Interview: Taking on hordes of invading Vikings in Bad North | News

NUK: There are plenty of Vikings to fend off. How does the combat work in-game?

PC: We have this very low granularity of interaction, which means that mostly players will be simply positioning their squads on a grid and then each of the units in that squad decide how/when to attack from there. A lot of the strategy then comes from understanding the layouts of the levels, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different unit types, and how your soldiers are going to behave in any given situation.

It seems almost too simple to begin with, but there is a lot of complex simulation happening under the hood which brings a lot of hidden depth to the game. Once you start facing a wider variety of troop types you really need to start thinking about how to optimize your strategy and always be prepared for when your defence breaks down – the battle can turn against you very and it’s very difficult to get back in control.

As you progress further and upgrade your commanders, you’ll have access to some abilities that are more micromanaged by the player – things like your infantry jumping down from cliffs onto Vikings below, or telling your archers to bombard a particular spot with arrows. These won’t form the core of your strategy, but can be devastating when used at the perfect time.

NUK: What was the inspiration behind the art style seen in Bad North?

PC: The style started as a concept mashup between Revenge of the Titans and Total War, some 3 years before Bad North even got started. These concepts didn’t really turn into anything concrete, so Oskar shelved them. But then as Bad North evolved and started to take shape, there were a lot of ideas there, especially with the characters and animation, that fit perfectly with this new game.

The core value behind the art of Bad North is readability: the strategic elements of the game are driven by a dynamic simulation which, crucially, is hidden away from the player. We don’t present you with explicit rules and stats, so everything that happens in the combat needs to be visible and understandable.

This also continues into the blocky style of the islands and the grid-based placement of your troops. It’s much easier to understand and predict the outcome of your positioning if you have a discrete possibility space – the implications of placing your troops on a specific tile vs the one next to it is clearly understandable in the landscape.