The Banner Saga Interview

Hot on the heels of Stoic's announced development of The Banner Saga comes a quick Q&A with company founder and former Star Wars: The Old Republic animator Alex Thomas on The Indie Game Magazine. Their goal for the viking-themed strategy/RPG hybrid:
What are you hoping to achieve with The Banner Saga?

Alex: I know it sounds cliche but we're making a game we'd like to play, which makes us think other people would like to play it too. Seems obvious, but you'd be surprised how many companies sit down and go (What game should we make? What do the kids like these days? Ok, a shooter.) A lot of companies are formed before they even know what they want to make.

Shooters, MMOs, big sandbox games and casual little games are all great but there are plenty of amazing options already out there. Nobody is begging for another game on that pile. We definitely think there is a hole forming around the role-playing genre and strategy games are drying up. Publishers would say that there aren't enough people to support it, but unlike a huge development team we don't need to sell tens of millions and we think there are plenty of people who want what we're making, including us.
Hear, hear.