Dicefolk devs open up about the game's Pokémon inspiration
Gotta roll'em all
Dicefolk is a new twist on turn-based gameplay, where players get to command their turns in addition to their enemies. This mechanic elevates the level of strategy in each battle, transforming your dice into an integral part of your success. By thoughtfully choosing which dice faces you will bring with you in each encounter, you will be able to influence the abilities your team and your adversaries will have at their disposal.
Some saw the debut trailer for Dicefolk and thought the turn-based gameplay was inspired by the Pokémon franchise, and they were right! The team behind Dicefolk are big Pokémon fans, and in an interview with Nintendo Life, artist and co-designer Gregory Parisi opened up on the pocket monster homage.
It’s very difficult to ignore Pokémon when designing a game about monster battling and I think that Dicefolk really shows that we are making a game in that family.
Usually in tactic games, you have a grid where you manage your units, but we wanted to have the player ask themselves more simple questions like who should be fighting right now and who should be taking a step back. This is how the rotation battle system from Pokémon became an inspiration. We thought it was a great way to simply and quickly show the state of a battle — who is in the lead and who is not — and it allowed us to diversify the actions the player has at their disposal. So now you can rotate and manage the game space in a new way.
Of course, this was the pitch for the rotation battle system from Pokémon Black and White. It never came back, which is a shame because I really enjoyed that creative spin on Pokémon battles at the time. It felt fitting for Dicefolk because we wanted a playful and snappy system which was easy to understand for both new and experienced players.
Of course, Dicefolk also does a lot to differentiate itself from the world of Pokémon as well, and you can read all about that in the full interview.
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