Brocula: Interview With Creator of the Game Where Even a Vampire Has To Be a 9-To-5 Corporate Slave

Brocula is an upcoming RPG game about a vampire who has been woken up from his 500-year-long slumber. While the conventional idea dictates that a vampire must try to take over the town, Brocula has other ideas.

As it turns out, Brocula is set to be a victim of capitalism (like us all). With no money (if you don’t count ancient coins in his possession), no food, and no way to obtain the materials to fix his castle, Brocula needs a job desperately.

Brocula is a pixel art indie game in developed by a solo developer, Prateek Jadhwani. The game’s title cleverly combines “bro” and “Dracula,” and its well-produced trailer showcases the game’s laid-back nature, which is a refreshing departure from the typically bloodthirsty portrayal of vampires seen in games like Redfall.

The gameplay is just as chill, offering a relaxing 40 hours, as per Jadhwani. Players can roam around the town, get a job, talk to people, learn skills, cook food, repair their castle, farm the land, and more.

I spoke to Jadhwani, who has been developing Brocula on his own for the last two years, to learn more about the game. The conversation revolved around the development, purpose, features, and release date of the game.

What inspired you to create Brocula? Which games inspired the creation of Brocula?

I’ve been an avid video game player since I was a kid, and always dreamt of making my own game. I love playing games like Graveyard Keeper, Minecraft, Stardew Valley and I wanted to create a game that I would enjoy playing myself.

I moved back from the US after eight years to a place that was my own, I grew up here, yet it felt nice to see that it had changed so much (for the better of course). At the time I was also watching an anime called Castlevania, and I think the idea came to me then – resettling, the struggles associated and the steps I took to build a life here again.

You’ve mentioned that there are over 40 hours of gameplay to experience in Brocula. After the story ends, will the player get to keep enjoying the game and its farming, crafting and other gameplay modes, or does the game end with the story?

Ah, that’s a good question! I wanted players to decide their own journey. They can continue living Brocula’s life in the town – farm, work at cafes and fix their castle home or reload the game from a recent save point, or just choose to end the game!

I’ve also started working on some downloadable content to add to the story of the game. (Hint: It might involve different difficulty modes and the effects the sun might have on Brocula!) So, stay tuned for that.

So, this DLC is like the extreme hard mode where if you walk in sunlight, they will lose health and can die.

Did you draw inspiration from Taika Waititi’s What We Do In The Shadows for Brocula, seeing that he’s also a vampire trying to blend in the modern world? If not that, were there any other sources of inspiration from pop culture?

To be honest, I don’t think I was thinking of that particular reference when developing the game. Most of the storyline work in the game was designed to help the player relax and play it on autopilot. True that there are a lot of vampire references all over pop culture, It was probably my own story about re-settling in India and building a life around here.

Tell us more about Brocula, the town, its people and the occupations available for players.

Brocula is a vampire, of course, who has just woken up after his 500-year nap because a car crashed into his castle. There is a sprawling town and civilization around him which is very different from the time he went to sleep. He wakes up to the rude shock that the government now has claim over his land, castle and now he has to buy it back from the town! But the town people are nice, they offer him help, in advice and different jobs.

So, with the help of town members and his helper bats, he works at cafes, garages, stores, crop farms, and restaurants to help build his life back in the town. There are a lot of interesting jobs and quests like hunting monsters, writing a book, and yes, fishing as well. I wanted to create something for everyone so that players have options to do what they like in the game.

You’ve been working on Brocula for more than 2 years now, and you’ve developed the game all by yourself. Talk us through your development journey so far.

That’s tough to answer. I do not have any previous knowledge or background in game development. I taught myself to do most of the art, game development, Unity, and such to make Brocula. I remember it took me 2–3 weeks for a simple walk cycle for Brocula. I have been working 2–3 hours each day for 3+ years on this game. And I have learned a lot of things, like pixel art, Unity, and even marketing.

What sort of challenges have you faced while making Brocula, and what are some key changes you’ve made or new concepts you’ve added to the game after you began developing it?

There were challenges throughout the development process, especially in the beginning. As someone who doesn’t have previous experience with game development, I had to search and research a lot to get the basics right—from learning Unity, pixel art, finding the right marketing channels, and to do everything with a full-time job was challenging at times.

So, I worked on this project for 2–3 hours every day, talked to the game dev community, and they helped me out of sticky situations. Right now, I want to make sure that the game can cater to different play styles, different platforms, so finding the right people for playtesting has been a challenge. But I’m hopeful that we can find people who are interested in the game to come out and help with this.

Brocula has a loyal bat companion with him all of the time. How does the bat help a player in this game? Also, is there an option to name the companion?

The Bats are Brocula’s most loyal subjects. They help him out in his quest throughout the game. In a way, they offer players some hand holding wherever required, especially in the tutorial phases. And then there are certain places where players need pointing in the right direction, like “Master, the Mayor was looking for you”, thus starting a task for the Player to go and meet the Mayor.

Bats also pick you up when you die and bring you back to the castle. Regarding naming these bats, I have never thought of it.

Have you planned alternate endings for Brocula?

There is no alternate ending for Brocula at this point of time. The story is fairly linear, but most of the time is spent in part-time jobs, crafting and farming mechanics, making it a cool down game that you can play after a tiring day at work.

Brocula has a petting system, as you’ve mentioned on your Steam page. Please tell us more about the kinds of adorable creatures that can be petted in Brocula.

Ah yes, there is a cat that will meow his way into your heart, and then you can feed it & pet it. There is Brocula’s bat, but he’s more his helper and guardian angel more than his pet.

When can players expect Brocula to be released?

Brocula (hopefully) will be available for players to play on Steam and Xbox in the coming months, I am trying to release it close to Halloween, so my aim is to launch it sometime in October 2023.

What kind of support and response have you seen around the game since you started sharing details about it?

People have been very supportive of the game and me. Especially the IndianGaming community on Reddit. They have been providing lots of constructive feedback that I have been using to improve the gameplay. I got a lot of positive reception when the cinematic trailer of the game was launched, and it got the game a lot of wishlists on Steam.

What changes or improvements do you envision in India to better support game developers like yourself or someone just starting out?

I’m thankful for a strong game dev community presence in India. They are pretty active on discord and other social channels; we even meet up virtually for coffee houses and campfires, and it has been fun to connect with like-minded people who are passionate about games and game development. They’ve been extremely helpful and welcoming, and I learnt a lot through talking and meeting different people in these groups.