Lee Williams: creator of Cryptmaster
Cryptmaster is a bit of a UFO game that came out earlier this year and captivated me. It took me a few tries before I really got into it, but the unique gameplay really made an impression. It’s a dungeon crawler set against an RPG backdrop, where every word is important. I was lucky enough to be able to chat to Lee Williams, the game’s co-creator, to talk about Cryptmaster’s design and influences.
Point’n Think: Cryptmaster is based on a fairly unique typing mechanic. What inspired you to centre the game around this idea, and how did you integrate it into a dungeon crawler game?
Lee Williams: It actually grew organically in a way that’s difficult to pin down. We started to make a game in which you commanded a pirate ship by shooting things with your pistol. Then we decided you’d be able to shoot words out of people’s sentences to change their meaning. Then we ditched the gun and came up with a system that allowed you to steal and replace words to fit the story. We were struggling to stick with the pirate theme by this time, so we switched to fantasy – a game about mages using words to affect their environment and fight enemies.
A dungeon crawler seemed to be the perfect fit because we had chosen to do everything through words, meaning there would be no conventional inventory or interaction with the environment. Allowing players to move and look freely might give them false expectations and actually make the game seem too restrictive, so limiting them to grid-based movement worked much better.
PnT: The game combines typing with classic RPG elements. How did you go about balancing these two aspects so that players were both engaged by the gameplay and immersed in the game world?
Lee : We got lucky! We found that the two aspects actually complemented each other very nicely, often in ways we hadn’t expected. For example, when we realised that we needed more ways to give players souls and letters for their words, we just thought about activities you’d find in RPGs and came up with the fishing and card minigames. It worked the other way round too – when we struggled to introduce the game’s lore in a satisfying way, we just fell back on the word mechanic and had the characters remember words that were linked to events in their past.
PnT: Cryptmaster refers to old-school games like Legend of Grimrock and Crypt of the NecroDancer. How did these games influence you in designing the world and mechanics of Cryptmaster?
Lee: We were definitely influenced by old-school dungeon crawlers for the movement mechanics and the feel of the game’s UI. Eye of the Beholder was a big one for us. More than video games, however, we drew influence from tabletop RPGs, gamebooks and 80s fantasy TV/films. The TV show Knightmare was a massive influence, and we were lucky enough to get Hugo Myatt, the host of that show, to add his voice to a character in our game!
PnT: The necromancer plays an important role in the adventure, serving as both a guide and an obstacle. How did you design this character and what is his narrative importance to the game?
Lee: Paul first designed the look of the character and originally he was going to be much more of an antagonist – a talking jumpscare who would pop up from time to time to mock and instruct you. Then when I came up with the voice, he grew into a much hammier, comedic sort of character.
I won’t spoil the ending of the game but he is kind of central to the narrative! He is also, from a mechanical point of view, very useful when it comes to advancing the story since he is constantly talking in your ear.
PnT: How did you find the balance between humour and the sinister atmosphere of a dungeon crawler in Cryptmaster?
Lee: Once we realised that the core mechanic of the game was going to be this very playful, almost silly, sort of fooling around with words and letters, we knew that a straight horror approach just wouldn’t work. So instead we drew inspiration from old B-movies and leaned into that camp, self-aware sort of spookiness which is a mix of both humour and horror.
PnT: How did you design the puzzles so that they were both challenging and not frustrating for players?
Lee: This was a very tricky one for us. In playtests, we found it was impossible to predict which puzzles individual players would and wouldn’t get, so our solution was to build a hint system which was as robust as possible, allowing players to tweak the settings until they were comfortable. On top of this, we made it so that hardly any of the game’s puzzles blocked progress and those that did could be solved for you by the Cryptmaster if desired.
PnT: Cryptmaster has adopted a black and white visual style with shades of grey. Why did you opt for this aesthetic choice, and how does it enhance the atmosphere of the game?
Lee: The inspiration came from the fantasy line art found in old D&D manuals and Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. We hoped it would give the game a feel that was both nostalgic and fresh. It also helped keep the art workload down, very important for such a small team!
PnT: How did you come up with the ‘memories’ mechanic, and what impact does it have on character development and gameplay?
Lee: Originally, we only had skills and not memories. However, we discovered in playtests that some people were breezing through the skills very quickly (especially people who played in groups – streamers absolutely blast through the words!) so we decided to add some extra words that were purely narrative. This turned out to be a good choice as players have enjoyed getting to know the four characters, something which wouldn’t otherwise have been the case.
PnT: The game allows for both real-time and turn-based combat, depending on player preference. How have you designed these combat systems to remain engaging while still relying on typing?
Lee: It became quickly apparent that some players found the real time combat too stressful, so the turn-based mode was introduced to alleviate that. I think the key thing for us was that we didn’t want the game to be a test of typing speed. Instead, we took inspiration from deckbuilders and roguelikes, hoping to create skills that would allow players to exploit synergies and give the game a tactical edge.
PnT: The bosses and enemies in the game have unique mechanisms, often based on letter or word constraints. How have you designed these encounters to offer an intellectual and strategic challenge?
Lee: The bosses were fun to design and I now wish we’d used that “guess their word” mechanic a little more. Really, a lot of our intent in planning the various enemy and boss mechanics was to mess with any regular strategies the player might have. It would be very easy otherwise to fall into a rhythm of just using the same words in the same order each time, so by blocking certain letters or making enemies vulnerable to certain letters, we could force players to use different skills and think on their feet a little more.
PnT: In Cryptmaster, words are not just tools for combat, but also for interacting with the environment and NPCs. How have you developed this system, and what are the challenges of balancing these interactions?
Lee: We weren’t originally going to allow players to type anything at any time but once we discovered how fun it was for the Cryptmaster to answer you, we expanded that system to take in all the NPCs. I’ll be honest – it was a lot of work! Basically, lots of second-guessing of what players might type and then including responses for those words. For the Cryptmaster alone, there are roughly 4000 lines!
PnT: You’ve included options to make the game accessible to players who aren’t comfortable with fast typing, such as turn-based mode. How important is accessibility to you in a game so focused on writing?
Lee: Very important. We showed the game early on to friends and family and were struck by how many people enjoyed it who weren’t generally “gamers”. So we wanted to make sure that as far as possible there weren’t any barriers for players. Also, seeing that the whole game can be played with a keyboard or microphone, it felt important to us that it was potentially something that could be enjoyed by players who couldn’t ordinarily access many video games for physical reasons.
My background prior to being a game designer was in Special Education, so this was close to my heart and I’m very proud of how accessible the final game is.
PnT: Following the success of Cryptmaster, do you plan to develop this universe further or explore new ideas? What are your future plans for the studio and future games?
Lee: Right now, we are doing both! We have an update on the way for Cryptmaster which will introduce a large new area, new characters, new mechanics, new lore and a whole new tournament mode for the card game!
At the same time, we are working on the next thing, a game which shares some similarities with Cryptmaster but is even more ambitious…