Crypt of the NecroDancer Interview: An Accidental Roguelike Rhythm Game

Amidst the cramped confines of the Indie Megabooth on the PAX show floor, the bumping beats of Crypt of the NecroDancer could be heard over the PAX din. A mass of gamers swarmed the NecroDancer booth at all times, heads bobbing to the undead beats. I had to see what was going on, and squeezed through the crowd to find a DDR dance pad hooked up to a large television. The individual playing  moved through a dungeon filled with dancing skeletons, humping monkeys, and gooey slimes to a catchy beat. As I watched, the player hit the left and right DDR arrows and cast a fireball spell, and then hit the up and left keys to cast a heal spell. Then a big, green dragon chased down the player in a flurry of music and foot stomps, killing the hero and restarting the adventure.

 I knew then and there I had to ask the developers how Crypt of the NecroDancer came to be—a game which blends the roguelike and rhythm genres. I had seen NecroDancer's cinematic trailer before PAX, but making a fool of myself on a DDR dance pad solidified NecroDancer as one of my most anticipated titles of 2013. After I died to a horde of booty-shaking skeletons, I hunted down the man responsible for NecroDancer and demanded an interview. Ryan Clark, the lead designer and programmer behind Crypt of the NecroDancer, obliged. 

 

Lowell: First, an easy question. Can you give us a rundown of what Crypt of the NecroDancer is? 

Ryan: Sure. It's a roguelike rhythm game where you have to move on the beat. So, you use the arrow keys to move up, down, left, and right. Walk into the enemies to attack them, and if they bump into you the enemies attack back. You can play with a DDR pad, keyboard, or gamepad. You can also play with your own music. The soundtrack NecroDancer comes with is by Danny Baranowsky, whom also did the music for Super Meat Boy. But if you want to play with your own stuff, we have a beat detecting algorithm so you can play with ABBA or Thriller or whatever. NecroDancer also has four-player local co-op.

Lowell: Really? I didn't know about co-op. How does the four-player co-op work?

Ryan: All on the same screen at the same time. You can play together with gamepad or keyboard, mix them all up. You all gang up on the dragons and the bosses.

Lowell: That's awesome. I have to ask, where did you get the idea of a roguelike rhythm game? They're very separate genres wrapped together. 

Ryan: It was kind of an accident. I was trying to make a roguelike game that was more fair. I like Spelunky a lot, and I like how when you die in Spelunky you're like, “oh I'm in the idiot. I fell in that trap. That's my fault.” When you play some other roguelikes like the original Rogue, you feel like the game screwed you over. Sometimes it just didn't give you enough food and you starve. There was nothing you could do. So I wanted to make a pure roguelike but one that was more fair. I thought, what if we make it so that the turns are a forced length, so you only have a certain amount of time to move? That's going to bring skill into the equation. I made a prototype where you have to move quickly, and it felt like I was kinda moving to a beat. So I tested it out to Thriller and it was really fun. Then I came up with the Crypt of the NecroDancer pun and knew I had to make the game.

Lowell: Are there any cool features that came about from the blending of the two genres? 

Ryan: The DDR pad for sure. That's new. We're hoping it'll give people who have DDR pads in their closet an excuse to dust them off. There's so many people who have them, but they haven't used them in years and years. We hope that'll give people something to look forward to. Oh, and I didn't mention this before, but you cast spells by hitting two keys at once. It's pretty fun on the DDR pad because you hit left and right with your feet simultaneously to cast the fireball spell and stuff like that. 

Lowell: Is NecroDancer played entirely on the arrow keys or DDR pad?

Ryan: Yup. Only four keys for the whole game. 

Lowell: Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard someone around here is a DDR champion. Was that you or someone else on the development team?

Ryan: Me? No. Actually, we had a fan come through here yesterday and lend us this DDR pad we're using. He was the DDR second place champion, and he was saying our other pad was missing hits. When he was trying to keep his feet on two different keys, which is what you do in DDR because you never really stand in the middle, he was casting spells accidentally because our other pad was too sensitive. So this morning he asked us if he wanted his pad, and we we're like “okay, sure!” Now we have a better pad for people to try the game on. 

Lowell: Alright, I've just got one more question for you: when can we expect to play NecroDancer, and on what platforms? 

Ryan: You can pre-order it on our website now, and in November it's coming to Steam early access, PC, and Mac, so we're shooting for November.

Lowell. Thanks, Ryan. I'm looking forward to playing it in November.