Minecraft Legends is right around the corner, and Game Rant recently had the chance to sit down with executive producer Dennis Ries during a preview event. There, we were able to play about an hour of the campaign and one PvP match, which was more than enough for a strong first impression of the game. We recommend reading our Minecraft Legends preview before delving into this interview, as a few questions are rooted in our experience with the game.
In this interview, we spoke about Piglins, various details of the campaign, how the endgame differs from the early game, various moments of the PvP's development, why there are no PvP classes in Minecraft Legends, and much more. The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: Starting with the campaign, I was curious how many special battles like the Night Beacon Base there are in Minecraft Legends?
A: After you complete that battle, if you open up your map, you'll suddenly see tons of Piglin bases from three different hordes all grouped up on your map. That particular battle unlocks all of these other battles, of all different tiers. The highest tier is a four-pig base. If you look, you'll see little pig heads and the highest tier is four pig heads. How many does it unlock? It unlocks quite a few more, all are different with different difficulties.
Q: With all the choices for the main antagonists, why Piglins?
A: At the time that we were building Minecraft legends, there was also work being done to introduce Piglins into vanilla. There was an opportunity for us to work together to do some of that.
We actually started doing a lot of the initial concept work for Piglins within Minecraft Legends, and people at Blackbird Interactive worked closely with people from Minecraft vanilla. Piglins actually came out in vanilla first, but some of the concepts actually started with Legends and the vanilla team together. It was just opportunistic, and with the story that we're telling, Piglins fit in perfectly.
Q: Was there any point in time when the Piglins had dialogue at all?
A: No, we had some discussions about that, but in the end, we just didn't believe it fit right.
Got it. I was curious because, like, Rabbids never spoke before Mario + Rabbids [Sparks of Hope]. I was watching these scenes and the humor struck me as very similar to LEGO humor. I thought, how awkward would it be if this were spoken?
Yeah, there is an audio dev diary, which shows the voice actors doing Piglin voices. It's crazy. I can't imagine making some of the sounds that they make to do this, but it's really well done. Like, you might think that this was almost computer generated or something, but no, these are real people making Piglin sounds. One of them is our very own audio director, Sam Aberg, demonstrating Piglin sounds.
But you're right, actually, just to come back to that point because they didn't speak. Having their story be told without words took a lot of effort. That's where the cinematic team at Blackbird interactive really did a good job of letting that story come out the way they did.
Q: Someone mentioned that Minecraft Legends' campaign took about 18 to 20 hours to beat, but how much of that represents the main narrative of the game versus side content?
A: Yeah, so we give that range because we think that's probably just an average player. If you decided you just wanted to get through this game as quickly as possible, you may be able to do it in less than 18 hours. You decide you want to explore all the world, it's probably going to be longer than 25 or something. It really depends on the player's style.
Q: Is the campaign overworld procedurally generated or is that just the PVP maps?
A: No, everything is procedurally generated.
So every time you play the campaign, it's different?
Yeah, like that Piglin base that you fought before in the forest area is now in the winter mountain area. It's actually quite different, and it feels different. It is the same sort of base structure every time for the Piglin bases, but the experiences that you have to defeat those bases can be quite different.
Q: On that note, there are some very basic bases at the start of the campaign leading to the Night Beacon Base, which serves as that sort of crowning moment, but how different is an endgame base versus these early bases?
A: They get more complicated, right? Part of the real purpose that we had around introducing those bases that you played through is just to slowly explain to players how this all works. Then, they get more intricate. They'll have really, really tall walls, and sometimes you have to get up to one platform, go to the next platform, get to the next platform, so you can get up to the base or the portal and defeat the boss.
They all vary quite a bit because each horde has a different defensive or offensive fighting style. The Horde of the Spore, for example, has these really tall platforms. You have to know how to build bridges, and that can be super frustrating at certain times when you're trying to build a bridge and there's a Nether Spreader nearby. Every time you try to cross it, it's hitting you and knocks you off a cliff. It's fun, but that's all part of the challenge.
Q: With PVP, there's no set class or set role. How did you decide on that open concept?
A: PVP was actually one of the very first things we started prototyping. What we realized immediately is that using the vanilla mobs like the skeletons for ranged weapons and creepers for close combat explosions was really genuinely fun. Pitting two people against each other to do that was a blast. The resources became interesting because that's an important part of any strategy game, right? Incorporating the resources with Allays was just that extra layer that we needed to understand, well, 'how do we need to use resources?' We started to go through the Allay process, and it just became natural to have people on the team gravitate to what they do best.
When I first started playing, I was all about resources. I love being a resource guy, I would go out, and I love the exploration. Like, if someone made a comment that we needed Redstone, I was like 'I'm on it.' I felt like I was really adding value even though I wasn't as good as them at some of the combat or the building, but I was still adding value because they couldn't do anything without me. So, that element became really important for us to hang on to, to the point where everyone just sort of naturally gravitates to their own roles. They have fun doing whatever it is they want to do with the team.
So there was ultimately no need for classes?
A: No, we didn't need it. And it helps that you can actually shift, right? In some cases, you kind of need to. For example, you could start building your defenses around your castle, but if you're really good at building defenses, they might need your help on the front line building or protecting the forward base while it's being attacked or they're attacking. You can take that building role and turn it into an offensive element.
For us, it was just such a unique and fun way to introduce PvP to the world. I'm super excited to see what the player bases are going to look like.
Oh, yeah, I can only imagine.
I keep telling people that I'm only going to be good at this game for like an hour. Because once that's out there, players are going to figure some things out that make me look like a fool.
When I built up our base, I had multiple walls with alternating gates. I was trying to make them run like a maze almost, and it seemed to get them quite a bit because they'd bust through one side and have no idea where anything was.
You had them in a labyrinth? [Laughs]
But then the opposing team built the Redstone Launcher, and I didn't see the Protector Towers -- one of the devs pointed it out after the fact -- and I was like "nooo!" I had this really intricate thing for the ground, but that Redstone Launcher is very powerful.
It is, but it kind of needs to be. Otherwise, you can really turtle down without it. Even the Protector Tower is great, but it doesn't cover a massive area like if you wanted to protect all of your walls. It would take quite a few. It might take two to protect your castle, maybe three from all angles. But, it doesn't protect you from the group troops.
What the Redstone Launcher does really well is solve the problem around, like, your labyrinth. You can just blow a hole right down the center.
Q: Alright, what would you say is probably the most interesting creation so far?
A: Of all the weapons and structures, I would say some of the most fun ones, ones that I really enjoy, one is the Spyglass. If you build this spyglass, it increases the range of things like Redstone Launchers and Arrow Towers. Then, you couple that up because they'll stack on each other, so you go out and get a kaboomery.
Now, not only are you increasing the range of everything, but it's then explosive charges that are hitting. Then, you throw the battle drum in there, and it creases the rate of fire for all these things. You're shooting further, with explosives, and shooting quicker. That's what I really loved about it was the stacking. If you have the resources and time, you can do something really massive.
Q: On the development side, how is it to manage something that has so many layers?
A: Oh, it's complicated. We did so much balancing. The thing about it is, when you are creating PvP experiences, you have to be really careful not to make too many tweaks at once. If you do, then you don't understand what tweaks changed your gameplay, right? For us, it was trying to be really careful when making those tweaks.
It had to be like, okay, we're going to change the strength of the Redstone Launcher, and that's it. We're going to fight and see how that changed the game. Or we're going to change the economy for how much stone it might take to purchase something and see what that does. It just meant playing so many iterations of the game to get the right mix.
I suspect once we get it into the wild, we'll need to make some more tweaks, but we're going to be balancing this post-launch for sure.
Q: Is there anything you're expecting to become like an established meta?
A: Well, we'll see. I think it's going to be interesting to see what our players do. There are strategies out there people will adopt and encounter, but I just don't know.
It's exciting and scary, isn't it?
Oh, absolutely. There have been some strategies that our QA team has brought forward where it's like, 'Oh, I didn't think about that.' We'd have to shift plans again because that's kind of too OP, and we need to dial that back. I don't know exactly what meta or metas might come up, but we'll see.
Q: It was said that most PvP games take 20-to-30 minutes once you know it. What's the longest multiplayer match you've seen so far?
A: Early in development, when you are trying to figure out the balance, sometimes it's too balanced where you can turtle too quickly maybe, and therefore it's like you can't take down the other team base. We had one match that went on for two hours.
It was crazy. We had people canceling meetings because, once you're so invested in this, you don't want to lose, right? But yeah, it was so much fun. I believe that was in Stockholm too. Blackbird Interactive and a group of us were all in Stockholm, playtesting it. It just kept going. But yeah, we decided two-hour game sessions were too long, so we had to dial it back.
Q: Can you speak to the post-launch plans for Minecraft Legends?
A: Post-launch will largely be support specifically, but at launch, we're going to have Lost Legends which are challenges released once a month, we think. The first one that comes out is called Portal Pile.
It's more or less you defending against waves of Piglin invasions. It's actually a lot of fun, and you get to upgrade things really quickly. Because if you successfully complete some, they'll give you more resources and more and more. It lets you run quickly through a lot of things I just mentioned with kaboomeries and battle drums, so you get to see some pretty cool stuff, pretty quickly. Then, if you successfully complete so many waves, you'll get a free skin you can use.
Other things will be like mount skins, as well as player skins. Those things will all be out there. We're also working with creators because we are on Bedrock, and we'll have the opportunity to let creators create some cool stuff. We're not talking a lot about that right now, but we expect to talk more about that after launch.
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Minecraft Legends releases on April 18, 2023, for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.