Sega on Kingdom Conquest II

After the unexpected success of Kingdom Conquest, Sega was left in the happy position of figuring out how it could improve on the original freemium multiplayer strategy title.

The result of its efforts was the Pocket Gamer Silver Award-winning Kingdom Conquest II, a majestically massive strategy game that mixes in elements of card battlers and real-time action RPGs.

We sat down recently with Ethan Einhorn, Sega of America's Creative Director, to receive a guided tour through the lands of Kingdom Conquest II, and afterwards we asked him to shed some light on the finer details of the game.

Pocket Gamer: The original Kingdom Conquest was Sega's most successful mobile title to date, did the player reception surprise you at all? Ethan: We were very surprised by the performance of the original Kingdom Conquest in the US and Europe. At the time of its release, the big titles were along the lines of Angry Birds - short, bite-sized products that appealed to casual players. Kingdom Conquest was very ahead of the curve, bringing card battle and PVP strategy to the market before Rage of Bahamut and Kingdoms of Camelot. PG: Two full years have passed between the release of Kingdom Conquest and its sequel. What improvements did you look to make over the original game, and what elements did you look to preserve in Kingdom Conquest II? Ethan: We rebuilt the game from the ground up, which allowed us to render everything in 3D. We've totally reworked and rebalanced the game systems, introduced hundreds of new monsters, and made it easier than ever for new players to jump in and explore. As for KC1, we wanted to ensure that we retained that game's superlative end-game experience, which pits top players against each other in epic PVP battles. PG: How do the different elements of Kingdom Conquest II (asynchronous and synchronous multiplayer modes, etc) add to the game experience? Did you ever think of spinning them off into separate games? Ethan: Kingdom Conquest 2 seamlessly weaves together action, strategy, and resource management. If you start building a new castle, instead of just watching a timer count down, you can jump into a dungeon and play an action sequence cooperatively with three other people. If you can make it past the giant boss, you'll be rewarded with monsters, which you can use to take over new territories. Before you know it, the five minutes you've intended to spend on the game has stretched to two hours! PG: In our review, we noted that Kingdom Conquest II offers a tremendous "bounty of content" for players to explore. Do you worry that this asset might be a turn-off to players who were looking for a simple city-builder, card battler, or real-time action RPG? Ethan: This is an uncompromised core experience for core players. Every mechanic in the game is important, and there is a real pleasure in finding out how deep each system goes. That said, new players will find that the game's tutorial is very fluid and intuitive, allowing fresh recruits to play alongside pros very quickly. PG: In my (brief) exposure to Kingdom Conquest II, I was struck by the variety of bosses that wait for players in the Dungeon portion of the game. Do you have any plans to release special themed or event bosses to help engage players? Ethan: We are constantly updating Kingdom Conquest II with exciting new content. The launch pack is just the beginning! PG: And finally, do you have any tips for new players just starting out in Kingdom Conquest II? Ethan: Use Lord's Sigils only when a quest prompts you to do so. Also, pay attention to the range of your monsters - if a monster has a range of 1, they won't be able to attack if they are behind another monster.