Almost anyone can boil an egg, and in some unspecified time in the future you may even whip one and fry it right into a delicious omelette. But what happens while you send this omelet into battle with a three-layer cake? That’s considered one of the various questions GladiEATers are asking – so PCGamesN caught up with the mind behind this upcoming turn-based strategy game at WASD 2023 to ask it about Steam Early Access plans, the ethics of culinary combat, and the unquestionable potential of cheese.
The concept of GladiEATers is kind of easy – you cook various dishes after which send them to fight your opponent’s creations. You can quickly cook easy dishes like hard-boiled eggs, or take the time to cook something fancier (and more powerful in combat), resembling a three-layer cake. It’s a straightforward yet delightful concept that creator Oliver Georgallis from Milk Bubbles Games got here up with on a protracted drive.
“There was complete silence, which was broken by, ‘Tommy, I actually have this concept, okay? After informing a friend, the response almost confirmed the concept in Georgallis’ head: “You could call it GladiEATers.” He loved the name a lot that “Tommy” still has a small part in the sport just due to the naming rights. “I like puns – a variety of things in the sport are named after them,” Georgallis tells us on the WASD floor.
“The team often drags me into it,” he muses, “For example, there’s just one chef in the sport who can speak puns because everyone else said okay Oliver, everyone else needs to talk normally.” However, Georgallis says the team wants the characters to be varied and interesting, and everybody has their very own specific food preferences, resembling one who’s a strict paleo-vegan.
“It’s never a joke, you recognize – no one ever makes fun of somebody for what they eat or how they dress or anything like that. This can be very vital to us. So just real people, that is mainly what we designed the characters for. As a trained chef, Georgallis says, “Food is so relative – I haven’t got to elucidate to anyone what a fried egg is, you recognize, they simply know. And I believe that is type of a place to begin for character constructing or creation.”
Some dishes, nonetheless, could also be a bit less familiar to some – Ratatouille is now quite widely known due to the Disney movie of the identical name, but what about Shakshouk’s tomato and egg dish? “So few people know what it’s – I wish someone would make Shakshouka in the sport after which work out find out how to do it in real life and discover it’s super easy and super tasty.”
Currently, there are about 50 creatures in the sport from three categories of eggs, cakes and vegetables, but there may be a variety of potential for brand new food to seem. “Cheese – I mean after we add cheese to the sport… it’s cheese veggies, cheese omelettes, cheese on bread, pizza, I mean whole airlocks open, right?” This signifies that even one recent ingredient creates a complete world of possibilities. “I mean what cooking looks like,” concludes Georgallis.
However, one query involves mind. If this food is alive, dropped at life by a mysterious force generally known as the “CAL particle” that turns inanimate calories into food, what are the moral implications of sending it into battle? “It’s interesting since you said ‘send him to die’, right? This is unquestionably a conversation we would like to develop on this story,” teases Georgallis.
“There will certainly be characters that query the ethics of fighting these creatures, getting attached to them and watching them die hurts a bit. And if it comes back to life, will it’s the identical? So there are questions we would like to expand on later within the story.” This is definitely a singular tackle the ethics of cooking that we have not seen before.
GladiEATers is currently scheduled to launch on Steam Early Access by the tip of the 12 months, with plans to introduce multiplayer modes in the longer term, including each co-op and competitive multiplayer. For now you may add it to your wish list If you have an interest.
In the meantime, take a look at more of the perfect cooking games in case you’re feeling hungry, or other great strategy games for many who love the more tactical side of things.
Interview by Nat Smith at WASD 2023.
