About this video
On this episode of the Official XBOX Podcast, we’re becoming a member of the thrill and sitting down with the group behind Minecraft Dungeons II. We’re discovering out what’s new, what’s completely different, and what we will count on once we first step foot into Minecraft’s latest dimension, the Sift.
TRANSCRIPT
SPEAKER 1: Video games on this podcast vary from E to M.
[ XBOX Sound ]
MALIK PRINCE: What’s going on, all people?
Welcome again to the Official XBOX Podcast.
It’s the one podcast coming to you from inside XBOX.
I’m your host with probably the most Malik Prince, and I’m so excited to be speaking about Minecraft Dungeons II, which is out September twenty ninth on XBOX Sequence X and S, PC, Cloud, and different platforms.
I’m not doing it alone immediately, although.
I’ve the design director at Mojang, Laura De Llorens.
Laura, how’s it going?
LAURA DE LLORENS: Hi there, it’s going very nicely.
So completely satisfied to be right here.
MALIK PRINCE: Let’s get into Minecraft Dungeons II as a result of this can be a very thrilling time.
As I discussed, we’re simply days away.
Inform me the place the group is as a result of I can solely think about what that’s like simply days earlier than launch.
LAURA DE LLORENS: Sure, it’s a steadiness between attempting to not panic and attempting to not be very hyped.
It’s preserving the feelings cool till the twenty ninth, which is now very, very shut.
MALIK PRINCE: It’s going to be so good.
I’m so excited for you all.
I’ve gotten an opportunity to play it over the previous few days and I’m very excited to speak about — LAURA DE LLORENS: Oh that’s good.
MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.
Oh, spoiler alert: It’s unimaginable, so let’s simply bounce into it.
LAURA DE LLORENS: Glad to listen to.
MALIK PRINCE: Oh, you’re going to listen to loads from me.
For individuals who know Minecraft, proper, however perhaps they’ve been dwelling underneath a rock they usually don’t know what Minecraft Dungeons is, are you able to inform us somewhat bit about what Minecraft Dungeons is because it pertains to Minecraft and simply stroll us into Minecraft Dungeons II?
LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, Minecraft Dungeons is a dungeon crawler journey RPG set on this planet of Minecraft.
You’ll be able to play multiplayer.
You’ll be able to play by your self.
You’ll be able to play from wherever and any platform, and collectively, you’ll be able to set off on an journey to, hopefully, save the world.
MALIK PRINCE: “Save the world” is what we have to do.
I observed when enjoying the sport over the previous few days, simply how approachable it was.
I wish to ask you, because the Design Director at Mojang, what’s it like while you sit down after making such an unimaginable recreation in Minecraft Dungeons, and also you’re, okay, we wish to make a sequel?
How do you all even start to sort out that job?
LAURA DE LLORENS: It was a bit the opposite approach round.
We completed Minecraft Dungeons I, and we felt like, “Oh, you recognize what can be tremendous cool?
If we did this, or if the world was extra like this different factor.” Then we realized that, ultimately, we have been speaking about a complete different recreation altogether.
It made much more sense to begin anew.
It’s like we now know find out how to do it.
We’ve now performed it as soon as, and we consider we will make it higher, mainly.
That’s a little bit of the sensation we began the mission with, and I feel it’s carried us by way of until now.
MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, and I can solely think about.
I really feel just like the Minecraft group is — and I’m not simply saying this since you’re right here.
I really feel prefer it’s some of the passionate communities in the whole world.
LAURA DE LLORENS: Oh, yeah.
MALIK PRINCE: I’m positive participant suggestions and requests have been an enormous a part of what you ended up tackling for the sequel.
LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, we had a lot — an avalanche of group suggestions — and we had to ensure to, you recognize, take a few of it in, be extra aware of different issues, and it’s been very, very attention-grabbing to see how engaged all people has been.
MALIK PRINCE: I really like that.
All proper.
Inform us about what gamers can count on once they bounce into the sequel.
LAURA DE LLORENS: Oh, so many issues.
MALIK PRINCE: I do know, yeah.
LAURA DE LLORENS: I really feel, and to date folks have been telling me, that it’s actually a worthy sequel.
There are such a lot of new issues, however leaping might be the factor that folks bought most enthusiastic about.
The world is now interconnected, that means you could go from the start of the world to the tip of the world, simply strolling.
There are a number of methods of quick touring.
There are quests.
There’s a complete new merchandise array and new gear techniques to degree up and make fight much more yours and your fashion.
We actually tried to broaden in every course that the primary one tackled, mainly.
MALIK PRINCE: I wish to let you know about my journey in discovering the bounce, okay?
Like I stated, two days in the past, I bought entry to Minecraft Dungeons II.
This recreation, by the best way, dumps you proper into fight.
It’s a part of the story that we’ll get into somewhat bit, however as quickly as you begin the sport, you’re in fight.
I’m, like, oh, there are some enemies.
I’ve my sword.
Let me simply go forward and press the A button on XBOX.
I’m like, whoa, maintain on.
Maintain on.
What simply occurred there?
You begin to bounce, and it’s so attention-grabbing.
Because the Design Director, while you add bounce, I’m assuming that there are different issues that you just wish to embrace within the recreation for bounce that make it really feel like a worthy addition, together with traversal and different issues.
Are you able to inform me somewhat bit extra about what that unlocked for you?
LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, completely.
Within the first recreation, because you couldn’t bounce, it enabled us to be much more free when it comes to how the extent was performed as a result of we knew you couldn’t escape from it.
Including bounce made that extra difficult, however it additionally enabled us to have extra verticality, to have extra hidden areas, issues to find, issues to discover.
We felt like that was an apparent factor so as to add when making a world that’s huge and expansive.
There’s so, so many issues to find, and leaping is what enabled that to occur.
MALIK PRINCE: That is such an important addition from a gameplay perspective, and it’s simply clear that you just all, to your level, simply went again and simply actually went for it.
One other factor, you talked about making a linked world the place you’ll be able to stroll from one finish to the opposite.
Why was that such an essential addition for you all?
LAURA DE LLORENS: We felt like, to start with, the Minecraft universe is one huge, expansive sandbox of a factor, so it felt pure for what Minecraft is.
Additionally, we needed the world to really feel alive and to really feel just like the participant was influencing the happenings on this planet.
Yeah, that felt loads stronger when the world was one linked factor and the inhabitants have been going by way of issues that you possibly can assist them with, and you’ll see areas change.
You discover shortcuts, so the world feels extra like you’ve got an affect in it this fashion, which can be a giant a part of Minecraft as a recreation and as a universe, so it was form of a no brainer.
We have been, yeah, that is the way it must be.
MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, and I felt that immersion and that connectivity of this one land that you possibly can simply stroll throughout.
It felt like a really deliberate selection that, to your level, introduced it alive.
It was simply so unimaginable and such an unimaginable addition and design course.
I beloved it.
LAURA DE LLORENS: Good.
MALIK PRINCE: Any recreation that has a “II” within the title, as somebody who’s by no means developed a recreation, I instantly take into consideration what the dev group have to be pondering in attempting to serve two audiences, which is, on the one hand, the devoted who performed the unique recreation, whereas alternatively, ensuring that gamers who perhaps didn’t bounce into the unique, they really feel prefer it’s a recreation that they will simply bounce into.
How did you all steadiness that as you’re including these new options and as you’re constructing on what you constructed from the primary recreation, ensuring that you just serve each of these audiences?
LAURA DE LLORENS: I’ll provide you with one other one, which is the Minecraft group, those who count on us to be a worthy enlargement of the Minecraft universe, so it’s been a posh drawback.
After we designed Minecraft Dungeons I, we thought, you’ll want to acknowledge the world of Minecraft in Minecraft Dungeons.
In the second, we tried to be sure to acknowledged Minecraft and Minecraft Dungeons I, however that there was additionally sufficient new and sufficient completely different so that you can really feel like you possibly can uncover this world for the primary time, and it was nonetheless going to be an incredible expertise.
That’s why we introduced The Sift into the sport.
We needed to ensure we expanded on the world of Minecraft, in order that was a giant a part of honoring vanilla Minecraft but additionally Minecraft Dungeons, in addition to doing our personal factor, yeah.
MALIK PRINCE: It’s a kind of video games that I feel anybody can bounce into, however yeah, you will notice these issues for the gamers who actually love the unique recreation.
I feel that they’re going to be served rather well.
Like I at all times say, the story is the motivation, so inform me somewhat bit about the place we left off in Minecraft Dungeons I and the place the story is selecting up for the second.
LAURA DE LLORENS: In Dungeons I, there’s this camp the place you come again each time you end a mission.
So you’d exit, journey somewhat bit, after which have to return again into the camp.
In Minecraft Dungeons II, that camp will get utterly destroyed.
It’s the very first thing that occurs within the recreation, setting the heroes up for a complete array of issues.
We needed to ensure that it didn’t really feel utterly indifferent from Minecraft Dungeons I.
You acknowledge the house, however now you’ve got the house to maneuver on and into the world of Minecraft Dungeons II.
The Illagers are as much as no good, as at all times, however there are a lot greater issues this time round.
MALIK PRINCE: The Illagers and the Illager Council that’s displaying up, inform us somewhat bit about who they’re, and why are they so evil?
LAURA DE LLORENS: It’s within the nature of Illagers.
We needed to ensure that there was a really huge drawback, which is an environmental disaster, but additionally, that there was a transparent factor you have been preventing in opposition to.
The Illager Council simply got here naturally, and yeah, they’re three Illagers that bought supercharged and determined to take that energy and do dangerous issues with it.
MALIK PRINCE: Is there somewhat little bit of that how can we make them somewhat bit attention-grabbing, not simply actually dangerous?
Perhaps one thing occurred to them.
Perhaps their story is somewhat bit extra difficult than it seems.
LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, we tried to ensure that there was numerous that by way of a few of our facet quests.
The principle quest is much more a clear-cut narratively, however there may be much more of that investigation by way of exploring the world, in order that’s a little bit of a reward for being concerned on this planet, and mainly, speaking to our NPCs and discovering issues.
Yeah, we undoubtedly have a few of that.
MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, it simply provides to the expertise, however earlier you talked about The Sift.
That is enormous for Minecraft.
LAURA DE LLORENS: Sure.
MALIK PRINCE: Are you able to inform me somewhat bit extra about The Sift and the way it matches into the general world of Minecraft Dungeons?
LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, once we set as much as make Dungeons II, we actually needed to carry one thing new to the desk and new to the world of Minecraft, so we set off to make a brand new dimension, and it has been a really concerned course of.
There have been lots of people who’ve partaken in it, and we needed a part of the world of Minecraft that didn’t really feel essentially threatening or essentially very benevolent.
It’s simply its personal impartial factor that you just simply have by no means encountered earlier than.
The world has its personal impartial ecosystem.
There’s mobs that thrive by way of issues that damage the participant, for example, however the mobs reside there.
They’re tailored to that.
In order that was a bit what we have been attempting to search for, and we additionally needed to search for an aesthetic that was model new to the world of Minecraft, so it felt instantly like one thing completely different that you possibly can discover.
MALIK PRINCE: The aesthetic half is gorgeous.
It appears to be like like someplace I am going after I’m sick and I take NyQuil or one thing like that.
Oh my God, this can be a entire new world.
LAURA DE LLORENS: I’ve to say, there’s darker components to it as nicely.
I noticed a number of feedback on-line being, like, “Oh, that is like Willy Wonka’s Manufacturing unit,” or no matter, however it additionally has its mysterious components, so it’s a little bit of all the pieces.
MALIK PRINCE: I really like that.
That’s what we name, within the enterprise, a tease.
I’m solely an hour and a half in, so I’m excited to find what thriller awaits.
Isn’t it the primary new dimension in 15 years, proper?
LAURA DE LLORENS: Yep.
MALIK PRINCE: Did you’re feeling that stress of like, hey, it’s at all times been these are the size, however now we’re about so as to add one thing, and it’s all on me, and we’ve bought to make this attention-grabbing?
LAURA DE LLORENS: We have been a giant group of individuals ensuring that this was the most effective match that it may very well be, and we had been discussing the potential of a fourth dimension for fairly some time.
This stuff take a number of time.
Then we had a group of those who made positive that all of it match inside the lore and the mythos of Minecraft.
I do know after I say the phrase “lore,” all people will get very hyped, however we additionally had idea artists bringing the aesthetics collectively.
We reviewed it loads, and we had folks give you mobs, and we had all this idea for what the ecosystem may really feel like.
It’s been an extended strategy of a number of collaboration between many groups, folks with completely different experience and crafts.
It was a number of stress, but additionally, it by no means felt prefer it was a factor that was very focused on one individual or a number of folks.
It was a labor of group — MALIK PRINCE: Of affection, yeah.
LAURA DE LLORENS: — collaboration and love.
MALIK PRINCE: I’ve two extra issues I wish to chat with you about, the primary one being multiplayer.
In fact, Minecraft Dungeons, you possibly can play it solo when you’ve got no pals, like me, or you possibly can play it collectively.
Clearly, that was within the authentic recreation.
Inform me a bit extra about why that’s so essential for Minecraft Dungeons.
LAURA DE LLORENS: The world of Minecraft is a world that thrives with interplay and collaboration with different folks, so we needed to ensure that regardless of the place you have been or in what platform you performed, you possibly can play collectively.
To your level, you say you don’t have any pals, we’ve got matchmaking, so you may make pals in Dungeons II.
MALIK PRINCE: There you go.
It’s a pal maker, and I’m assuming that it scales as you add gamers to the problem, and that in all probability evokes somewhat bit extra emotion of working collectively as a group and making certain that you just’re all on the identical web page.
LAURA DE LLORENS: Yeah, precisely, the sport may be very versatile, so in case you would be a part of in the course of my session, the session would adapt to us being two folks.
Then if it’s important to depart and I nonetheless was there, it would adapt again to being one participant.
We’ve tried to make it as versatile as doable so folks can play nevertheless they need.
One factor that’s new that we didn’t have in Dungeons I is you could now combine sofa co-op and on-line play, that means you could be right here enjoying together with your pal on the sofa and your different pals are some other place, and you’ll play with them.
MALIK PRINCE: Oh, love that.
LAURA DE LLORENS: So yeah, as sprawling and versatile of a multiplayer expertise as we may supply is what we tried to do.
MALIK PRINCE: Oh, love that.
Love that.
The very last thing that I wish to chat about is hero customizations.
Are you able to inform me somewhat bit extra about what’s new so far as customizations go?
LAURA DE LLORENS: We’ve separated the armor into 4 armor items, like in Minecraft vanilla, once more, to go nearer to the Minecraft universe.
We additionally added talismans, that are passive boosts.
The enchantment system works in a different way now.
There are results.
There are rarities.
It is rather humorous as a result of me and the Sport Director are very reverse sorts of gamers.
I’m the kind of participant that will get to dungeons, places on no matter appears to be like funnier for the time being, after which simply goes.
He’s the kind of individual that may go in and hone in on each single quantity and each capacity, and the sport allows us each to play nevertheless we would like, which I feel has been superb.
The truth that we’ve got that yin and yang has helped us loads in making it as clear, easy, and approachable, but additionally with all this depth and all of the stat screens.
You’ll be able to examine what all the pieces does, so I feel it’s been superb give-and-take.
MALIK PRINCE: I really like that.
I imply, you actually have developed a recreation that displays the best way that a number of folks in your group take pleasure in enjoying.
I feel that gamers wish to hear that.
They wish to hear that they’re not leaping right into a recreation that’s essentially forcing them to do one factor or customise in a technique.
I’m in all probability extra such as you.
I’d simply placed on no matter is cool and humorous.
I’ve already placed on some hats and stuff like that.
As we wind issues down, as I discussed, Laura and I bought to talk somewhat bit earlier in preparation for this.
I at all times prefer to ask, hey, what’s a query that you just don’t get requested sufficient?
Laura, I don’t know in case you bear in mind your reply, however it was concerning the group, the group who has spent years constructing this recreation, placing sweat and tears — hopefully not blood — however a lot into this recreation, and now constructing this factor from a inventive perspective and having the ability to put it out into the world — how a lot it should imply to you all.
Are you able to inform me somewhat bit extra about why that was your reply?
LAURA DE LLORENS: Properly, we began constructing Minecraft Dungeons I with a tiny, tiny group.
We grew to become a hit that we didn’t totally count on, so the group grew a lot bigger, and with that got here a complete bunch of those who have been tremendous passionate concerning the world of Minecraft, that have been very, very pushed to make the brand new dimension pretty much as good as doable, which was super-lucky for us as a result of I feel it got here out super-good.
Particularly within the final 12 months, it’s been laborious work, and the group continues to be very pushed and really excited concerning the launch of the sport.
So yeah, I really feel we’ve got such a passionate group and I’m very pleased with them, and I’m very pleased with how far we’ve gotten.
MALIK PRINCE: You need to be.
, after solely enjoying an hour and a half of the sport to date and may’t wait to leap again in to play extra of it, it’s best to really feel extremely pleased with the work that you just’ve performed, and I’m so sure that gamers, once they bounce in, are going to really feel the identical approach concerning the group.
With that, let’s simply roll out the pink carpet for you, Laura.
Closing phrases for the group forward of them leaping in.
LAURA DE LLORENS: Please go play Minecraft Dungeons II.
It’s coming Tuesday, September twenty ninth, and we consider you actually, actually will love the sport, so go for it.
MALIK PRINCE: I adore it.
Laura stated it finest, however I’ll say it another time: Minecraft Dungeons II releases on XBOX Sequence X and S, on PC, and on Cloud September twenty ninth.
Laura, thanks a lot for becoming a member of us immediately.
LAURA DE LLORENS: Thanks so, a lot for having me.
MALIK PRINCE: Sure.
Thanks all for watching and listening.
Till subsequent time, with the Official XBOX Podcast, I’m Malik.
We’ll see you subsequent time.
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