We're the three brothers making Alluris, a mixture of DnD, Tinder, and Oregon trail. We've won some awards! Stop by the tavern and ask us anything!

Do any of you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night, screaming "EUREKA!", just to write down that one idea that popped into your head?

"Ya! We all have notebooks that we can write down things when they come to us. Will carries his with him everywhere. We normally all sit down and talk about all the ideas that we've had and the community has had that week and see which make sense. This is honestly the fun part for me because it's where we start getting the fun interactions. Marrying the rat queen wouldn't have happened if not for that =P"

If you wanna follow the project you can here! (we're releasing a demo later) https://discordapp.com/invite/alluris ​

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

How do you compare to entertainment 720?

Well, we do have one simple goal in common. To create the best premier multimedia production conglomerate, in the world. Unfortunately, we are 158° less awesome.

Fahrenheit or Celcius?

"We just get a stone wet and see how long it takes to dry itself in the sun. We don't believe in these archaic forms of measurement like Fahrenheit or Celcius"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Roentgen.

Not great, not terrible.

Lot of opinions on temperature systems here today I see

Reminds me of the game "reigns" . In that you play a king and you swipe decisions. Was that of any influence?

"WE LOVE REIGNS, sorry I had to get that out. Ya, Reigns was such a fun game and it had some great ideas. I think Reigns fell a bit short on giving you a really great sense of exploration and choice. You kinda felt like you were just stuck in the same place swiping cards and trying not to die. We wanted to REALLY amp up the RPG (D&D-esc) aspects of the game."

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

This description really got me excited. I'll be keeping an eye on the game!

"Thanks! We're getting the demo out today at some point so you wont have to wait too long!"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Will it be on mobile at all? Specifically would it be on iPhone at all?

"YA! iOS version is coming the same time!" -Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Were there any mechanics that you tried to implement that didn't quite work with/fit the overall theme and the simplistic control options?

"We've gone through everything from combat minigames to swiping in more directions, but we've managed to fight the urge to sprawl, and kept the project lean.

​

What we eventually decided was that this game is ALL about choice and we wanted to make sure that thesis was maintained. When we were considering adding more stuff it ended up making the game muddy and confusing."

​

-Will Weiler /u/loremage

What inspired to make this? I’m genuinely curious.

"It came out of a time when we were working on a much larger game that wasn't working out. In a night, I had a working prototype, and we collectively decided to switch over to that. Accessibility was also something we started working on from the beginning. Many of our friends struggle with controls issues and anxiety, and when we arrived on the whole "Two inputs, infinite adventures" thing, we knew we had something. "

​

-Will Weiler /u/loremage

Is there going to be accessibility options for vision impairment as well? I have a friend who is completely blind and would love this if she could play without assistance.

"100% something we've talked about A LOT. We're working with a few third party developers that do text-to-speech integrations that use some crazy plugins. It's definitely something we're working on, it's just really really complicated to get working right."

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

That's really cool! She's complained to me before that it's really hard for her to find games that are accessible, much less actually good. There's basically no games out there for blind people.

"Accessibility is something that matters a lot for a small group of people who are often not given a very large voice. We're going to work as hard as we can to make this game work for those people too."

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

What IP would you reference in the game if given a chance?

(Not trying to spoil any future plans, just curious about personal inspirations)

"We are looking at showcasing some of the other indie games we love with references in our game. There are an awful lot of really amazing games out there that don't get a lot of attention and it would be fun to shine a light on some of those.

I know that /u/loremage is a MASSIVE fan of Critical Role so being able to work with them would be incredible."

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS!!!

GET EXCITED!!!

So what your saying is I can smash kobolds by day, smash bar maids by night and die of dysentery the next day......where do I sign up????

"hahahaha, you can play the game however you see fit. If you want to sign up to get a copy of the beta then you can join our discord. We're sending everything else there https://discordapp.com/invite/alluris" -Preston Weiler /u/blue59

What is, in your opinion, the riskiest design choice you've made regarding this game?

"wow really great question. Uhh honestly it's probably the reading element of the game. This is not a game that you just sit back and can hack and slash at things. Those games are great, but this isn't that. We were really really concerned that even with all the pretty artwork and VFX, people would still just not want to read anything. This concern was completely dispelled at our first conference where we had people standing in lines to play the game. It was certainly my biggest concern. It was shocking to see how wrong I truly was."

​

-Preston Weiler /u/blue59

What are some ideas you had to scrap due to the size of your team?

"We've scrapped entire games because we started the project and figured out that it either isn't fun or would require an impossible scope to be fun. It's a pretty crushing feeling. For Alluris we were really lucky that it was so simple from the start. We had a really good vision for the project from day one and we stuck to that initial idea. I don't remember any ideas that made it past the "Hey what if we were to do this thing" phase that got scrapped for Alluris."

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

So how DO you keep the peace as brothers? I have just one brother and I'm 90% sure that while we could make something together, we would also break something (or someone) along the way. There three of you, so that must add complexity

"It can be really challenging but also really rewarding. No one is ever harder on you than your siblings. We're certainly no exception. From that (sometimes brutal) honesty we are constantly pushing each other to be better versions of ourselves for the team.

We will honestly point at AAAs and say "hey if they can do [insert ridiculous thing here] why can't we do it too." You'd be surprised by how often you can do really cool stuff when people are willing to push you. No matter how much conflict there is we always have respect for each other and the work. That's all that ends up mattering in the long run." -Preston Weiler /u/blue59

Tinder and Oregon trail? So you swipe right to die of dysentery?

"Hahaha, I don't think you can die of dysentery yet but you get the idea. We tried to make a version of DnD that was really exploration and choice driven but that was super easy to play and understand. Some things are better simple"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Will it be coming to mobile?

"ya! iOS and Android at the same time it releases everywhere else!"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Hey guys! The concept sounds amazing, and I love the fact that you're considering levels of engagement that everyone is capable of.

In the same vein, have you thought about other accessibility issues?

"Hey /u/manaie! Accessibility is both the inspiration for the game and our main priority. Our partnership with ID@Xbox was because they had the adaptive controller. It opens the door for so many people that otherwise couldn't play the game.

We've partnered with a handful of accessible gaming communities to get feedback and test the game. Our responsibility to those communities is no where near being fulfilled. We have a part of our Discord chat dedicated to getting more feedback as well as an entry on our support forum (https://www.562interactive.com/support.html)

We want to make sure that we do everything we possibly can to make it accessible to people."

-Preston Weiler (/u/blue59)

Hey! Fantastic to hear you've reached out to communities to get feedback on the accessibility for the game! It's definitely a great way to see how usable the game is for everyone.

What sort of other concerns than just input have you been looking at/implemented so far?

"I'm glad people care about this as much as we do. A big one for us is making it approachable for learning disabilities as well. There's nothing that is reaction time based or anything like that. Color blind modes are also something we want to tackle.

Another part of it's openness and approach-ability is our rating. We are working with ESRB to ensure we fit into an E10+ rating / Pegi 7+"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

/repost

What was the most fun thing to create while making Alluris, and what has been the most difficult so far?

"The most fun thing is creating all the stories. It's like being a DM to the worlds biggest game of Dungeons and Dragons. The most challenging thing has been getting art on everything and getting to a really high level of polish"

-Ray Weiler /u/sexualpicard

I noticed on the Steam page it only had Windows system requirements but on the short trailer it had IOS as one of the accessable systems. Will this game be playable on Mac through Steam? Really loving the look of the game so far and want to be able to play it.

"Thanks for taking a look at the game! The game is releasing for Windows, Xbox, Android, and iOS. We'd love to make a mac version and if we have the development resources post-launch to make that possible we'd love to look into it."

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Great! Lucky for me I'll be able to snag it on my Xbox. Thanks for taking the time to respond. Best of luck with the launch!

I appreciate it! Thanks for being excited about it =D

-Preston Weiler /u/blue59

Never any love for us linux guys 💔

We will never forget you <3

I appreciate it :) I understand all the work that goes into porting it over to a different OS. Its no problem, I can spin up a windows machine or just be patient enough for the mobile! Just had to gripe because another of my favorite indie games (HeroSiege) is completely redoing their game engine and now dropping linux support with the rework. Thanks for responding and best of luck to you guys! As a developer you are all a huge inspiration

It takes soooo much effort =( you wont have to wait too long for mobile. Everything is coming out on July 19th.

How do you exactly link things so easily together?

Hey /u/theonlyshyg! What do you mean by that? as in the Cards? Environments?

No as in diffrent topics, like how could tinder and the oregon trail combine so easily.

"Oh! So the idea is what if we take the essence of a D&D/ Oregon Trail style adventure and put it in the context of just swiping left and right. In the game each card represents a day and your left and right swipe options are determined by who you are, what you've done, what items you have, etc."

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

The website references "runs" and how things that you do in one run can influence future runs. What does that mean exactly?

Alluris is a rougelike (like FTL/Risk of Rain) it was designed to be played in ~40 minute "runs" where you create a character, travel the world, and either succeed or fail at accomplishing whatever you set out to do. Sometimes that means overcoming Baron Dread and rising an army to fight him. Sometimes that means uncovering a new backstory or race that you can start a new run as. On even rarer occasions it may even mean joining Baron Dread.

These backstories can change A LOT about a run. Where you start, what you are trying to do, how people react to you, and much more are governed by this.

this is a really cool game concept. seems like it might be a neat way to introduce friends to the DnD world without immediately dumping them into rules and hexgrids and math. y'all seem to like Dallas, coming back for Quakecon this year?

"Thanks for being excited about the game! Ya, we basically just use trips to Texas as an excuse to eat an unhealthy amount of BBQ! We'll be at Quakecon and RTX! RTX is coming up soon!"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

awesome! if you have time, drive up to McKinney and have Hutchins BBQ. best in Dallas area imho :)

oh ya, that's happening for sure (is Franklin in Austin worth it?)

I personally haven't been actually (I'm a Dallasite and originally from North Texas) but anyone I know has said that yes, even with the wait it's worth it.

ohh god now we might have to wait in that line

or https://preorder.franklinbbq.com apparently? woo technology letting us not stand in 95 degree weather! although some might argue that the waiting is part of the experience...but I'd rather just eat

What a time to be alive this is. Thank you for bringing this beautiful beautiful website to our attention. Weren't people at one point paying hundreds of dollars for other peoples spot in line?

oh yeah people have given this line the full comiccon treatment...paying for spots, bringing tents and supplies to wait starting at 7am, the whole shabang. it makes me a little worried that part of why people think it's so good is the sort of psych out from having waited so long...like after that long it's bound to taste good.

like I said though, I've never had it personally...Hutchins in McKinney has a bit of a wait sometimes (but like...30 minutes at lunchtime on a Sunday sort of thing..max wait for bbq in Texas lol). also Hard 8 BBQ is probably my second favorite in DFW area, there's a lot more of them around the metroplex

For Dreamhack Dallas we only had enough time to sneak off to some chain and get bbq there. We're gonna do better this time around =P

What is your personal hardest part of the development cycle? Creating the IP, building the framework, PR, etc.?

My job is easy. I basically just show people pretty pictures of work that /u/sexualpicard and /u/loremage do. I think that the pace of art is insane in this project and /u/sexualpicard has been working really hard to match it. Also this is our first console release so it adds a whole new level to this challenge.

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Our current project is Alluris, a swipe-your-own-adventure game. Alluris is designed to distill the DnD experience into a single player game where the only inputs you have is swiping left and right.

Isn't this concept very similar to Reigns?

"We love Reigns! It is such an awesome game that we all really really enjoy. Alluris has a heavier focus on giving you a better sense of exploration and choice. Sometimes Reigns felt like you were just swiping cards and trying to do whatever wouldn't make you die. It doesn't really create a sense of choice that we were going for."

-Preston Weiler /u/blue59

So if I roll a 20, yonder lady and I go for a roll in the hay, and if I roll a 1, we both die of dysentery?

"hahaha, there isn't anything that explicit in the game. We're trying to keep the game a lot lighter of an experience. You can marry people and have kids though. And there are hundreds of ways to die =P"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Swiping left and right, how soon can we expect the mobile version?

"Releasing Android, iOS, PC, and Xbox late July (we're targeting the 19th) but we're going to have a playable for PC today or tomorrow."

-Preston Weiler /u/blue59

One question only; can I be a Wizard?

you tell me =P https://i.imgur.com/jj1oe6e.jpg

Oh, of course you can

JINX

Can someone explain to me why the images on the gender card look like they are streched? Bugs the hell outta me :p

"They were stretched! I think they are less stretched now but We'll do some tweaking and get that right for you =P sorry <3"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Can I still get a demo copy after finding this post several hours too late? ToT

"lol of course! We are still trying to get the keys in =O If we don't get them by tomorrow morning we are going to host it on discord and give keys out there!"

-Preston Weiler /u/blue59

I'll get discord on my phone so I can try and secure a spot while I'm at work. This game is sooooo up my alley. Thanks for responding my dudes. I wish you all the success and money!

I just hope people like it =D

How many people have died of dysentery while on a first date surrounded by beasts?

"hahahaha, No one yet but you can be the first" -Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

So, first thing first, hello there devs of this intriguing game. Hope you’re having a good day. Second, are you planing on keeping this game steam/pc exclusive, or have you thought about other consoles or even releasing it on mobile? Because, as the post mentions that it focuses a lot on “swiping” left or right, the first thing that came to my mind was that this was going to be a mobile experience, but after joining the discord I learned that the demo would take place on steam, so I was curious about this.

"Hey /u/kaede_nyu! Thanks for being excited about the game! It is coming to iOS, Android, and Xbox! we just couldn't do demos on those right now because it is logistically challengeing to do that many demos at the same time =D"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

What's your favorite card so far?

"I personally love the card art on the music shop. It is easily my favorite illustration /u/sexualpicard did. It's impossible to chose which one has my favorite writing. We have one that is a Monty Python bridge of death parody which has some pretty funny interactions. /u/loremage also wrote an incredible story about family and loss that leads to unlocking one of the races. It's all over the place and my favorite changes day to day."

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Can you die of Dysentery in this game?

"You cant right now but we've had an overwhelming public request for it so I think we'll slip it in somewhere"

-William Weiler /u/Loremage

Not bringing it to switch?

"We think that people would love it on Switch =D. We're working to try and make that a possibility but nothing to announce yet."

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Is this similar to Sort the Court?

"Wow I'd never seen that one! It's super adorable =O. Ya, it has the same concept of having just 2 inputs. Alluris is more about going on an adventure then this one is though. You travel around the world, you aren't just a king making decisions"

​

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

You guys might miss this, as the AMA was started 18 hours ago. But are you looking at integrating an option to alter the direction of swiping from E/W to N/S and even diagonally NE/SW and NW/SE to suit players of different impairments and left/right handed players?

"Awesome idea! we had honestly not thought of this at all! It's on the list =D"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

What's it like being sex gods? (lmao, jk this sounds really cool and I'm intrigued)

You are the first person in my life to describe me like that (and quite possibly the last) =P. Thanks for checking out the game!

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Can you be my dad though?

"I think that it's possible for you to be your own dad but you have to consult /u/loremage about that one"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

How are you keeping accessibility in mind? Do you have people helping out, or do you do research, or other options?

"we would be nowhere without a handful of disabled communities that have started giving us feedback for the game. We're still far from fulfilling our duty to those communities. We want to work with the local children's hospitals here in orange as well and make sure they have everything they need to play the game. If you have any suggestions for accessibility features than drop them in the web accessibility contact form or in the discord's accessibility section =D"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Will this be out on Android phones? Looks amazing, would definitely purchase.

"Coming to Android, iOS, Xbox, and PC (Steam, Windows Store, and Discord Store). Thanks for being excited!

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Hi. The game sounds cool. Maybe I’m being dumb but I can’t find anywhere on your website to actually get the game, and it’s not on the iOS App Store. How do I play it?

"The game isn't coming out till later in July! We're handing out keys to the demo (Steam) tomorrow in Discord. We are waiting for the keys to show up right now =P"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Cool. What platforms will it be available for?

"coming to Xbox, PC (Steam/ Discord Store), iOS, Android in July"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Clearly you play D&D and are in Dallas. My Sunday game seems to have fallen apart. Do you have room for a new player? I'm also a software dev if that help, so we can talk shop.

"We're actually not in Dallas (we're in Anaheim) but we are spending a lot of time down there this season. Talk to /u/loremage he has a few that he is part of and one he runs (not familiar with their schedule or if they have a spot but send him a dm =D)"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

562? Long Beach area reppin?

hahaha, Lots of people ask us that and we are Anaheim based now. But alas no, we started in Maryland. 562 was the street address for the home that we (the three brothers) grew up in.

What platforms will it be on?

"Xbox, PC (Windows store, Steam, Discord), iOS, and Android"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Any plans on bringing the game to mobile? Looks like the format would fare well.

"Ya! it's coming to iOS and Android!"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Soo, it's a dating app?

"hahaha, the only thing that it shares with Tinder is that you swipe left and right. It's an RPG in every other conceivable way"

-Preston Weiler /u/Alluris

My first impressions of this game are it will another trashy mobile game that will be ruined by an disgusting amount of micro transactions. So are you planning on adding micro transactions?

EDIT: Thank you for answering :)

"Hey /u/Darthwookiee189, This is a single time purchase (Premium) game. You buy it you have it. No stupid loot crates (or excuse me I think we are calling them surprise mechanics now), iapps, or ads.

You would be blown away by how many large publishers showed up and told us that we were going to turn it into some stupid pay per swipe game or something terrible like that. They just offer you piles of money to ruin your game lol, that's why we are self published on this one. We control the whole experience for players"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

What programing language/specifications were involved?

"Hey /u/dumblole! It was primarily coded in Blueprints for UE4 although there was some native C++ work that had to be done."

-William Weiler /u/loremage

Apologies for the suuuper late question, but just out of curiosity, does the “562” have anything to do with LB, CA?

"The 562 refers to the street address that us (the three brothers) grew up in! Although we do live out here in LA now so maybe it has a dual meaning now =P"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

I just watched the trailer, and am I understanding correctly that even though it's a game played by swiping left and right, like Reigns, it won't be available on mobile? The end of the video said Windows 10 and Xbox (I was hoping for Android).

"Hey @angrywizard! Xbox trailers only have the Microsoft platforms on them. We are releasing Android, iOS, Xbox, PC (Steam, Windows Store, Discord Store)"

-Preston Weiler /u/Blue59

Which one is the gay?

You'll never know! throws glitter and runs away

Pls do not mix dnd they are the worst writers ever and why automod is a bitch ?

Sounds like you've had some rough experiences with D&D, but this isn't based on any official D&D content from WotC. I'd recommend checking the different D&D forums for your area, you might find a group you really like!

Also we like automods, they can stay <3