This year, Indie Arena Booth Online featured the upcoming SNES-style RPG Chained Echoes. Hearkening back to old school, turn-based fantasy games, Chained Echoes also includes mechs, airships, and some other interesting goodies. With the title still on its way, we wanted to learn a bit more. So, we managed to sneak in a few questions to the developer, Mathias Linda, and have brought the answers to you!
The Interview
Even with so many games shown off during the Indie Arena Booth Online event, Chained Echoes had me all wide-eyed after watching the trailer. What can you tell us about the game?
Matthias: There’s a lot to tell, but if I have to break it down into one sentence [it would be this]: Chained Echoes is an RPG with pixel graphics, turn-based battles, mechs, airships, and a ton of charm. It started as a concept in my head and since the day I decided to [begin] work on Chained Echoes, it [has] evolved. It became a thing, if you know what I mean. 
The quality of art behind the game reminds me of classic Final Fantasy Games, but with an upgraded kick. What makes Chained Echoes different from other SNES-style RPG games?
Matthias: It combines those classic graphics with a much smoother experience. 
It’s hard to describe, but when you play it for yourself, you will notice immediately how well the controls flow or [how fluid] the transition to battles feels. It might look like a SNES or PSX RPG but it feels like something very modern. There are also some twists to certain aspects, like lighting that wouldn’t be possible on some of the older consoles. The overall idea was always to recreate what was once great, but give the whole thing a few twists here and there to improve upon the formula.
For how long have you been working on Chained Echoes? Just the amazing sprite work must have taken ages.
Matthias: It’s hard to say when it actually started. I developed the game job off and on for quite some time [while working my full-time job]. It might have started [in] 2014 or so, but I didn’t go into full-time development until around 2019.
What has been the most daunting thing to create in-game, in regards to bosses and scenes?
Matthias: If I had to choose what the most daunting task [was], I would probably say making basic animations. Unique animations, such as for bosses, might be a lot more time consuming, but are fun to create, so I don’t really mind them. But doing something like a simple character walk cycle [for one character] for the x-th time and seeing how many [more] characters there are, is pretty daunting. Yet it has to be done, obviously, cause otherwise a game doesn’t feel complete, right?
When the game releases in 2021, will it be on consoles as well? I could see this doing very well on the Nintendo Switch.
Matthias: Yes! Chained Echoes will release on Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch as well!
What is the most creative thing you have made in-game? What else did you enjoy doing?
Matthias: I’m having a blast creating all the areas of the world and see[ing] them intertwine… in interesting ways. I’m also trying to add secrets around every corner of the game’s world. There will be a lot of fun stuff to find!
How far is production in Chained Echoes? Does the Indie Arena Booth demo show an alpha version or is it much further along? Looking at the visuals and the clean gameplay, I’m guessing the latter.
Matthias: Thanks! But actually, it’s still not [even] in alpha-phase. The foundation for all the gameplay systems is set and I’m currently working on all the content, e.g. cutscenes, encounters, etc.. It is still far from being finished. To be completely honest here, we took the chance to be on Gamescom and [by necessity] hacked together the demo. [We had to] cut down systems to make them fit into the current build and polish these things as [much] as possible in a very small time frame. [Despite] that, the demo turned out to be really good, but it is far from the vision we have for the final product.
We’d like to thank you here at Marooners’ Rock for taking your time to inform our readers more about Chained Echoes. Where could our readers find you on social media?
Matthias: Thanks for having me! You can visit my Twitter channel @ChainedEchoes or go to my Steam Store https://store.steampowered.
