Broc Copeland Discusses Guardians of the Rose

You’ll remember that previously this action adventure game caught my eye. Broc Copeland is certainly one of the more committed Kickstarter developers I’ve come across. It is very clear to me that he wants Guardians of the Rose to succeed and is willing to chase that success. It is certainly a trait I have come to admire, so I got to thinking what and interesting man he would be to interview. Right now the Guardians of the Rose Kickstarter only needs about 1k more to reach its funding goal. Without further ado, here’s what I learned about Broc Copeland from our interview.

Cliqist: How long has the idea of Guardians of the Rose been on your mind?

Broc Copeland : I’ve wanted to make a high fantasy Zelda-like since I was 10 or so.  Then a few years later The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind changed the way I thought about games forever.

Cliqist: What makes Guardians of the Rose stand out from other games?

Broc Copeland : Guardians of the Rose lets you become the Guild Master of a Secret Society.  It allows you to choose your own path to victory.  You can become good or evil or toe the line somewhere in-between.  It has multiple endings and quest paths so you might not ever play the game in the same you have played it before.  Your character’s stats and skills are completely customizable so you get to play the game however you want to.

Cliqist: How many hours do you think your finished game would take to complete?

Broc Copeland : Somewhere around 12 hours for the average non-completionist.

Cliqist: How did you feel when Guardians of the Rose got Greenlit?

Broc Copeland : It was pretty satisfying.  Although that was nothing close to the lighthearted joy that I feel every time someone joins our community by backing Guardians of the Rose.

Copeland announced to his backers on the 14th June that Guardians of the Rose had been Greenlit

Cliqist: How detailed will the lore of the game be (on a scale of one to ten, one being Super Meat Boy and ten being Warcraft)?

Broc Copeland : 10…maybe a 9 just because comparing Guardians of the Rose to Warcraft is a bit intimidating.

Cliqist: If you had unlimited funding what features would you add to the game?

Broc Copeland : The only thing I would add is online co-op gameplay that would allow multiple people to play together and trade items and whatnot.

Cliqist: What are the 3 best things about Guardians of the Rose?

Broc Copeland :

1. Multiple endings and story paths
2. Extreme Character Customization
3. Fun, Fast-paced Combat

Cliqist: What have you learned so far from using Kickstarter, what challenges have you faced etc

Broc Copeland : I’ve learned a ton about how to approach journalist via email and what features and mechanics gamers like most about my game.  I learned to feature your team instead of your family on the team section.  I’ve got a list of over a dozen things that I’ve learned so far.  It’s been quite the experience!

Cliqist: How do you know the other members of your team?

Broc Copeland : Justin and I first became friends on Deviant Art before moving to a more professional relationship.  And Dani Person was very persistent about wanting to work on the game’s audio.  He kept emailing me about the game and about his experience in audio.  Then he took the initiative and rewrote our trailer’s audio for free and sent it to me.  When someone is that determined to work on a project it really says alot about their character.

Cliqist: What 3 things do you believe makes a great game?

Broc Copeland :

1. Fun
2. Fun
3. Fun

I think the only thing that matters in all of the different types of games there are is whether or not they are fun.

Cliqist: Have you ever backed anything on Kickstarter? If so what was it why did you back it and what was the outcome?

Broc Copeland : Yeah, I’ve backed a few games on Kickstarter.

• The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human
• Yooka-Laylee
• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

I backed The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human because they were on my twitter feed and it seemed like a fun game to play.  Yooka-Laylee is basically a new Banjo-Kazooie and who can resist that?  And Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a new-age Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which is even harder to resist backing.

Cliqist: You have a family, do you want your child to play this game when you are older?

Broc Copeland : Yeah, my 4 year old already plays on it every now and then so I can get a feel for how someone that didn’t grow up playing top-down RPGs handles the game.

Cliqist: Is your family tech savvy overall or are you the odd one out?

Broc Copeland : Yeah, we’re all pretty tech savvy.  Grandma down to the 4 year-old all have their own tech to play with at family get togethers.

Cliqist: What was the first video game you ever played

Broc Copeland : The Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt combo.

Cliqist: What is the best video game you have ever played

Broc Copeland : I would say that it is a tie between these based on pure fun factor and how long I spent on each:

• Mega Man X
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind and Oblivion (haven’t had the time to play Skyrim yet!)
• Dark Souls

Cliqist: What are your thoughts about crowdfunding, what do you think is good about it?

Broc Copeland : I think crowdfunding is one of the coolest things to happen in the past 10 years.  It has changed the way new products are introduced to the market.  And more importantly it has opened up more avenues for people to make great things

Cliqist: If Guardians of the Rose is a wild success what will you do?

Broc Copeland : I will make a wildly successful game.  Oh and cry quite a bit!

Cliqist: If Guardian of the Rose fails to meet its goal what will you do?

Broc Copeland : I will continue to develop the game, just at a much slower pace because I’ll have to go back to being a full-time stay-at-home dad.

So there you have it a quick Interview with Broc Copeland, the man behind Guardians of the Rose. I’d like to thank Mr. Copeland for taking the time to talk to us here at the Cliqist and wish him all the best with Guardians of the Rose, you have a backer in me!

Remember you have just under a week to help support this Kickstarter get its final $1000. You can also join the project’s Thunderclap to help spread awareness of the project. As we all know most Kickstarter get the most backers at the start and end of their campaigns, so I have my fingers crossed for th Copeland family. If you want to find out more about Guardians of the Rose then why not take a look at our previous coverage? Or check out the Kickstarter itself? Have you backed any of the games that Broc Copeland did? I confess, I haven’t despite the big names behind them. Comment down below!