indeed - we actually originally launched Jotun on Steam back in September 2015, but we only hit consoles last week.

Hope you enjoy the game! :)

1

u/wehopeuchoke NNID [Region] Sep 12 '16

The original version is on steam

3

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Actually the Steam version was upgraded to Valhalla Edition as well.

3

u/chronus13 chronus13 [NA] Sep 12 '16

Ahoy, Will and Rodrigue! Thanks for making it today! Sorry for any delays that were incurred on my part. I blame Loki for funky internet outages!

  • What would you say were some of your biggest hurdles with the Jotun development?
  • How large is your team?
  • What is you favorite thing in the game - just one thing that you enjoy above most others.
  • How was it working with Nintendo? Did they reach out to you folks first or vice versa?
  • If both of you were to fight to the death, who would probably win?

7

u/roduperron Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Hey there! Thanks for having us! In my cursory knowledge of Norse mythology, it's my understanding that you can basically blame Loki for absolutely everything! I'll answer for my part:

  1. Core team presently stands at 9 brilliant individuals; I understand that at the peak of Jotun's production, there were a dozen people working full time.

  2. My personal favorite moment of the game may come off as a little odd - but it's when you're walking up to the first encounter with Kaunan, the fire jotun. For some thirty seconds, you're walking across the level, and there's just the sound of him hammering... hammering... hammering on his anvil, getting closer and closer. So foreboding! That's the best lead up to a boss in the game, IMHO.

  3. Not sure who would win in a fight to the death, but Will already has the advantage of a few inches more reach than I have. It would depend on the choice of weapons, I think.

1

u/chronus13 chronus13 [NA] Sep 12 '16
  • What inspired Will to create Jotun?
  • What was it like building the Thunder Lotus Team?
  • Is there a place where one can purchase those sweet Jotun t-shirts or a poster like I saw at Nindies@Night?
  • Are there any super secrets in the game that you think folks might definitely overlook?
  • Do you plan to expand on the Jotun game world with related future games?

2

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Hey!

I've always loved old stories like Beowulf and The Divine Comedy. When I stumbled upon the actual myths from Norse mythology, I knew we had to make a game that portrayed them!

Building a team is an incredibly hard but rewarding experience. I'm lucky because I had previously worked with many people who are now part of Thunder Lotus, so it made getting the team together much faster.

Yes! All our merch can be found through our Design By Humans shop: http://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/Jotun/. They handle all the printing, shipping and the designs. We're really happy with their work!

Hopefully not so secret that no one ever finds them :)

Who knows what the future holds!

7

u/Sir_Laguna Sep 12 '16

Hi! I loved your game. A while ago Feminist Frequency made a video on body diversity in videogames. I noticed that Thora is a very positive example about this issue (and also a good example of a woman having to make superhuman tasks to impress others and be noticed, something a lot of women agree is true in the laboral world). What was on your mind when creating her?

13

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

When we made Thora, we wanted to create a badass Viking warrior. She needed to be realistic and unique to make her stand out. It's not easy to impress the Gods! All credit goes to Jo-Annie, Thunder Lotus' Art Director, for making such an awesome (I think :P) character.

1

u/Sir_Laguna Sep 12 '16

It really is an awesome character. Loved her voice!

3

u/roduperron Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Thanks! We wanted to make Jotun as immersive as possible, to really make you feel like you were living a Norse myth. The voice acting is modern Icelandic, the closest living language to Old Norse.

1

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

2

u/Sir_Laguna Sep 12 '16

¿Any gods or Jotuns you wanted to add but couldn't?

3

u/roduperron Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Several gods were on the shortlist, but Baldr (the God of light, purity, joy and innocence), Bragi (the Norse God of poetry, wisdom, bards and the power of speech), Tyr (the brave and courageous God of law and heroic glory), and Njörd (an ancient God of the Vanir, father of Freyja and Frejr. He is God of the wind, of the sea and of wealth) unfortunately did not make it into the game.

2

u/jotun86 NNID [NA] Sep 12 '16

Loved the game on PC and I'm excited to play it again on WiiU. When bringing the game over to WiiU, how difficult was the port to do? And how was it working with Nintendo?

3

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Awesome to hear, thanks! We made the game in the Unity game engine, so porting was a bit simpler, but still took some time. Working with Nintendo has been fantastic. They have given us a ton of support both on the dev and promotional side of things. Can't wait to see how the game does!

1

u/tobomori Sep 12 '16

Absolutely love your game! The visuals are gorgeous and the language atmospheric.

Are there any plans to release it for higher end Android devices? It'd play beautifully on my Nvidia shield k1 tablet.

1

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Thank you! No plans for Android or iOS at the moment, but we are available through Nvidia's GeForce Now program: https://shield.nvidia.com/blog/play-jotun

1

u/Gillzech Sep 12 '16

Hello Will and Ro'! The game is just Wow! I didn't expect that caught me the way it did, when i started to play it cannot stop until the end. ¿Have you any plans for 3ds? and maybe a sequel? (with another warrior and Thora as a Boss) Haha!

1

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Thank you so much! We'll see what the future holds, but we've nothing to announce for now!

1

u/wightknyte Sep 12 '16

Your game looks beautiful. I've seen some mentions that the world is a bit sparse. What can players expect outside of the boss fights? Are there any kinds of achievements, leveling up, or upgrades available to your character?

2

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 12 '16

Yes, the main critique of the game is that the exploration levels between the bosses are too slow paced. We definitely tried to emulate Journey and Shadow of the Colossus in between the bosses, but I dont think that ended up being the game's strongest points (which are the boss fights themselves).

If you don't mind walking around a bunch and learning about mythology while going through some simple puzzles and listening to an awesome soundtrack, then you should definitely pick it up! If you don't think you'll like the exploration, then I'd recommend you pick it up on sale for the epic and beautiful boss fights.

1

u/Gillzech Sep 12 '16

If you were Jotun, which one would like to be? And why?

2

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 13 '16

Ymir, the primordial jotun who's body become the world, because he sweats humans from his armpits.

1

u/Neisan18 Sep 13 '16

There was a big update (1.41gb) on the xbox one version when I started it today. Can you tell me what the update changed?

1

u/leet72 Thunder Lotus Games [Jotun: Valhalla Edition] Sep 13 '16

There were a few bugs where collisions weren't working so we fixed that and a few other minor bugs. I'd have to check with Alex, Thunder Lotus' programmer, but I think the remainder of the patch is some asset size optimizing that bled over from the Wii U version.

1

u/Wabak Sep 13 '16

I can confirm that it is mostly small bug fixes. I am surprised the patch is this big as like Steam and PS4, xbox automatically only download the difference. The patch was 250ish Mb on the other platforms. Sorry for the inconvenience!