As I mentioned in my review of Heaven Dust; I was lucky enough to be able to speak to the lead game designer Jack Zhou himself. Reaching out to him via email, he was both friendly to speak to and very informative.
Jack Zhou worked independently on Heaven Dust in his personal time, with only one other co-worker Garden Guo. Focusing on the primary concept of Heaven Dust (that of a love letter to the Resident Evil franchise), Jack Zhou was open to talk about the development behind Heaven Dust, some tips for players, and any upcoming projects.
"Could you perhaps start by telling us what led you to create this self-proclaimed love letter?" I asked Zhou, apologizing for only being able to contact in English.
"As an avid gamer, and also a hardcore fan of the Resident Evil series (especially the earlier titles) [Resident Evil] left a very deep impression on me - and I've been obsessed with what happened in Racoon City even now." Zhou started. "I decided to devote myself to the game industry. So I became a 3D artist, starting to really get involved with the game Production".
Heaven Dust is one of Zhou's first ventures into console production. "I worked on online and mobile games," Zhou said. "I found that these were not the type of games I really liked and didn't give me a sense of purpose or belonging." following this Zhou proceeded to "learn procedures, UI, animation and so on by [himself]." This led to Zhou's eventual partnership with Guo who at the time was his co-worker.
"[Guo] took charge of the program, and I took charge of the other aspects. With that, a small team of two people was formed." Zhou explained. It is certainly impressive to see such a polished game produced by only two people in just a year and a half.
Heaven Dust plays from a top-down isometric perspective, featuring notably more cartoon-like animation/illustration than that of other survival horror titles. "Before designing the game [Zhou] repeatedly asked [himself] `what game could I design? Rather than what I wanted to design?`" This is an interesting approach to designing a game, but once that seems to have really worked in Zhou's favor.
"There were two reasons for deciding on [Heaven Dust's] style... One was that it would be less of a workload, and something I could handle myself... Second is that it would make [Heaven Dust] easier to port onto various platforms such as mobile phones..."
Zhou understands that the style of Heaven dust may not be everyone's cup of tea, "...Cartoon style + biochemical crisis, can everyone accept it? Give it a try, that is the [Heaven Dust] aims to show everyone..."
Zhou understands that there are faults with Heaven Dust, some due to design issues, others relating to cost. However, despite this, Zhou remains positive that this can not only be a learning curve, but also that many players will have a chance to experience his design and vision, and experience the core fun in an age where puzzles and mysteries find themselves becoming less and less common in the gaming industry.
I then proceeded to gather some much-needed information regarding Heaven Dust as currently there's no walkthroughs or tips available online.
Me: "You mentioned there being multiple endings, could you tell me how many endings there are in total?"
Zhou: "There are three endings (including a hidden one), there are some slight differences between them."
M: "Could you give players a hint as to what effects the ending?"
Z: "The `Pigeon` and `blood` are the keys."
A very cryptic answer, but one that eagerly had me trying to find the rest of the endings.
M: "Are you planning to make a sequel to Heaven Dust? Or do you have any other ideas coming up we should be looking forward to?"
Z: "Of course, Heaven Dust II development is currently in progress. No matter the graphics, system, enemy types, weapon types, or way of fighting. There are more improvements to be made than the first Heaven Dust. Of course, the traditional style puzzles will be preserved. We may only have two people, but we're going to roll up our sleeves and get to work."
Personally, I am looking forward to a sequel. Heaven Dust was a fun little game to play and well worth the purchase. But why make a love letter?
Z: "I'm a hardcore fan of the Resident Evil series. When I was able to be a game designer I knew I had to make something to express that"
With Resident Evil being so critical in the creation of Heaven Dust, I had to know Zhou's thoughts on the recent surge of Resident Evil remakes, and if he was looking forward to the much-anticipated Resident Evil 3 releasing in April.
Z: "I like them very much. I think fans won't want to miss them. When I played for the first time I didn't want to put it down. I also Resident Evil 3 very much and am looking forward to it. Can you imagine when I first played the original version? I played through the game by guessing the puzzles which were in English or Japanese, as there was no Chinese translation or walkthrough"
I'm constantly impressed when I speak to gamers who speak English as a second language. Constantly I moan about certain games not having English translations or having slight differences. But imagine being so dedicated to a media form that you insist on playing (and creating!) through sheer will, assumption, and translation.
I hope you have found this interview as interesting as I did. It really shows what you can do with the newfound accessibility to indie titles and developers. Are you looking forward to Heaven Dust II? Do you have any praise or flaws to share with Zhou himself? leave a comment and let us know!
(Zhou spoke with me using both Chinese and English, as such I have done my best to only touch up his responses so that they read a little better - whilst remaining faithful to his own words.)
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