“Rise was made with a sequel in mind”: Evelyn and Joey discuss the development and future of Rise of the Third Power

Rise of the Third Power is a recent indie RPG developed by Stegosoft, with a decidedly retro feel. Jason Parker of Sportskeeda recently sat down with the developers, Evelyn Rose Hall (co-owner, creative director, writer, designer) and Joey (co-owner, designer, programmer), after the review, and spoke about the game.

The trio discussed the challenges in building Rise of the Third Power, whether Kickstarter is a good idea for indie devs looking for financing, and much more.

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Evelyn and Joey on Rise of the Third Power's development, challenges, and if a sequel is possible

Q: Rise of the First Power takes place in the same world as Ara Fell, but are the games connected in an intrinsic way?

Evelyn: They’re actually not! I’m not sure where this misinformation came from, but they’re not officially in the same universe. The only connection between them is a joke reference to floating islands by a doomsayer NPC.

Rise of the Third Power and Ara Fell aren't connected at all (Image via Stegosoft Games)

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Q: On the topic of Ara Fell, are there any easter eggs or teasers from the previous game for players to find?

Players may be able to find an easter egg or two in Rise of the Third Power if they look hard enough (Image via Stegosoft Games)

Evelyn: A few! The one I just mentioned, but also a few NPCs. At some point, the party from Ara Fell was in an inn in Rise, but I can’t remember if I left that in or not…

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Q: The characters in the game have pretty realistic and entertaining interactions with each other. Were there any stories (manga, novels, et cetera) that inspired how the characters interact?

Rise of the Third Power contains excellent character interactions and dialogue (Image via Stegosoft Games)

Evelyn: Baldur’s Gate 2 is the one that comes to mind. There must have been many other inspirations, but beyond BG2, a lot of it came from just wishing games I played as a kid had more interaction between characters.

When I went back to replay those games as an adult, the conversations felt so flat and sparse, and I realized I was just adding my own “lore” to these characters as I played when I was little. So I wanted to write that all out!

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Q: Were there any lessons learned from the reception of Ara Fell that was taken into account for Rise of the First Power, be they positive or negative?

Rise of the Third Power was certainly influenced by the feedback from the previous game (Image via Stegosoft Games)

Evelyn: Good question! We definitely incorporated negative feedback. Non-boss enemies felt bland, so we added more. Party variety felt weak, so we added more characters with more skills and roles.

Some thought Ara Fell was too short, so Rise is about double the length. Honestly, we were pretty confident in the things we thought we did well, though.

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Q: What led to the decision to share one party level instead of individual character levels? And was this the same choice that led to sharing skill points?

Rise of the Third Power shares a great deal of resources to simplify character growth (Image via Stegosoft Games)

Joey: A big design challenge we tackled in this game is how can we have the player feel like all 8 characters of the party are partaking in the adventure, giving the player a lot of options to customize their party, and prevent the player from sidelining their least favorite characters, all without overwhelming the player or making progression feel tedious.

We went through a few iterations trying to get this balance right - skill upgrades, complex skill trees, individual levels, stat allocations, etc. We ended up with a few things to solve this:

• Shared resources - levels, gear upgrades, accessories, and talent points. By having a shared pool of resources for each, the player won’t have to spend as much time managing all 8 characters. Personally, I’d love that level of micro-management, but we found during testing that most players don’t.
• Shared party levels - that way whoever you use in combat, nobody will end up underleveled, which reduces the chance of them being sidelined.
• Shared skill points - so that you get to have some agency in who gets leveled up first. The cost for unlocking talents for a single character increases as you allocate more points to them, so there’s an incentive to spread points around the whole party, but the player can still pump up their favorite characters first.

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Q: There were several NPCs in the game that came from the Kickstarter as rewards; could those characters show up in another Stegosoft RPG somewhere down the line?

Some of the Rise of the Third Power Kickstarter NPCs could show up again in the future (Image via Stegosoft Games)

Joey: I hadn’t considered it until you asked this question. Maybe! I love the concept of a traveling merchant that shows up in every dungeon, like Neko from Secret of Mana, and if we were to do another game set in the Rise universe, bringing back Trepidanos might be fun.

There are also a couple NPC’s that were designed around my nephew’s two grandfathers, and I think there’s a decent chance they’ll make it into a future game.

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Q: The overall design philosophy when it comes to the character-building and growth is “simplicity.” Was this to done intentionally to give players more time to focus on the story?

Rise of the Third Power's systems are deep, but not too deep that players get lost in them (Image via Stegosoft Games)

Joey: The goal was to have just enough depth in the systems that the player would feel satisfied without feeling overwhelmed. Throughout our lengthy beta testing cycle we kept moving the dial on this one, and I think the final result is tuned pretty well.

How much party management and customization should be in a game is a subjective thing, and the feedback from players has varied wildly, but the most common feedback has been that it’s set just right. I don’t think we can make everyone happy with every design decision, but it’s still got me mulling over what changes we could make to accommodate the folks we missed.

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Q: Were there any particular encounters or characters in the game that were especially fun to create?

Joey: As far as encounters go, the four optional end-game bosses were a blast to make. It’s fun when you get to tune a boss fight to the highest difficulty you think a player will be able to contend with.

It’s also a nice challenge trying to leave room for multiple strategies that can lead to success, to create an experience for the player where they feel brilliant when they think outside the box and try a wacky strategy that actually ends up working.

There are many interesting, challenging encounters in Rise of the Third Power (Image via Stegosoft Games)

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Q: How has the overall experience of developing an indie game through Kickstarter been? Is it a route that you would recommend to would-be indie developers?

Joey: It was fun, and it brought me a whole lot of motivation. But I wouldn’t recommend other devs use it as a primary source of funding. I suggest looking at it as a tool to bring attention to your project and build a following - essentially a marketing tool. My recommendation is that new devs go the dreaded route of publisher funding.

It can be incredibly challenging to fund a game like Rise of the Third Power, but Kickstarter is a great marketing tool (Image via Stegosoft Games)

Think of it this way - if you’re far enough along and have an idea that’s good enough to make a successful Kickstarter, then you have everything you need to put together a solid pitch.

Your publisher will be able to teach you a ton that you likely haven’t gotten a chance to learn yet, lead the introductions with platform representatives, use their rolodex to get you the resources you need, and guide you through the process of releasing your first game.

Rise of the Third Power is a truly an indie success through Kickstarter, but there are ways to get a game going (Image via Stegosoft Games)

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Q: What is the future of Rise of the First Power? Can fans of the game expect more stories set in the world of Rin?

Evelyn: I hope so! Rise was absolutely made with a sequel in mind, Fall of the Third Power, and I really hope I get the chance to work on it! I’ll keep the details for what I have in mind for that under wraps for now though!

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Rise of the Third Power is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, MacOS, Linux, and Nintendo Switch, through Stegosoft Games and DANGEN Entertainment.