Chained Echoes Interview: Creator Matthias Linda Talks JRPG Influences, Deck13 Backing, Music, & More - Article
by Evan Norris , posted on 17 October 2022 / 4,648 Views
Chained Echoes has been a long time coming. What began in creator Matthias Linda's mind in the summer of 2016 was fully funded (and then some) via Kickstarter in 2019 and now, in October 2022, stands on the cusp of its official release. Designed and presented in an enticing SNES-era JRPG style, Chained Echoes promises to embrace all the great things of the 90s role-playing landscape while developing them further. That means epic stories, charming characters, magic spells, mechs, airships, and turn-based battles paired with some modern conveniences.
Ahead of Chained Echoes' launch later this year on Windows, Mac, Linux, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One, I was lucky enough to chat with Matthias about the origins, inspiration, and development history of the game.
VGCHARTZ: You describe the game as "A classic 2D RPG with Swords, Magic and… Mechs". This immediately makes me think of one of my favorite games, Final Fantasy VI. Did the early Final Fantasy games inspire Chained Echoes? What other games influenced you?
MATTHIAS: Oh yes, the early Final Fantasy games did have quite some influence on me. I grew up with them. But Chained Echoes is influenced by so many more games. Terranigma, Suikoden II and the Chrono games were definitely sources of inspiration. Oh. And Xenogears for sure. I wanted to create something in their honor as they shaped my childhood. I even used the RPG Maker to create some games in the veins of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger but never really finished them. With Chained Echoes I’m finally going to change that.
VGCHARTZ: Although the game has the look of an old-school RPG, it seems to benefit from some quality-of-life adjustments — for example, no random encounters and fast-paced turn-based battles. How did you balance the expectations of the genre with modern amenities?
MATTHIAS: I’m not even sure if I did balance it to be honest. All I did was create the game I had in my head for all these years. And how I remembered the games from my childhood. Like, see, this is complicated to explain. If you grew up with something, as a child you see things differently and you remember them in a glorified version. If you went into a Toys"R"Us as a child, everything was shiny, huge and full of joy. As an adult you go there and it is in reality just a toy store. Or was. As they don’t exist anymore. And still, you have that memory of them being glorious, right? It is the same for games. Most games from that era are still great for me but some didn’t age well in terms of visuals or controls. So my design approach always was a "how do I remember these games"-way instead of a "let's copy this"-way. Not sure if that makes sense to you. In my head it absolutely makes sense.
VGCHARTZ: Chained Echoes was funded via Kickstarter, at over twice the €60,000 goal. What are the benefits of crowdfunding to independent developers like yourself? What are the pitfalls?
MATTHIAS: It was a wild ride. In the beginning you never know if you hit a nerve, if you will succeed. Or if you will fail hard times. Kickstarter has become tricky for indie developers. It is a test, if your game has an audience. Well. No. Nearly every game has an audience. The question is, if you can reach this audience or not. For me it was a success story and I will always be thankful for that. It allowed me to quit my day job and concentrate on the game. On the downside, I have to inform a lot of people about delays I didn’t expect. See, whenever I was sure "Yes, I will finish the game by month xyz" I was wrong. It took way longer and people kept asking for the game and it always felt bad to let them down. The only solution I had was transparency.
VGCHARTZ: What would success look like for Chained Echoes, whether from a financial, critical, or mind-share perspective?
MATTHIAS: Yes. All of that. My publisher says that I shouldn't worry too much about the critical success. They praise the game, like, a lot. And I also think it is pretty good and the Kickstarter Backer feedback has been super positive, too. So I hope that I can cross off this thing from my list. Financially, at least the development costs were covered through the Kickstarter, which is cool. But sure, I wouldn’t mind Chained Echoes becoming a well selling game as I’d love to continue making games.
VGCHARTZ: Chained Echoes is, essentially, a one-man show. You’re designing the game, building the code, creating the art, and writing the story. What are the perks of being your own boss, so to speak? What are the limitations?
MATTHIAS: The perks are obvious: No one tells me what to do, I can fully work on my own vision. The limitation here is that I have to do everything on my own. Think of it as building a house. Yeah sure, you can design everything but you also have to place every brick yourself. And the pipes. And then you realize you forgot some cables and have to redo a lot of other things. And then time is running out. And suddenly you have to work on console versions. It’s fun. It’s also a lot of work, which is why I hired freelancers for some tasks. The key art was done by Yo Kanzawa. And Andrew Silverman drew some backgrounds as I just didn’t have the time to do them myself.
VGCHARTZ: The one thing you’re not producing is music. That honor goes to Eddie Marianukroh. Tell me about Eddie’s music and how it fits with the tone of the game.
MATTHIAS: Eddie is a god. Honestly, he is a master of music. If not the master of music. I can not state that enough. His work is incredible. We agreed that he had free hand on the music and that he could create the tracks the way he wanted. I trusted him. I didn't ask questions. I guess that’s why the soundtrack turned out the way it did. He has a feeling for the situations, the scenery, and wrote the music especially for the game and made sure it did capture the 90s feeling of a JRPG.
VGCHARTZ: Talk to me about your publishing partnership with Deck13. How has this relationship helped Chained Echoes?
MATTHIAS: There are so many areas to take care of when releasing a game that have nothing to do with the actual development. Deck13 takes care of all those areas so I can fixate on development. Since the game will be released on countless platforms, having a publisher is a godsend. But the best thing working with them was their moral support. When you work on an ambitious project, you suddenly get a lot of money for it and you owe thousands of backers a good game, then it's quite a big burden and it feels overwhelming when you have to carry that burden alone. That's why it's always felt good to have someone you can discuss things with and get feedback from, and who's on the same page. This was Deck13 and Eddie.
VGCHARTZ: Finally, what are your plans for physical versions of the game?
MATTHIAS: There will be one after the release of the game. Exact dates and the content will be announced soon as far as I know.
I'd like to thank Matthias Linda for his thoughtful answers, and PR Hound for arranging the interview. To read more about Chained Echoes, check out the Deck13 Spotlight page here.
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Hadn't heard of the game before reading this interview - it looks surpisingly pretty for a one-man developer with a limited budget!
Some really good answers to your questions too Evan.
Really nice. FF6 and Chrono Trigger in the veins.
Looks great and a great interview. I like to hear about relationships inside the game industry between developers and studios. Whatever rivalries exist at the top in the end all these companies are in it for the same thing (mostly) to make entertainment.
