TGS’s quirkiest game is about sword-forging potatoes

Singaporean developer Daylight Studios is stepping into bold new territory as it shifts focus from free-to-play mobile to premium PC content. The studio is planning to launch its latest game Holy Potatoes! A Weapon Shop?! (Holy Potatoes) on Steam Greenlight in November, and aims for a full release in the first quarter of 2015.

CEO of Daylight Studios and executive producer of Holy Potatoes, Don Sim, was inspired by popular simulator Game Dev Story and decided that create a simulation game based around RPG weapon shops. He explained how visits to the weapon shop were often the high points in RPG games, the time when the heroes finally got to spend their hard-earned coin and walk away with sacks full of shiny new weapons. It’s a joy every RPG player knows all too well, and one that seems well suited to a game of its own.

In Holy Potatoes the player runs a blacksmith store where they must design, forge, and sell various weapons. These weapons are obviously a way to make money, but they also play an integral part in the development of the world outside the shop. Giving different weapons to different characters changes or improves that character’s class. For example if a mage is given a bone wand, they become a necromancer. Holy Potatoes already has over 70 different character classes, but Sim hinted there may be more on the way because the team can’t stop coming up with ideas.

The demo I played at Tokyo Game Show was still an early build and the game lacked much of its intended depth, but one thing I can say for sure is that Holy Potatoes looks fantastic. As you may have guessed, all the characters in the game are potatoes, which sounds odd but in fact works surprisingly well.

Sim explained that he was on the verge of going with pixel art, but was swayed at the last moment when art director Julian Futanto showed him a different concept. The image was of a dancing potato and as far as Daylight Studios was concerned, it was love at first sight. Sim explained that the company then rallied behind the concept and was exceptionally motivated to make its unique vision a success.

(See: From the other side of the fence: one developer’s thoughts on in-app-purchases)

But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy for the team. The company still has to make money from this project, and this is their first foray into the brutal world of premium gaming. Sim told me that he wanted to make the switch when he realized certain limitations inherent with free-to-play model. He stated that inevitably gamers tire of a free to play title, due to real life commitments or simply because they have got all they can from it, and they always leave with a “certain sense of dissatisfaction.” A premium game doesn’t have this problem because it ends at a specific point of the developer’s choosing.

Daylight Studios believes that Holy Potatoes is a game for gamers, and if it can appeal to them, it will succeed. To this end it has filled Holy Potatoes with pop culture and gaming references. My personal favorite was a potato named “Laura Craft,” who sported the iconic outfit of the beloved Tomb Raider heroine. Little jokes like this, the cute potato characters, and the cool concept of owning and running a weapon shop, have made Holy Potatoes one of my most anticipated games for next year. I personally can’t wait to start building some badass weapons and taking over the potato universe.

This story is part of our Tokyo Game Show 2014 coverage.