We're honored to have a virtual sitdown with the developers of Dog Duty, Zanardi and Liza, to talk about their game and the exciting announcement that was dropped on February 13th.

1. The characters and theme of the game seem rather out of this world. How did you come up with it, and here’s the million-dollar question - Why did you choose octopuses?

The game is made from our dearest nostalgic memories, and one of these is that we love several classic villains in particular. It’s the way these villains think of themselves as the greatest being alive, like Mojo Jojo, Dr. Robotnik, Shredder, among others.

There's a phrase from an Incredibles enemy, the Underminer, that sums the idea very well: "I'm always beneath you, but nothing is beneath me!". So, after sketching a lot, we arrived at the concept of an octopus, because octopuses are incredible, powerful and unique in their own way (some people even dare to say that the octopus is actually an alien creature).

2. Developing an indie game yourselves can be pretty tough I’d imagine. What sort of challenges you never thought you’d encounter during the development of Dog Duty?

Dog Duty started as a concept pursuit: on how to evoke the nostalgic feel of the 80s/90s in the most authentic and personal way. The focus was on pursuing that concept, instead of just doing something out of an established and proven way. Also, the real-squad-combat genre left me with challenges that had to be researched and developed in-house, without looking at what other titles in the genres do.

3. Being indie game developers who have amassed some experience developing their own game, what is the most important advice you’d like to pass on to other, much less experienced indie developers?

There's much that can be said, but if I may select just a few useful things: try to do simpler things, if there's a bigger project, look for funding, or try to sharpen yourself while working where you get paid to do so. And last, I think that modding is a really great way to get into the scene, if you're humble and honest on your approach.

4. Although inspired by Commandos, Dog Duty is quite different from the former. What would you say is the most interesting difference between your game and Commandos?

Our proposal is to do something more loose, more chaotic, less precise. It's not about running a clockwork-precision operation, but more on trial-and-error, chaos, speed, and experimentation.

5. Congrats on announcing the move to consoles! What prompted the decision, or is this move something that you’ve planned all along?

Thanks! It was our wish for a long time since Dog Duty is our biggest game to date, with more content and depth than our previous titles.

6. Any ETA on the official release date for the Steam/PC version of Dog Duty?

We cannot give you an exact date yet, but we expect to release in the spring of 2020.


7. Any plans on further expanding Dog Duty? Maybe new campaigns, a level editor, or even a co-op mode?

There are some sketches and ideas for a DLC, but let's first see how the game will be received. Would you like to have a co-op and-or a level editor?

Dog Duty seems to have the framework for a co-op mode, where players can control each individual character in the team of three, and also a level editor which will not only provide extra replayability to the game but will even allow creative players to design their own levels using existing assets, and challenge other players to beat those levels. Maybe it's something extra that you can think about once the game's released?

That being said, do you have anything else to say to our readers?

I'm not sure. Dog Duty is my speech. I'm eager to see what I may hear now.

Well, we are also eager to see what other players think about your game and what you have in store for Dog Duty in the future. Thanks for the answers!