It’s a special bonus episode this week! With Rift Wizard 3 launching in June 2026, I sat down with developer Dylan White to talk about the third game’s evolution, how its distinguished itself from Rift Wizard 2, and what it takes to make a traditional roguelike game stand out in the ever evolving morass of games being released on Steam these days. Come for the discussion on PyGame, stay for the discussion on metal music band names as monsters!

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Transcript

1:51 - Interview Start

2:49 - Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup as Primary Design Inspiration

6:15 - Original Concept: Not a Wizard Game at First

9:06 - Core Design Goal: Every Encounter High-Pressure & Unique

13:11 - Rift Wizard 2: Items System Added to Fight Forced Builds

16:46 - Dominions 5 Influence & Knowing Your Game’s Identity

20:35 - Why Python/Pygame: Fast Prototyping & Fun to Code

22:38 - ASCII Prototype Origins & Discarded Pac-Man Mana Mechanic

32:22 - AI Coding Agents: Core Logic Hand-Coded, UI Outsourced

41:52 - Crafting System Design: Balancing Planning vs. Improvisation

47:31 - Rift Wizard 3 Art Direction: Ralph Bakshi & 70s Animation

56:36 - Grid Size Changes Across Versions & Rebalancing Challenges

1:02:14 - Sequel Philosophy: 75% Familiarity, 25% Novelty

1:07:17 - Switch & Steam Deck Portability: Mouse-Keyboard Dependency Problem

1:22:50 - Dylan’s Favorite Roguelikes & Final Thoughts on Genre

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Intro music: Rift Wizard 3 Title Theme

Outro music: Rift Wizard 3 Boss Theme