Can you please introduce yourselves?
We are NAMACO, Han Hogan and Donal Fullam. We are two friends who met through playing in bands and putting on DIY punk gigs. Before we met, Han was team Sega and Donal was team Nintendo in the console wars but we have reconciled our differences. We have a shared love of video games, similar political views informed by socialism/anarchism/squatting/punk, and similar taste in underground music, and are making games that reflect all of this.
What is Pallas Projects?
Pallas Projects/Studio is a not-for-profit artist-run organisation founded in 1996 that provides affordable artists studios in Dublin city. They provide space for artistic production and exhibition, including the Artist-Initiated Projects - an annual programme of funded, artist-initiated projects selected via open call. This is how NAMACO got the opportunity to exhibit Mega Dreolín, and we will be eternally grateful. They are an incredible crew, and do a huge amount of work to maintain and support artists and art in Dublin.
How did you come up with the name, Mega Dreoilín, for the game?
Over many pizza pint discussions we vacillated between Super Something and Mega Something, with a very long list of potential names eventually whittled down to Mega Dreoilín. Dreoilín, the wren, derives from draoi and éan, meaning ‘druid bird’. We wanted to contrast this tiny mythical bird with the vultures who are now constantly circling overhead, and against which we are all pitted. Individually, we are as small and powerless as the wren, but together, we can take on the might of the vultures.
Where did the idea for the game come from?
We talked about making a game for a long time, and our discussions were generally equally focused on ‘90s video games and politics. We talked a lot about Splatterhouse, Golden Axe, Shinobi, the mechanics of these games, and how it would be possible to use them to tell a story that actually resonates with the reality of young people's lives in post Celtic Tiger, post banking crash, current housing crisis Ireland.
How long did the game take to make?
About a year, from concept to exhibition. The first six months was a lot of discussion, concepting, research and preliminary design, with most of the work really being done in the last 6 months. We both have full time jobs, and the project was quite ambitious, so it wasn’t easy, but we learned a lot and it all worked out in the end.
What kind of tools did you use to make the game? During the video (posted on YouTube, link will be included), you mentioned using free software/open source tools, such as GIMP and Godot. Why choose these tools over others?
All the artwork was either created or modified in GIMP. We did a lot of labor intensive pixel art and animation, and we also acquired and modified Itch.io assets. We used GIMP because it’s really good, but we also love the free and open-source development ecosystem. It aligns with our goals and politics - there is an openness and transparency that mirrors the way we want to work and organise, and which we believe is a healthy democratic baseline for social and professional relationships in general.
You also spoke about during the video that you transitioned to using Unreal Engine 5, was that a difficult decision necessary for the project?
We began developing the project in GODOT, a fantastic free and open-source game engine, but came to the conclusion that we would not have enough time to learn many of the engine's idiosyncrasies to complete the project in the timeframe that we had. Donal already had experience with Unreal Engine, so we made the decision to switch, which was difficult but very necessary. UE5 is such a powerful suite of tools, and the licensing is extremely generous, but we do want to return to the glorious communist software reign of GODOT for future projects.
The topic of the game, the Irish Housing Crisis, is very important, and requires a lot of information conveyed to the player. You spoke about cutting out dialogue/exposition from the game in order to prevent players from becoming overwhelmed/losing their attention.
What kind of info was cut, and what kind of info would you like to be included in the final version of the game?
Ultimately, all of the information that we wanted to convey is in there, but it took a huge amount of writing, re-writing and editing to do that. The conversations are based on interviews we conducted with each of the people who appear in the game, which were a trove of brilliant material, but were also way too long to fit into a 20 minute game. To maintain a good balance between action and dialogue we did a lot of work condensing these interviews, but also reimagining how they might appear as actual conversations, in a way that maintains the integrity of what our interviewees actually said.
You've been reiterating on the game for quite a while now. How many versions (roughly) have you gone through, and for what reasons?
It was initially three levels, with the fourth added quite late in development. We had a good idea about what the game would look like and what the player would actually do quite early on though, so there weren’t any major design changes apart from that throughout. Iteration before finishing was focused on tweaking the length of different sections, to roughly balance things out. For example, the cave section in level 2 was initially much longer, with more platforming, but it was cut down to maintain a rough parity with other levels.
When do you believe the final game will be ready/feature complete?
We’re working on an Irish language version with help from the amazing Micheal O Meachair, who worked with Terry Cavanagh on Dicey Dungeons and the Romeros on Gunman Taco Truck. We’re really excited about that, and we’re incredibly grateful for Micheal’s help. There are a number of small additions and changes that we want to make over the summer before it’s exhibited again, which should be in October/November.
What platform(s) will the game be available upon completion? Will people be able to buy the game?
It will be available online at some point, either on Steam or Itch.io. There are some issues to look into first, but it should be more widely available this year.
Thank you for answering these questions. Where can people follow the progress of this project/learn when the game is released?
Our Instagram accounts are probably the best place for info on Mega Dreoilín, but also our next super secret PS1 style project codenamed: Grand Canal Demolition Derby.
Play-through video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyga9tsNsZg
Interview by Craig Walsh.