Dev Q&A - Post your questions here!

[Leviathan]

Llexi's Answers will go here.

It's cool that the LotB universe has grown to include real-world merch, and I hope it continues to expand. One question I have about that is related to the marketing side of things. In particular, there doesn't seem to be a single, authoritative source for all the related merch: comics, including exclusive variants, figures, apparel, even the pinball machine. ... Or can we expect an easier time in the future finding out about all this stuff?

Glad you're digging all the way we're exploring the Legacy Of The Beast universe - It has been a bit disparate over the last year while we've been putting all this together. Moving forward I think we'll look to share all things LOTB direct through the official social media channels, be that facebook, twitter, instagram, or even the official forums. So if you're following LOTB's channels, you'll hear about everything we're cooking up for 2020 and beyond, whether it's in the game or manifesting in the real world!

MUSIC QUERY: Do you have access to the entire Maiden music catalogue for use in game? If so can we have more variation in the music used - maybe a pick your own album option for each world or dungeon? Would it not be really cool for you guys to get the band to do a song based on the game so you have your own theme song that goes with the game opening or in the background? I have often wondered why you could not sort this and the song could either be featured on a new greatest hits CD or as a bonus track on a Maiden album CD? This would be a big deal for all fans if you guys had 'exclsuive' access to the song for a few weeks? A very big win if it could be done and pretty sure it would pull in a load of new fans to at least try the game - maybe not have it as a tune you can download for a short while - only in game you can hear it perhaps?

COMICS QUERY: Not sure if covered but - I actually really like the comics and glad to see these becoming more easily available in the UK (Forbidden Planet for me). Will it always be the case that these come out after things are released on here - Isle of Avalon for example - is that to be the next comic theme? Any chance that you release the comic first and then the themed area so we can get a taste for what migth be coming?

PLATFORM QUERY: Think it was asked before but are there any plans to push this game out into other platforms like Facebook Gameroom/PC? I would like to see it on a bigger screen with out the need for some bluestacks style thing (which I dont want to use).

Music - Originally we worked very closely with Steve Harris to pick out and remaster all the tracks for the game that were befitting of the various worlds and stages, a lot of the versions you hear in the game are actually quite unique - in some cases unreleased live mixes that aren't available anywhere else. We didn't want to compromise the integrity of the studio recordings by messing with those mixes, which would have been inevitable since we have to remove lyrical content, slice and loop sections, in addition to EQing to make room for the in game audio effect. Unsurprisingly this was a pretty monumental task! We do incorporate new tracks where time and scheduling permits, particularly for the new worlds and dungeons like Night City - fortunately we have a lot of lead time for that kind of thing and we can work with Steve to get it right - it's more tricky when the band are busy on tour for example, to collaborate in that way and source the live recordings and get input on the mixes, etc. So whilst we do have access to a vast catalogue of amazing material, unfortunately it's not as easy as cutting and pasting it into the background - the soundtrack in LOTB is an unsung hero of sorts, it was all built from the ground up from selected recordings and mixed bespoke for the game, so even if you're hearing a familiar riff, I assure you we didn't just rip it from the album - as iconic as those recordings are, it wouldn't be a cohesive experience if we just dropped them into the background - that would be more like playing the game on mute and listing the the record in the background, which is cool too, but not quite the same cohesive experience!

Comics - The comic narrative tends to follow the game and is often developed/scripted in tandem. The comic wouldn't really be able to lead with Avalon for example unless we made a lot of assumptions which may well change in the game and lead to two very distinct takes on the story! The ideal for me would be to have the new worlds launch at the same time as the supporting comic series, but that's got it's own set of challenges! For now we'll continue to make the best comics we can and it's great to hear you're enjoying them, we're certainly doing out best to increase distribution, particularly with the graphic novel editions, which are now available almost everywhere thanks to Amazon, and of course a unique version with a intro from Rod and foreword from Bruce is available from IM directly at the tour merch stands or via the official shop!

Platform - certainly something we've talked about, no immediate plans but LOTB is a deep RPG with a ton of features and would certainly lend itself well to the PC demographic in my opinion. We're busy polishing up the visuals on all the worlds in the game, which began with Wickerman Isle, and I think once that process is complete we might be in a better position to think about other platforms given the graphical capabilities of hardware beyond mobile, we wouldn't want to port a mobile game to PC and have it 'look like a mobile game' - it would have to be a great game on PC in it's own right.

4. There was the visual revamp to Wicker Man Isle, but will other worlds receive this treatment? If so, which worlds, and will there be any visual updates to some of the older characters?

7. Quick question on merch - Will we see more figurines and pins? I would love to see more of these with some of the newer characters, especially Final Frontier, Alexander, more of the Gods, Charlotte, etc.

8. Finally - Do you think there'll ever be another tour if more worlds/lore are explored? (Missed the London shows, very gutted lol)

Yup, we're going to work through all the worlds and the revamped areas are looking amazing, excited to see that revealed in game as we progress. Certainly we have polished up some early launch characters like Holy Smokes Eddie and The Clairvoyant, no doubt we'll continue that trend if it seems like anyone in particular needs a tune up!

More figures and pins are coming - working on some amazing new statues too which I'm particularly excited about.

That's really up to the band themselves but they've been hugely supportive of the game and the tour throughout the USA this year really has an unprecedented level of integration in game, building on last years tour program - who knows what the future holds!

8. Are we going to hear Bruce singing more often in the game?

We're working on something with Bruce right now, so we might be hearing a lot more from the air raid siren in-game...

I'm curious about the potential for Lovecraft-inspired characters.

In the context of Maiden, I think of the tombstone in the Live After Death cover art. Also, Lovecraft "reported" that The Alchemist John Dee allegedly translated the Necronomicon, but it was never published and only fragments remain.

Any chance we could see something Lovecraft-inspired in the game soon?

Tonally it's a great fit and i'd love to do more with these themes within the LOTB universe, certainly it's about time Live After Death Eddie made an appearance!

Will there be an "atlas book" containing all the ever existing characters, eddies, talismans and effects ever implemented in the game, for collection purposes and maybe achievements?

Absolutely, been working on this for a while... coming soon and all that

Is there a chance of more future time rift levels based off yet unused albums such as a future world for somewhere in time, or an ice world for seventh son of a seventh son. And could there also be a guitar Eddie based off Dave Murray

Eventually we'd love to get around to exploring all of the album lore, there are even some early explorations of a world for Somewhere In Time - it was one of the first worlds we looked at in terms of art concepts, but ultimately it didn't serve the initial story arc to jump into that specific future London setting, but i'm sure we'll get a chance to realise that eventually, especially now that we have our own Night City interpretation of London to rebuild in the future! Always keen to add more guitar wielding Eddies \m/

Have you ever thought of creating events / games in Europe or allover the World,where all the fans of the game can participate, and maybe the winners have the possibility to have some gadget, or shirt of the event?

Yes, i love the idea of this - certainly i want to be able to reward the community for playing and those competing at high level who are really committed to the content we produce, it would be great to offer some real world prizing for the players completing those end game challenges. We're on our way to tidying up the PVP matchmaking aspects of the game an incorporating a guilds feature which will allow for regional, national, and global competitions - with these features in place we'll be in a great position to create unique event memorabilia for participants and top prizes for winners, etc. In the meantime we hope to run more social and community contests that don't necessarily rely on gameplay engagement, but are certainly focused at players and fans who follow the LOTB news and social media channels.