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TNB was recently given the opportunity to ask Brett Caird, co-founder of 5th Cell Media and part of the development team of the newly released Lock’s Quest, some questions regarding the game.

So, to think up the best questions possible, we turned to the forums, and selected the five best questions to ask Brett.

Question 1 from member: BB2K
This seems like an interesting concept for a game, where did you get your ideas/inspiration from?

Answer from Brett Caird: Our creative director Jeremiah Slaczka would be the best person to answer this question fully, but I can give some feedback on it. When we were initially working up the concept it grew out of the creation aspect most of all. We were working on Drawn to Life at the time, so that mindset was an influence. We were initially thinking in terms of using blocks to build structures interactively, and the scrap mode for designing your creations was quite a complicated puzzle element. The battle mode was always intended to be the primary gameplay element, trying to fill a hole in the lack of RTS style games on the DS. For various reasons over time, as the build/battle gameplay element expanded we backed away from being so heavily intricate with the design of buildings and creations. The end result has a simple and easy to use build mode with a focus on creating defensive walls and towers (supported by some traps and other gadgets), and a very quick and simple puzzle for scrap creations just to draw your attention to the next creation when it unlocks.

Question 2 from member: Lazlow
How do you actually play Lock’s Quest, and how is it “innovative”?

Answer from Brett Caird: The gameplay in Lock’s Quest typically alternates between build mode and battle mode, which are linked together through story progression and with some side minigames and light RPG elements along the way. The innovation comes from the way in which it melds the genres of tower defence and realtime strategy. In most tower defence games your towers can’t be harmed, in LQ they can be damaged and destroyed. In most tower defence games you sit passively and watch the level play out once you’ve placed your defences, in LQ you control a hero who actively participates in the battle, attacking and repairing. In most tower defence games all levels follow the same form, in LQ there are a variety of mission types aside from simple defence, including such objectives as striking out offensively to take out key enemies, capturing enemy source wells and so on. In many ways it is closer to RTS than tower defence, but the separation of build and battle modes, and the way “days” of play are broken down into small bite size chunks gives a tower defence vibe.

Question 3 from member: WhyMe
How will this game appeal to someone who isn’t particularly a fan of the tower-defence genre?

Answer from Brett Caird: The tower defence genre tends to revolve around the idea of getting a finite amount of resources gradually fed to you, and spending that as efficiently as possible to get through the game. Tower defence is pretty much a great big trial and error game of making the most efficient use of the resources you get to beat the ordered obstacles that are given to you. Lock’s Quest is something very different to that. I recall in the early stages of testing that I had a pre-conceived idea that we were making a tower defence game, but I quickly came to realise as I started trying to balance the game that the design principles of tower defence really just didn’t apply. The creative team had turned it into a massively more interesting and variable experience where each level stood on its own as a challenge.

For example, just because you struggle to get through a level in LQ doesn’t mean the writing is on the wall and you are guaranteed to die in the next level or two because you’re falling behind the curve. In a regular tower defence game once you’re behind the curve it’s as good as game over, in LQ there are many ways you can fight back and get back into the game. Really someone not being a fan of tower defence shouldn’t be a barrier for enjoying Lock’s Quest.

Question 4 from member: Maxi
After playing the flash version on www.locksquest.com, the game looks and plays well, but it seems it could become boring after a while due to it being very repetitive. How does the game keep the player engaged and wanting to come back for more?

Answer from Brett Caird: The game constantly evolves through 17 different maps, something like 16 different creations, 4 different construction materials, 9 bosses with variable abilities, 8 different powers for the hero all of which are released for play gradually through the scrap unlocking system and as you progress through the game. The story and light RPG element keeps things moving forward. Not to mention that the structure of missions varies, though defensive missions are the most common, when you reach the 4th map you start getting rescue missions, missions where you have to take out key enemies or capture a source well controlled by the enemy to win. There is also head to head wireless local multiplayer which adds additional elements of combos to try and defeat your opponent. I personally put somewhere between 750 and 1000 hours playtest time into Lock’s Quest during its development, and I still enjoy it when I play it.

Question 5 from member: Mikiie
Why should we buy this game when there are similar flash-based games on the internet already, the demo on www.locksquest.com highlighting this? What is in Lock’s Quest on the DS that warrants its purchase?

Answer from Brett Caird: I’ve covered a lot of this in the above questions. Lock’s Quest is much more than a tower defence game and the expansiveness of the progressing experience is something well beyond what you can experience in an online tower defence game. Where the demo will give you a few minutes of play just to expose you to some of the ideas and concepts of the game, the DS version is a good 15 hours of play through with a constant sense of progression and challenge. After the first couple of hours of play setting you up to the story and form of the game, it then takes you off on quite a ride. Lock’s Quest’s story is also something pretty significant which just can’t be told or experienced meaningfully without playing through the DS game. Features such as multiplayer head to head wireless are also available on the DS. Really the comparison is chalk and cheese and though I’m obviously biased, I believe buying the DS version of the game is totally worth the money. I’m glad to say the prevailing view of reviewers agrees.

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TNB would like to thank Brett for making himself available to answer questions, and THQ’s Drew Taylor for setting up the opportunity.

A review of Lock’s Quest can now be found here.