MinnMax Interview - Darksiders, Castlevania, And Airship Syndicate’s Chaotic Path To Wayfinder

In this MinnMax Interview, Ben Hanson talks to Airship Syndicate's Joe Madureira and Ryan Stefanelli about the chaotic path to the release of their new, co-op game Wayfinder. From Darksiders 1 and 2 and Vigil Games to their independent path at Airship Syndicate working on Battle Chasers: Nightwar, Darksiders Genesis, Ruined King: A League of Legends Story, and now Wayfinder, Joe and Ryan have learned a ton about the game industry and how to stay flexible to survive. Their biggest swing yet is converted their free-to-play live-service game Wayfinder into a premium-priced, co-op, action-RPG available now on Steam after Digital Extremes canceled the project. In this interview they also talk about how Suikoden fan art led to a co-op Castlevania pitch to Konami, why they abandoned plans for a game called Sly Cooper: Shadows In Time on the PSP, and an isometric Overwatch-like game for DC. Oh, and Joe Mad talks about his history drawings comics like Uncanny X-Men and shares his thoughts on Deadpool and Wolverine since he's spent so much time drawing both characters.

You can watch and share the video version here - https://youtu.be/UDS4wfmDzio

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below...

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:20 - Joe Mad and Ryan Stefanelli on Game Informer

00:06:02 - Designing "Nuzzles"

00:08:10 - The history of Wayfinder with Digital Extremes

00:12:03 - Converting a live-service MMO like Wayfinder into a traditional co-op game

00:19:56 - The search for sustainability in the game industry

00:24:38 - Creating Ruined King with Riot Games

00:27:36 - Darksiders, Battle Chasers, and creative freedom

00:32:47 - Airship Syndicate and the importance of independence

00:34:03 - The challenges of creating Darksiders

00:37:12 - Choosing THQ over Sony and Sly Cooper on PSP

00:40:16 - Pitching Darksiders

00:43:49 - Darksiders 2 and the prototype Wii U

00:44:45 - New details on Sly Cooper: Shadows in Time on PSP

00:47:35 - Scaling up studios and chasing live-service money

00:50:48 - The canceled MMO Warhammer 40000: Dark Millennium

00:53:38 - Vigil Games' 1881 (Codename Crawler)

00:57:31 - How a co-op Castlevania pitch turned into Wayfinder

01:00:40 - Riot Forge Games and business meetings

01:02:49 - Pitching DC on an isometric Overwatch-like action-RPG

01:05:46 - Joe Mad on Deadpool & Wolverine and his start in Marvel comics

01:10:38 - Wayfinder's final stretch to 1.0 launch