BIOGAMER GIRL: The original release of Sanctum was released back in early 2011 and quickly became one of the most popular tower defense games around. Where did the original concept of the game come from, and was the team behind the game satisfied with the finished product?
COFFEE STAIN STUDIOS TEAM: Sanctum was originally a school-project in college. Some of our founders even skipped the thesis work for their degrees to work on Sanctum. The development of Sanctum 1 was as indie as it gets, we were 10 people working in one room during an unusually hot summer, so we were sitting in our underwear, using cardboard boxes as furniture and kitchen chairs from home as our office chairs. Naturally no developer wants to release their game when it is anything less than perfect, but for Sanctum 1, we had no other choice than to work on it as long as we had the money. When all our money ran out we had to release it and see what happens. Our most optimistic developers hoped for Sanctum 1 to get 20 000 sales, today we have sold almost 600 000 copies, so all in all, we’re pretty happy with how Sanctum 1 turned out!
BIOGAMER GIRL: Sanctum 2 will have players battling to protect valuable Cores from alien invaders. What else can you tell us about the storyline of Sanctum 2, and will the game have a more expanded storyline and campaign experience this time around?
COFFEE STAIN STUDIOS TEAM: Sanctum has actually always had a story, we just didn’t have the time or money to present it in a good way in Sanctum 1. So when we had the opportunity to make Sanctum 2 we knew we wanted to expand on it and make it a big part of the game. Sanctum 2 will have a story-based campaign, and one of the things we’re most excited to show in Sanctum 2 is our in-game visual novel, which will guide players through the story in between different maps.
BIOGAMER GIRL: There will be four new classes of characters featured in Sanctum 2. How will these changes change the gameplay from the original Sanctum, and how will the new classes effect character customization?
COFFEE STAIN STUDIOS TEAM: Naturally, we want players to be able to choose different playable characters depending on what character they think looks coolest and fits their playstyle the best. Haigen is best at close-combat and favors his shotgun, while Sweet has excellent air control and likes to do AoE damage with her REX launcher. However, the different characters are also very important to the game’s complexity and customization. Along with the perk system, the four different playable characters will give players a much higher degree of customization compared to Sanctum 1. We’ve been developing Sanctum 2 for quite a while and we’re still finding new strategies and playstyles with the four different characters.
BIOGAMER GIRL: The original Sanctum featured single player, multiplayer and survival modes that allowed up to four players to work together or against one another in matches. Will there be any new game modes included in Sanctum 2, and what sorts of tweaks have been made to these core modes for fans of the original game?
COFFEE STAIN STUDIOS TEAM: In Sanctum 1, some maps had up to 30 waves and could take hours to beat. In Sanctum 2 though, we’ve made maps that are generally shorter and don’t require an entire evening to beat. However, fans of long endurance maps will be happy to hear that we’ve streamlined survival mode quite a bit in Sanctum 2. Enemies will scale in more ways than just their HP in Sanctum 2, and there is no longer a upgrade cap for towers, so the game can get pretty insane in survival mode!
BIOGAMER GIRL: Fans of the series will obviously have their favorite maps, weapons and tactics already decided in their heads, so with that in mind, will we see the return of any maps from the original game in Sanctum 2, and what new weapons should fans look forward to getting their hands on when the game releases?
COFFEE STAIN STUDIOS TEAM: Sanctum 2 has been built from the ground up, and is a completely new game compared to Sanctum 1. All maps in the release version of Sanctum 2 are new, however, if requested by our fans, we might remake some old favorite maps from Sanctum 1 into Sanctum 2. As for weapons, we’ve included and re-made most of the weapons from Sanctum 1, but we’ve also added tons of new weapons that we’re extremely excited to let players get their hands on. We’ve tried mixing classic weapons such as the Assault Rifle and Shotgun with some more crazy stuff like the Voltaic Hand Cannon that shoots target-seeking orbs of electricity, or the Battle Cannon which is pretty much a portable mortar/timed bomb dispenser.
To learn more make sure to check out Sanctum 2 on Facebook.