By Marcos Garcia
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| Ivo van Dijk |
Since the early years of the style, Metal always got some innovations, opening ways to new experiences and projects into the scene, one better than the other ones, and now, it’s time for a great project rises from the underground, under the name of “Karmaflow: The Rock Opera Videogame”, a game with Metal in musical theme and other surprises.
We had a chance to talk with his idealizer, Ivo van Dijk, to know all about this great project.
Metal Samsara: First of all, we thank you a lot for giving us this interview, Ivo, so, the first question is: how the idea of “Karmaflow” arose in your mind for first time? By the way, we think it evolved in a very slow way, right?
Ivo van Dijk: The idea for Karmaflow arose about a year and a half ago. I was thinking about how I could make a new rock opera, but also how to turn this into a videogame. At first I was planning on making a new stage show, but since I am currently specializing in game audio, that didn't make sense. I made a concept about how this game would work, and what the role of the singers and the music would be. Once I had the general idea ready for that, I talked about this idea and the style I wanted to go with: adventure, exploration and mostly aimed at an experience instead of lots of action. I have a love for these kind of games, and I always thought the themes for these kind of games already fitted the rock opera genre very well, so it kimd of made sense for me. We started itterating (make changes) on the original concept, but the exploring and adventure idea still was the central idea.
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| A screenshot from Karmaflow |
MS: Please, some of our readers aren’t into the conception of “Karmaflow”, so please, tell us about what is, telling some of the aspects of the project, and how you plan it to be when it’s finished.
Ivo: Karmaflow is the world's first Rock Opera videogame. We are exploring how a story can be told through music and videogames combined: something that has never been done before in this way! We have some amazing singers and one of the best orchestra's in the world participating. In the game you play as the Karmakeeper. You travel to different world, were the Guardian of the world lost control of the balance. The playeris faced with a conflict and throughout the adventure, you learn what has happened in these worlds.
MS: Ivo, you released a project some years ago, a Rock Opera with your band, XYSTUS, called “Equilibrio” that was released even here, in Brazil. Do you believe that there is some link between both projects? Could “Equilibrio” be a kind of “starting point” to “Karmaflow”?
Ivo: Well, first of all both rock opera's are about a lost balance, which has to be restored by an "external" character. That is an important subject to me. If you look at the current state of the world, I think it is safe to say we are also losing balance. But restoring this balance is a difficult task, everybody has its own opinion on what the best way would be, or even whether this is even true or not... Off course Equilibrio was the first rock opera I made (with Xystus) and I liked working with a concept and make a longer work with a certain sound. With Karmaflow I hope to take this a lot further and make it bigger and better!
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| Elize Ryd |
MS: By the way, we cannot forget the story behind the game, the conception of it, so, can you tell us a little about it? And as we can see by now, it’s a kind of RPG game, isn’t it? But is the story closed, without nothing new to be inserted on it?
Ivo: Like I said it is about the Karmakeeper, who has to restore the balance. You do this through exploring, talking to the characters, puzzling and platforming. Slowly you will learn what is going on in the world, and once you have heard the different sides of the stories, it is up to the player to decide who he will help. So the story is "closed", but you get to choose how it ends... The game is more of a puzzle/platform adventure. Our big inspirations are game such as Zelda, Journey and Darksiders.
MS: We know that the project is only in its beginning, but is there something done, in terms of programming?
Ivo: Yes, we are currently working on a first prototype and some of the models, textures etc. are being made as we speak. We are currently working fulltime on the game, and we hope to present a full working level in january. Off course the music production starts in February (which is a big and difficult part of the whole production on its own!), so to see it fully working as it is meant to be will be a couple of months later.
MS: Well, “Karmaflow” will have some very interesting musicians working with you, as Simone Simons (Epica), Mark Jansen (Epica), Marc Hudson (Dragonforce), Henning Basse (Metallium, Firewind), Elize Ryd (Amaranthe, Kamelot), Mariangela Demurtas, and even Dani Filth (Cradle of Filth), showing a musical range very ample. So, how’s to work with so different people, from different countries and cultures, and even with different musical styles?
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| Simone Simmons |
Ivo: It's great to have so many talented musicians on board, and I still can't believe we have such an amazing cast. It's kind of a puzzle which slowly has to come together the coming months, but I think everyone is well informed and hopefully feels involved. We are very lucky to live in an age where you can get in touch with everyone through internet, and stay in touch easily to give updates on what is going on.
All these different voices will give the characters in the game a very wide and colorfull range of voices, which we are also going for in the design of the different characters.
MS: An important aspect that we must talk is that “Karmaflow” is a crowdfunding project. So, can you tell us why you choose to do this, and what the ones will have with it? Of course, it’s an art masterpiece, and some contribution is welcome, but some people only think in a “what-will-I-gain-with-it?” way.
Ivo: Yes, we ran a crowdfunding campaign a while back. Thanks to all the people who contributed we are able to hire all the wonderfull musicians who are involved. Off course everyone who helped us in this way is entitled to the perk they claimed, but we did a survey last week and we are getting so many warm and enthousiastic responses from people, I truly feel people are sincerely curious and interested in how this will turn out, and want to experience Karmaflow themselves. This is very inspirational for us and we feel we are making this not just for ourselves, but for a great bunch of already loyal fans! We are still taking pre-orders on our website, and all money gathered from that will go directly into development of the game.
MS: The project was divulgated to worldwide press in July, so, how the things are going by now? Is it too hard to handle, and are you sure to pass over the difficulties in this early point of the project?
Ivo: Things are actually going great! We made a good planning on when we will do press so it won't interfere with the whole artistic ohase of the project. It is taking up all of our time off course, but we did know that that would happened and we are prepared for that. This is a labour of love for the whole team, and I truly don't mind dedicating all of my time to realise our collective dream of making Karmaflow happen!
MS: Here in Brazil, some musicians had done crowdfunding projects, and they really reached good results, but we do not have any idea about how these projects work in Europe and all over the world. So, can you tell that in Europe and USA, people are embracing the project?
Ivo: Yes, people from all over the world have shown their support for the project. The fact that all singers and fans helped spread the word for us on facebook and twitter is an incredible help to us. Since the game and the soundtrack will be available as a download, we cam reach everyone in the world. Something that unfortunatly was very hard to do with "Equilibrio" in the past. We all can't wait to show the world our game once it is done, but we've got quite the way to go for now.
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| Mariangela Demurtas |
MS: And by the way, do you have a planned final date to release “Karmaflow”? Some fans just can’t wait for it, especially here in Brazil, where Metal and video games are really linked to many people.
Ivo: We are aiming at releasing the game and the soundtrack in late 2014. We are doing our best and working very hard on the game right now to make sure this will happen!
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| Karmaflow screenshot |
MS: We thank you a lot, Ivo, and hope that “Karmaflow” can be a success, and please, leave your message to our readers.
Ivo: First of all thank you for taking the time to write about our project. The Karmaflow team hopes that our idea and vision for the game will resonate with others and people understand the ideas we are going for. We are aiming at delivering a unique experience and bring a new genre (the rock opera videogame) to life for you all in a special way. It is great to know people from all over the world, including Beautifull Brasil, are waiting for us to finish this. You can support the project by pre-ordering the game or buying other merchandise at our website www.karmaflowgame.com, all money will go into development of the game. For regular updates you can follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/karmaflowgame) were we will post the latest news, conceptart, and will reveal some more singers the coming months. Thank you again and many thanks from the small country of the Netherlands!
For all those who wants to get in touch with Karmaflow project, to know about the news and to donate, below are some links of interest;
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