About this video
On this episode of the Official XBOX Podcast, we’re becoming a member of the thrill and sitting down with the workforce behind Minecraft Dungeons II. We’re discovering out what’s new, what’s totally different, and what we will anticipate after we first step foot into Minecraft’s latest dimension, the Sift.
TRANSCRIPT
SPEAKER 1: Video games on this podcast vary from E to M.[ XBOX Sound ]MALIK PRINCE: What’s going on, everyone?Welcome again to the Official XBOX Podcast.It’s the one podcast coming to you from inside XBOX.I’m your host with essentially the most Malik Prince, and I’m so excited to be speaking about Minecraft Dungeons II, which is out September twenty ninth on XBOX Collection X and S, PC, Cloud, and different platforms.I’m not doing it alone immediately, although.I’ve the design director at Mojang, Laura De Llorens.Laura, how’s it going?LAURA DE LLORENS: Hi there, it’s going very nicely.So blissful to be right here.MALIK PRINCE: Let’s get into Minecraft Dungeons II as a result of it is a very thrilling time.As I discussed, we’re simply days away.Inform me the place the workforce is as a result of I can solely think about what that’s like simply days earlier than launch.LAURA DE LLORENS: Sure, it’s a steadiness between attempting to not panic and attempting to not be very hyped.It’s conserving the feelings cool till the twenty ninth, which is now very, very shut.MALIK PRINCE: It’s going to be so good.I’m so excited for you all.I’ve gotten an opportunity to play it over the previous few days and I’m very excited to speak about — LAURA DE LLORENS: Oh that’s good.MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.Oh, spoiler alert: It’s unbelievable, so let’s simply soar into it.LAURA DE LLORENS: Glad to listen to.MALIK PRINCE: Oh, you’re going to listen to lots from me.For individuals who know Minecraft, proper, however perhaps they’ve been dwelling below a rock and so they don’t know what Minecraft Dungeons is, are you able to inform us a bit of bit about what Minecraft Dungeons is because it pertains to Minecraft and simply stroll us into Minecraft Dungeons II?LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, Minecraft Dungeons is a dungeon crawler journey RPG set on this planet of Minecraft.You possibly can play multiplayer.You possibly can play by your self.You possibly can play from wherever and any platform, and collectively, you may set off on an journey to, hopefully, save the world.MALIK PRINCE: “Save the world” is what we have to do.I seen when enjoying the sport over the previous few days, simply how approachable it was.I need to ask you, because the Design Director at Mojang, what’s it like while you sit down after making such an unbelievable sport in Minecraft Dungeons, and also you’re, okay, we need to make a sequel?How do you all even start to sort out that job?LAURA DE LLORENS: It was a bit the opposite means round.We completed Minecraft Dungeons I, and we felt like, “Oh, you realize what can be tremendous cool?If we did this, or if the world was extra like this different factor.” Then we realized that, ultimately, we have been speaking about a complete different sport altogether.It made much more sense to begin anew.It’s like we now know the right way to do it.We’ve now performed it as soon as, and we imagine we will make it higher, mainly.That’s a little bit of the sensation we began the mission with, and I believe it’s carried us via until now.MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, and I can solely think about.I really feel just like the Minecraft neighborhood is — and I’m not simply saying this since you’re right here.I really feel prefer it’s one of the vital passionate communities in the complete world.LAURA DE LLORENS: Oh, yeah.MALIK PRINCE: I’m positive participant suggestions and requests have been an enormous a part of what you ended up tackling for the sequel.LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, we had a lot — an avalanche of neighborhood suggestions — and we had to ensure to, you realize, take a few of it in, be extra conscious of different issues, and it’s been very, very fascinating to see how engaged everyone has been.MALIK PRINCE: I really like that.All proper.Inform us about what gamers can anticipate after they soar into the sequel.LAURA DE LLORENS: Oh, so many issues.MALIK PRINCE: I do know, yeah.LAURA DE LLORENS: I really feel, and to this point individuals have been telling me, that it’s actually a worthy sequel.There are such a lot of new issues, however leaping might be the factor that individuals obtained most enthusiastic about.The world is now interconnected, which means which you could go from the start of the world to the tip of the world, simply strolling.There are a variety of methods of quick touring.There are quests.There’s a complete new merchandise array and new gear techniques to degree up and make fight much more yours and your fashion.We actually tried to increase in every path that the primary one tackled, mainly.MALIK PRINCE: I need to inform you about my journey in discovering the soar, okay?Like I mentioned, two days in the past, I obtained entry to Minecraft Dungeons II.This sport, by the best way, dumps you proper into fight.It’s a part of the story that we’ll get into a bit of bit, however as quickly as you begin the sport, you’re in fight.I’m, like, oh, there are some enemies.I’ve my sword.Let me simply go forward and press the A button on XBOX.I’m like, whoa, maintain on.Maintain on.What simply occurred there?You begin to soar, and it’s so fascinating.Because the Design Director, while you add soar, I’m assuming that there are different issues that you simply need to embody within the sport for soar that make it really feel like a worthy addition, together with traversal and different issues.Are you able to inform me a bit of bit extra about what that unlocked for you?LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, completely.Within the first sport, because you couldn’t soar, it enabled us to be much more free when it comes to how the extent was performed as a result of we knew you couldn’t escape from it.Including soar made that extra sophisticated, however it additionally enabled us to have extra verticality, to have extra hidden areas, issues to find, issues to discover.We felt like that was an apparent factor so as to add when making a world that’s huge and expansive.There’s so, so many issues to find, and leaping is what enabled that to occur.MALIK PRINCE: That is such an excellent addition from a gameplay perspective, and it’s simply clear that you simply all, to your level, simply went again and simply actually went for it.One other factor, you talked about making a related world the place you may stroll from one finish to the opposite.Why was that such an necessary addition for you all?LAURA DE LLORENS: We felt like, initially, the Minecraft universe is one huge, expansive sandbox of a factor, so it felt pure for what Minecraft is.Additionally, we wished the world to really feel alive and to really feel just like the participant was influencing the happenings on this planet.Yeah, that felt lots stronger when the world was one related factor and the inhabitants have been going via issues that you would assist them with, and you may see areas change.You discover shortcuts, so the world feels extra like you may have an affect in it this manner, which can be a giant a part of Minecraft as a sport and as a universe, so it was type of a no brainer.We have been, yeah, that is the way it must be.MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, and I felt that immersion and that connectivity of this one land that you would simply stroll throughout.It felt like a really deliberate alternative that, to your level, introduced it alive.It was simply so unbelievable and such an unbelievable addition and design path.I liked it.LAURA DE LLORENS: Good.MALIK PRINCE: Any sport that has a “II” within the title, as somebody who’s by no means developed a sport, I instantly take into consideration what the dev workforce have to be considering in attempting to serve two audiences, which is, on the one hand, the trustworthy who performed the unique sport, whereas then again, ensuring that gamers who perhaps didn’t soar into the unique, they really feel prefer it’s a sport that they will simply soar into.How did you all steadiness that as you’re including these new options and as you’re constructing on what you constructed from the primary sport, ensuring that you simply serve each of these audiences?LAURA DE LLORENS: I’ll offer you one other one, which is the Minecraft neighborhood, folks that anticipate us to be a worthy enlargement of the Minecraft universe, so it’s been a fancy drawback.Once we designed Minecraft Dungeons I, we thought, it is advisable acknowledge the world of Minecraft in Minecraft Dungeons.In the second, we tried to be sure you acknowledged Minecraft and Minecraft Dungeons I, however that there was additionally sufficient new and sufficient totally different so that you can really feel like you would uncover this world for the primary time, and it was nonetheless going to be a tremendous expertise.That’s why we introduced The Sift into the sport.We wished to ensure we expanded on the world of Minecraft, in order that was a giant a part of honoring vanilla Minecraft but in addition Minecraft Dungeons, in addition to doing our personal factor, yeah.MALIK PRINCE: It’s a kind of video games that I believe anybody can soar into, however yeah, you will note these issues for the gamers who actually love the unique sport.I believe that they’re going to be served very well.Like I all the time say, the story is the motivation, so inform me a bit of bit about the place we left off in Minecraft Dungeons I and the place the story is choosing up for the second.LAURA DE LLORENS: In Dungeons I, there’s this camp the place you come again each time you end a mission.So you’d exit, journey a bit of bit, after which have to return again into the camp.In Minecraft Dungeons II, that camp will get fully destroyed.It’s the very first thing that occurs within the sport, setting the heroes up for a complete array of issues.We wished to be sure that it didn’t really feel fully indifferent from Minecraft Dungeons I.You acknowledge the area, however now you may have the area to maneuver on and into the world of Minecraft Dungeons II.The Illagers are as much as no good, as all the time, however there are a lot greater issues this time round.MALIK PRINCE: The Illagers and the Illager Council that’s displaying up, inform us a bit of bit about who they’re, and why are they so evil?LAURA DE LLORENS: It’s within the nature of Illagers.We wished to be sure that there was a really huge drawback, which is an environmental disaster, but in addition, that there was a transparent factor you have been preventing in opposition to.The Illager Council simply got here naturally, and yeah, they’re three Illagers that obtained supercharged and determined to take that energy and do dangerous issues with it.MALIK PRINCE: Is there a bit of little bit of that how will we make them a bit of bit fascinating, not simply actually dangerous?Possibly one thing occurred to them.Possibly their story is a bit of bit extra sophisticated than it seems.LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, we tried to be sure that there was various that via a few of our facet quests.The primary quest is much more a clear-cut narratively, however there’s much more of that investigation via exploring the world, in order that’s a little bit of a reward for being concerned on this planet, and mainly, speaking to our NPCs and discovering issues.Yeah, we positively have a few of that.MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, it simply provides to the expertise, however earlier you talked about The Sift.That is large for Minecraft.LAURA DE LLORENS: Sure.MALIK PRINCE: Are you able to inform me a bit of bit extra about The Sift and the way it suits into the general world of Minecraft Dungeons?LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, after we set as much as make Dungeons II, we actually wished to carry one thing new to the desk and new to the world of Minecraft, so we set off to make a brand new dimension, and it has been a really concerned course of.There have been lots of people who’ve partaken in it, and we wished a part of the world of Minecraft that didn’t really feel essentially threatening or essentially very benevolent.It’s simply its personal unbiased factor that you simply simply have by no means encountered earlier than.The world has its personal unbiased ecosystem.There’s mobs that thrive via issues that harm the participant, as an example, however the mobs reside there.They’re tailored to that.In order that was a bit what we have been attempting to search for, and we additionally wished to search for an aesthetic that was model new to the world of Minecraft, so it felt instantly like one thing totally different that you would discover.MALIK PRINCE: The aesthetic half is gorgeous.It appears to be like like someplace I am going once I’m sick and I take NyQuil or one thing like that.Oh my God, it is a entire new world.LAURA DE LLORENS: I’ve to say, there’s darker elements to it as nicely.I noticed a variety of feedback on-line being, like, “Oh, that is like Willy Wonka’s Manufacturing facility,” or no matter, however it additionally has its mysterious elements, so it’s a little bit of all the things.MALIK PRINCE: I really like that.That’s what we name, within the enterprise, a tease.I’m solely an hour and a half in, so I’m excited to find what thriller awaits.Isn’t it the primary new dimension in 15 years, proper?LAURA DE LLORENS: Yep.MALIK PRINCE: Did you’re feeling that strain of like, hey, it’s all the time been these are the scale, however now we’re about so as to add one thing, and it’s all on me, and we’ve obtained to make this fascinating?LAURA DE LLORENS: We have been a giant workforce of individuals ensuring that this was the perfect match that it could possibly be, and we had been discussing the potential of a fourth dimension for fairly some time.This stuff take a variety of time.Then we had a workforce of folks that made positive that all of it match inside the lore and the mythos of Minecraft.I do know once I say the phrase “lore,” everyone will get very hyped, however we additionally had idea artists bringing the aesthetics collectively.We reviewed it lots, and we had individuals provide you with mobs, and we had all this idea for what the ecosystem may really feel like.It’s been a protracted technique of a variety of collaboration between many groups, individuals with totally different experience and crafts.It was a variety of strain, but in addition, it by no means felt prefer it was a factor that was very targeting one particular person or just a few individuals.It was a labor of workforce — MALIK PRINCE: Of affection, yeah.LAURA DE LLORENS: — collaboration and love.MALIK PRINCE: I’ve two extra issues I need to chat with you about, the primary one being multiplayer.In fact, Minecraft Dungeons, you would play it solo when you’ve got no pals, like me, or you would play it collectively.Clearly, that was within the unique sport.Inform me a bit extra about why that’s so necessary for Minecraft Dungeons.LAURA DE LLORENS: The world of Minecraft is a world that thrives with interplay and collaboration with different individuals, so we wished to be sure that regardless of the place you have been or in what platform you performed, you would play collectively.To your level, you say you don’t have any pals, we have now matchmaking, so you can also make pals in Dungeons II.MALIK PRINCE: There you go.It’s a buddy maker, and I’m assuming that it scales as you add gamers to the problem, and that in all probability evokes a bit of bit extra emotion of working collectively as a workforce and making certain that you simply’re all on the identical web page.LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, precisely, the sport may be very versatile, so in case you would be a part of in the course of my session, the session would adapt to us being two individuals.Then if you need to depart and I nonetheless was there, it’ll adapt again to being one participant.We’ve tried to make it as versatile as doable so individuals can play nonetheless they need.One factor that’s new that we didn’t have in Dungeons I is which you could now combine sofa co-op and on-line play, which means which you could be right here enjoying along with your buddy on the sofa and your different pals are some place else, and you may play with them.MALIK PRINCE: Oh, love that.LAURA DE LLORENS: So yeah, as sprawling and versatile of a multiplayer expertise as we may provide is what we tried to do.MALIK PRINCE: Oh, love that.Love that.The very last thing that I need to chat about is hero customizations.Are you able to inform me a bit of bit extra about what’s new so far as customizations go?LAURA DE LLORENS: We’ve separated the armor into 4 armor items, like in Minecraft vanilla, once more, to go nearer to the Minecraft universe.We additionally added talismans, that are passive boosts.The enchantment system works otherwise now.There are results.There are rarities.It is vitally humorous as a result of me and the Sport Director are very reverse varieties of gamers.I’m the kind of participant that will get to dungeons, places on no matter appears to be like funnier in the meanwhile, after which simply goes.He’s the kind of particular person that can go in and hone in on each single quantity and each skill, and the sport permits us each to play nonetheless we wish, which I believe has been excellent.The truth that we have now that yin and yang has helped us lots in making it as clear, easy, and approachable, but in addition with all this depth and all of the stat screens.You possibly can examine what all the things does, so I believe it’s been excellent give-and-take.MALIK PRINCE: I really like that.I imply, you actually have developed a sport that displays the best way that a number of individuals in your workforce take pleasure in enjoying.I believe that gamers need to hear that.They need to hear that they’re not leaping right into a sport that’s essentially forcing them to do one factor or customise in a technique.I’m in all probability extra such as you.I’d simply placed on no matter is cool and humorous.I’ve already placed on some hats and stuff like that.As we wind issues down, as I discussed, Laura and I obtained to speak a bit of bit earlier in preparation for this.I all the time prefer to ask, hey, what’s a query that you simply don’t get requested sufficient?Laura, I don’t know in case you keep in mind your reply, however it was concerning the workforce, the workforce who has spent years constructing this sport, placing sweat and tears — hopefully not blood — however a lot into this sport, and now constructing this factor from a inventive perspective and with the ability to put it out into the world — how a lot it should imply to you all.Are you able to inform me a bit of bit extra about why that was your reply?LAURA DE LLORENS: Properly, we began constructing Minecraft Dungeons I with a tiny, tiny workforce.We turned successful that we didn’t absolutely anticipate, so the workforce grew a lot bigger, and with that got here a complete bunch of folks that have been tremendous passionate concerning the world of Minecraft, that have been very, very pushed to make the brand new dimension pretty much as good as doable, which was super-lucky for us as a result of I believe it got here out super-good.Particularly within the final 12 months, it’s been arduous work, and the workforce remains to be very pushed and really excited concerning the launch of the sport.So yeah, I really feel we have now such a passionate workforce and I’m very happy with them, and I’m very happy with how far we’ve gotten.MALIK PRINCE: You need to be., after solely enjoying an hour and a half of the sport to this point and might’t wait to leap again in to play extra of it, you need to really feel extremely happy with the work that you simply’ve performed, and I’m so sure that gamers, after they soar in, are going to really feel the identical means concerning the workforce.With that, let’s simply roll out the purple carpet for you, Laura.Remaining phrases for the neighborhood forward of them leaping in.LAURA DE LLORENS: Please go play Minecraft Dungeons II.It’s coming Tuesday, September twenty ninth, and we imagine you actually, actually will love the sport, so go for it.MALIK PRINCE: I adore it.Laura mentioned it finest, however I’ll say it yet another time: Minecraft Dungeons II releases on XBOX Collection X and S, on PC, and on Cloud September twenty ninth.Laura, thanks a lot for becoming a member of us immediately.LAURA DE LLORENS: Thanks so, a lot for having me.MALIK PRINCE: Sure.Thanks all for watching and listening.Till subsequent time, with the Official XBOX Podcast, I’m Malik.We’ll see you subsequent time.[ XBOX Sound ]
