Exclusive Interview: Dan Paladin, Emil Ayoubkhan and Megan Lam of The Behemoth Discuss BattleBlock Theater

BattleBlock Theater can now be purchased on Xbox Live Arcade and is the third title from The Behemoth team known for their work on Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers. We recently had the opportunity to chat with Dan Paladin, Co-Owner & Art Director of The Behemoth, Emil Ayoubkhan, Project Manager and Megan Lam, Community Captain. In the interview we discussed the key moments of development for BattleBlock Theater, the game's insane but fun ending, and if we can expect the game on next-gen consoles. Also, we took the time to discuss Alien Hominid and the possibility of a Castle Crashers sequel. Read on to learn more.

AMANDA: BattleBlock Theater was in development for quite a long time, but it finally released back in April of this year. Can you walk us through some of the key moments in the game's development from initial concepts, bringing in Will Stamper to provide a voice for the game and thoughts on having the game finally completed?

DAN PALADIN: In the beginning, all we had were blocks in a black void. We tried a variety of themes and the theme that seemed to work the best was the theater setting. Once the black void was covered with things like curtains and cats waiting to watch the show, that was a really big moment.

While we were developing the game mechanics, we also discussed a variety of ways to handle storytelling, some of them were in game cinematics and some of them were animated videos, but none of them seemed to be quite right. Then we had Will Stamper do some voice acting for the intro cinematic and it fit really well. He breathed a lot of extra life into the atmosphere that we were trying to achieve. So then we asked him to come and do takes for the in game activity. Once we had all the rules and timing for his commentating in game, the whole thing seemed like a very solid experience.

In our final months of development, after we created the usability lab, we were able to tweak everything that seemed to be either confusing, awesome or in the middle until it was about right and as good as we hoped.

AMANDA: BattleBlock Theater is obviously the team's newest game to be released exclusively on Xbox LIVE Arcade, although many independent developers have spoken out with their bad experiences with releasing games through Microsoft Studios. What has it been like working together with Microsoft for the release of Castle Crashers and BattleBlock Theater and does the team plan on continuing this exclusive partnership with the Xbox One platform?

EMIL AYOUBKHAN: Working with Microsoft on our last two games has been a good experience for us. We respect the individuals we work with on their team, and it makes the entire development process run smoothly.

We've never really had an exclusive partnership with Microsoft, as Castle Crashers has released on both PSN and Steam after it's initial release on XBLA. In general we'd like to release on as many consoles as we are able to. Long ago Microsoft was the only company that wanted to work with us to get Castle Crashers released. If it wasn't for that decision, who knows what might have happened to us.

AMANDA: The Behemoth creates the craziest endings in gaming history. Why do the team's games feature such over-the-top final moments? Also, it seems Hatty drowned, Furbottom's hat caused Alien Hominid to crash, there is an omnipotent and furry presence watching over the planet and we can't help but now wonder if the world of Castle Crashers is in the same place as your other two games, so what is the deal with the BattleBlock Theater ending?

EMIL: We tend to not take ourselves too seriously in any type of narrative that we incorporate into our games. Dan is usually the main guy that will initiate the ideas for our endings, or any part of the craziness you see within our games. That generally fuels the rest of us to try to match that kind of humor and the end result is admittedly pretty crazy, but it always makes us laugh, so that's the most important part.

I personally think all of our games are within the same universe but in separate times. Alien Hominid is furthest into the future, with Castle Crashers having taken place long before any of our other games.

DAN: I feel as if endings are like rewards for players who finish the whole game. So when you finish our game, you should be greeted with something fun or interesting. If every character was totally fine at the end and players came out of the game without surprises then there’d be no point to it because you already know what would happen.

As for the meanings behind the events that take place in the stories, I tend to keep things open ended so that players can interpret something the way they’d like to. I don’t feel comfortable dictating to players what they’re experiencing. What happened to Hatty Hattington and the other characters in our games is up to you!

AMANDA: Unlocking prisoners is easily one of the most addictive parts of BattleBlock Theater. Will the collection of special prisoners ever be completely filled in over time, will there be any additional prisoners added to the game beyond what we see in the game's menus and are there any favorite prisoners among the developers?

MEGAN LAM: BattleBlock Theater prisoner collectors can expect to get more special prisoner unlocks in the month of July. Not only will they be able to get a special prisoner unlock after completing the updated Furbottom Features playlist (which changes every two weeks), players will be able to get a special unlock every Friday of July just for signing into their full version of BattleBlock Theater.

The number of special prisoners can be found on this Prisoner Population Chart: http://battlewiki.battleblocktheater.com/images/7/77/Bbt_prisonerpopulationchart.jpg

Everyone at The Behemoth studio has their own personal favorite prisoners. I’m partial to any prisoners related to cats or cute animals. I know Dan’s favorite is the triangle monkey prisoner.


AMANDA: One of the other unique features of BattleBlock Theater is the Level Editor that allows community members to create their own levels, battle arenas and playlists to share with friends. Has the team been satisfied with the community's response and creations so far, and is there any chance of BattleBlock Theater receiving DLC in the future or does the plethora of prisoners and user created levels eliminate the need?

MEGAN: Oh, yeah! We’re getting new content all the time and it’s been great. Each week, the level design team, who created the BattleBlock Theater levels, go through all of the community made levels to choose an Arena Feature or Furbottoms Feature (solo & co-op) depending on what week it is. We get to highlight the playlists on our Twitch TV channel as well when we do Play with the Devs or Design with the Devs episodes. (http://twitch.tv/thebehemoth)

As for future DLC, there aren’t any plans for a DLC in the traditional sense. But we have featured some official Behemoth made levels and will probably do another Furbottoms Features playlist created by our level designers sometime soon.

AMANDA: The Behemoth will soon be heading to two major events coming up in July. Can you tell the fans more about where they can meet their favorite developers and what types of surprises the team will have ready for attendees?

MEGAN: We’re kicking off July in Austin, Texas for the Rooster Teeth Expo (RTX). RTX attendees will be able to play BattleBlock Theater on our custom-built arcade cabinets and get a chance at winning some Behemoth prizes. (Super secret: One of the prizes will be our BBT Cat Guard dog toy!) We’ll also have a limited number of Behemoth merch for sale at our booth #533. The RTX dates are from July 5th thru July 7th.

Then we make our way back to San Diego for the San Diego Comic Con happening from July 17th thru July 21st. That is a huge event for us since it’s in the city where our HQ is at so more Behemoth staff will be able to attend. We’re going to have merch for sale, autograph sessions and a few new events we will be announcing soon! Come visit us at our new booth #229.

AMANDA: Currently, BattleBlock Theater is available exclusively for Xbox LIVE Arcade, but Castle Crashers recently made its way to PlayStation Network and Steam. Are there currently any plans to bring BattleBlock Theater to other platforms, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 included, and what can you tell us about the next game The Behemoth is working on and the possibility of a Castle Crashers sequel?

EMIL: Castle Crashers 2 Lost in Time for the Last Time. Just kidding.

MEGAN: There are no official plans for porting BBT to another platform and there aren’t any plans for a Castle Crasher sequel. We can say that we’ve been prototyping different options for a new game. Unfortunately, the future is not here yet, but once it’s in the present then we’ll let you know.

To learn more, visit the official BattleBlock Theater  and The Behemoth websites.