Developer Spotlight Series: Exploring the Digital Realm of Eldritch Horror - An Interview with Cornerstone Software Development, Inc | The Gamerheads Podcast

If you have followed us for a while, you know that we are fans of not just video games but board games too. We had the opportunity to interview the developers behind the upcoming digital version of Eldritch Horror. We learned a lot from the team, and we're excited for the release!

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Tell us about your team at Cornerstone Software Development, Inc. and your background. Is Eldritch Horror your studio’s first game project?

It sure is, so we hope we don't disappoint! CSDI has actually been around for a rather long time—around 40 years now. We started out in California before moving to Pennsylvania. Throughout our history, we've focused on satellite, GPS, and telecommunications.

How did your team’s traditional software development background influence your overall design philosophy when creating Eldritch Horror, and where did that approach differ most from a typical game development studio?

Our background was very code-focused compared to the combined nature most game studios are perceived as. This was reflected in our design documents and whiteboard planning for the game. We designed everything from the ground up as if it were a work of pure code. Fortunately, we had talented artists to help us integrate it into the audio-visual medium that games are.

From a project management standpoint, how different was building a game compared to traditional software development? What were some of the biggest workflow or communication lessons your team learned during development, especially when working with stakeholders and subject matter experts?

In our background, the subject matter experts were all engineers. We were thus wrapped up together from the word 'go.' One thing we learned in this process is to involve everyone as early as possible. We couldn't assume that everyone we needed was at the weekly code meeting. However, that doesn't mean everyone had to be constantly involved in every workflow from the start. We found that each team—art, UI, music, code—could operate independently while adhering to a common design document. There was then a final decision group of only 2-3 people who ensured that everyone's work came together well. It was like having a game director by small committee rather than an individual.

Eldritch Horror is a beloved board game with a devoted fanbase. What were the biggest challenges in translating that experience into a video game, and how did you work to preserve what fans love about the original?

The first challenge was understanding what fans loved about the original game. We knew what we individually enjoyed, but that wasn't necessarily true for everyone else. Fortunately, we learned that our favorite aspects weren't so different from others'. Some people loved putting together builds and combos with their teams, while others enjoyed the setting or the individual stories of investigators. The common thread was a love of storytelling. Combo makers wanted to showcase their creations with setup, expectation, and payoff. Theme enthusiasts liked having a sandbox for their imagination, while investigator fans could tell personal tales of their heroes' rise and fall. Thus, we focused on preserving the idea of storytelling. We brought on a narrator and commissioned a score to help bring it to life while maintaining the gameplay that ignited players' imaginations.

Atmosphere is such a critical part of the Eldritch Horror experience. What were some of the challenges you faced when building the game’s tone and mood, and was there anything that surprised you during that process?

This ties into the last question. If you get Nathan (CEO) on it, you'll probably end up with hours of answers. Eldritch Horror, as a board game, relies heavily on visual, social, and rules-based elements to deliver its atmosphere. We tried to replicate that visual style as closely as possible, using the actual art from the game and expanded universe whenever we could. Even for the UI, we had an artist create a color and font guide to describe what kinds were used and for what purpose. Since we are making a digital medium, we could also incorporate elements like music, sound, and animation. However, the biggest challenge was creating new UI art from scratch while matching the style set by the exceptionally talented artists who came before us. Making something that fits naturally with their work was the hard part.

What features or systems in Eldritch Horror are you personally most excited for players to experience?

We're really excited for players to see the new storytelling and atmospheric elements we've added. The game has been heavily automated, allowing players to tell their stories faster and with less bookkeeping than ever before. We're eager to see their reactions when we introduce something unexpected: a theme for Cthulhu, a narrator guiding them through downtown San Francisco, and talented VAs bringing the investigators to life as players tell their stories. That’s what we’re excited to see.

When players finish a session of Eldritch Horror, what do you hope they walk away feeling or thinking about the experience?

That it was fun! While that may seem like a glib answer, we genuinely hope the story they just told sticks with them. We want them to share it as a narrative with their friends and inspire them to exercise even more creativity and craft new stories in the future.

After the release of Eldritch Horror, do you see game development becoming a continued focus for your team moving forward?

We're certainly hoping so! We would love to continue having this wing of CSDI help people tell new stories in the future.

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We want to thank the team at CSDI for taking the time to answer our questions. Be sure to wishlist the game now!