May 28, 2016, at 6:23 p.m.

Last week I covered the game Mana Spark for the Greenlight Spotlight series covering great games to check out on the Steam Greenlight pages. While working on the article I reached out to Behemutt, the developers of the game and had the chance to do an interview with them. With only two people working on the game, it’s been a real labor of love for the Brazilian duo and it was wonderful getting to ask them some questions.

Interview with Behemutt

Slickster: What was the inspiration for the game?

Behemutt: Our main inspirations are rogue-likes like The Binding Of Isaac and Spelunky that revived that genre and Dark Souls unforgiving combat mechanics focused on the player’s skills.

How long has it been in development?

It has been nine to 10 months since we decided to focus on Mana Spark.

What features (if any) do you hope to add as the game progresses in development?

We want to put back a mechanic that we had for a while which the player could acquire their own traps and set them on the scenario so enemies would fall on them, bringing more possibilities to the combat. Something that has being highly requested is the possibility to unlock another different characters, that’s also on the plans. We’ll also add a lot of secrets and details along the game that tell the whole story behind the game for those interested.

Will there be a story in the game?

Yes, there is! In Mana Spark humans are the only race that can’t use mana, the energy used to cast magic. We are the weakest ones, enslaved and massacred. In the game our hero is investigating a recent human kidnapping outbreak, finds a really suspicious dungeon and decides to reach its bottom looking for answers. But the answers might be more shocking than expected.

What has been the biggest challenge so far?

I believe it’s the PR and marketing tasks so far. We didn’t know they would take so much time and effort. So many social networks to manage, so many gifs, screenshots and videos to make.

What made you want to develop this game in particular?

Mana Spark is a game that shows our strengths and what we are as a two-man team. At the same time we have a really simple visual, we have a cool artificial intelligence and a tight combat mechanic. We are both programmers, and in order to keep working as a small team, I [Ed] decided to take care of the art tasks while we couldn’t find somebody else for the role. I’m still looking for that person so our next games can look better.

Conclusion

This game is a great example of taking a simple concept and making great things out of it, and I cannot wait to see Mana Spark hit the front page on Steam in the near future.