Jean Nguyen, well known for his work on Insomniac Games titles like Ghost of Tsushima and its sequel, Ghost of Yotei, has been hard at work on his dinosaur sword game, appropriately titled Dinoblade. Leading up to its up July 23rd release, Nguyen was kind enough to answer many of our questions about his game, which has already managed to get quite a following thanks to its demo.
Dinoblade has one of those concepts that immediately grabs attention: a Spinosaurus wielding a greatsword. What was the original spark behind the idea, and when did you realize it could become a full game rather than just a striking visual concept?
In early 2022, I decided to try and find another animation position but since my demo reel was out of date, I had to start making new pieces. I focused heavily on combat and creature animations. At that time, I also noticed that a friend of mine on twitter had one of his animations go viral which gave me more motivation since I’ve always wanted to go viral at least once in my life. I kept putting out new animations, growing my account and at the same time strengthening my demo reel. One day, I decided to go easy and just reupload an old animation but maybe change something on it to be silly. I grabbed an old Spinosaurus Walk Cycle I made and put a Buster Sword in it’s mouth. This animation didn’t go viral but I liked how it looked and thought it would be fun to see a combo from it. I made a 6 ish second combo clip of the Spinosaurus using a giant Buster Sword and that clip went viral, gaining over 6 Million views on Twitter alone. Many comments mentioned if this was part of a game, or telling me to make a game out of it but I would reply saying it’s only for my demo reel thinking that it was impossible for me to make a game out of this idea alone.
The premise is inherently wild, but the game also seems to be treating its action-RPG combat seriously. How do you balance the absurd appeal of “dinosaurs with swords” with the need for combat weight, challenge, and genuine player mastery?
The idea is silly and people may think it’s more of a game that would make them laugh but the original animations were appealing because it shows how a Dinosaur could wield a giant sword from its mouth in a realistic way so I ran with that idea but pushing it a bit to be more fantasy since I’m a big anime fan. I’m also a big fan of fast paced combat, so the animations have to be quicker during these moments but weighty on the recoveries. I also don’t want combat to be mindlessly spamming to win so finding ways to make players stay on their toes and focus is important to keep the game engaging.
“The idea is silly and people may think it’s more of a game that would make them laugh but the original animations were appealing”
Dinoblade features rival dinosaurs, some of whom also wield weapons. How do you design believable combat readability around creatures that are not humanoid but are still participating in sword-based combat?
There’s very limited movement a Dinosaur can do while wielding a weapon with its mouth so focusing on readability was a bit challenging. Players have had concerns mentioning that they can’t read when the Dinosaur is about to attack versus them playing hit reactions so 1 way is to add Red Glints which are Attacks that can not be blocked. They can still be parried but mistiming it will be punishing. The Red Glints also have a sound effect to it to make it even more intense. While not all attacks are Unblockable, normal ones tend to have a long enough windup pose that players will learn to distinguish vs a hit reaction, the longer they play.
What kind of structure should players expect from Dinoblade? Is it a mostly linear action-RPG with handcrafted encounters and boss progression, or is there meaningful freedom to explore, backtrack, and discover optional areas?
Half of the maps are linear and a few are more open to explore. Player’s will want to explore to find all the mini bosses which on defeat, will give the player Boss SP to use an unlock or upgrade their abilities. Defeating bosses also allows Players to summon them and each Summon has their own passive. Players can also find Extra Boss SP hidden around the map, as well as Health Stones which are like a heal flask, and weapons. Players can also travel back in case they miss something. I would say the game is more focused on Boss Rush similar to Black Myth Wukong.
The Steam page mentions multiple biomes and Alpha predators ruling different regions. How important are these Alpha encounters to the game’s overall progression and sense of scale?
Each Alpha, which are the main bosses that’s blocking the path to the next map, will reward Players with 3 Boss Sp and potentially a new weapon to unlock. You can’t summon the main Bosses normally but there are ways to summon these Alphas that players have to unlock to do so. The Boss Fights are the main reason why players want to play, and towards the end of the game, Players will discover the lore by defeating these bosses. Each Alpha Boss Fight will be a completely different, unique encounter with their own unique movesets so the game will not get repetitive in boss fights.
What can you tell us about Dinoblade’s progression systems? How deep do skills, combos, parries, dodges, rolls, and abilities become as players move further into the game?
There’s a Souls Art Tree, basically a skill tree with 4 abilities you can unlock plus a single passive which you can unlock 3 levels of. Each time you unlock the new level of the abilities, they become stronger with a new visual look or effects to it. One of the abilities is to stun the enemy but if you unlock level 2 and further, you start transforming to the Dinosaur you’ve binded with. You also have Attribute system where players can put their SP points into 1 of the 4 stats, Health, Strength, Resonance and Stamina. Health for a tanky build, Strength to increase physical damage like light and heavy attacks, Resonance to increase spell damage plus increase the amount of Resonance the player has and Stamina to let player fight longer before waiting for stamina to regenerate as well as Stamina being tied to the Transformation form.
Since every major character is a dinosaur, what kind of storytelling approach are you taking? Is the narrative told through cutscenes, environmental storytelling, creature behavior, or something else entirely?
The story is told through mostly short cinematics which the player will see more of towards the 2nd half of the game. There are also some clues in the environment before each Boss Fight stage. I also want the player to figure out the story on their own, piece it together rather than explaining everything.
“Half of the maps are linear and a few are more open to explore.”
What were the biggest challenges in telling an emotional or dramatic story in a world where the cast is made up entirely of weapon-wielding dinosaurs?
The biggest challenge was to decide whether the dinosaurs have dialogues or not. I decided to add some dialogue lines which include voices but they should sound more like talking through telepathically rather than verbally. Only a few special ones have dialogues while every other is not fully bound to their soul warriors to be able to have dialogues.
Will Dinoblade mainly stick to real prehistoric creatures, or does the cataclysmic/fantasy angle allow for more exaggerated, mythical, or even dragon-like designs?
Players will have to play to find out.
Are there plans to introduce other weapon types beyond the greatsword, or is the focus on expanding and deepening the core blade-based combat style?
The plan is for each Dinosaur to have their own type of weapon type. Currently players can only play as the Spinosaurus but there are plans to add more playables for Boss Rush Mode, each with their own weapon style similar to classes.
Are you looking into Steam Deck compatibility or verification? Given the action-heavy nature of the game, how much work is going into controller support, UI scaling, and handheld readability?
I’ve already had a player test the full game using Steam Deck and he had no issues. I’d love to get Steam to do a verification. There is full controller support.
Has feedback from the Steam demo changed any major elements of combat, camera behavior, difficulty tuning, UI, or performance optimization?
Yes, I tried to read as much feedback as I can and apply where it makes sense. I’ve fixed a lot of camera clipping, added an option for players to change target lock system, and heavy focus on optimization. I’ve also made Resonance Attribute to increase spell/magic damage and allowed 95% of unblockables red glint attacks to be deflectable/parriable. There are probably more polish changes but I just don’t remember at this moment.
Are console versions something the team is considering after the PC launch, and if so, what would need to happen technically or commercially before Dinoblade could come to PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo platforms?
Absolutely. My 100% focus right now is delivering the absolute best version of Dinoblade possible for the PC launch on Steam. A console port is entirely dependent on our Steam performance. If the game finds its audience on PC and the demand is there, then porting to other platforms makes sense as the next step.
