Introducing Wyvern and Waypoints: A Website about Dragons in Video Games
When The Mane Quest gets any “mainstream” gaming attention, I often receive comments along the lines of “I love niche gaming sites”. I tend to agree with that a lot, but always feel like I don’t know enough pages with a similar goal as mine, i.e. over-analysing one topic in video games as I do with horses. I’ve also had people ask me if there was anything like TMQ but for cats or dogs in games, which unfortunately does not seem to exist yet. I did come up with a bunch of punny name ideas on one occasion though, feel free to steal those if you’re about to start a cat game website.
In short: I would absolutely love more sites like TMQ who focus on one very specific subject in video games. As a result I was absolutely stoked to find out about Wyverns and Waypoints: A website dedicated to Dragons in Video Games.
Kendra Colman is an electrical designer by day and a life-long dragon enthusiast. Mirroring my readership’s experience with horse games, Kendra has found herself searching for new games starring dragons time and time again, only to end up with disappointment.
Through the infamous viral Reddit post about horse games being trash, she found out about The Mane Quest, and saw her own feelings reflected in my blog: There just weren’t enough good games with dragons, and the ones that exist are not satisfactory to dragon fans like herself. Of course, I had to ask her about the kind of dragon representation she wants to see more of:
The Mane Quest: I often talk about “realistic” representations of horses, but with an entirely fictional creature like a dragon, it may not be as obvious what good or bad representation is: What makes a good dragon in a video game? Is there something about dragons that you think games frequently get “wrong”?
Kendra Colman: One of the biggest downfalls of most dragons in video games is that they are treated as side characters, mounts, nameless enemies, etc. There's a huge lack of more prominent dragons in triple-A games, ones that don't just exist to drive the plot forward or aren't simply mechanisms of the game. Most are just kind of boring, even if they look cool or are fun to fight. So much popular mythology around dragons portrays them as wise, intelligent creatures, so why don't we see that more in games? Even if the game centers on dragon riding, why can't your partner dragon be its own strong character with a well-developed personality? Or even if you want to have a dragon as a big boss, they can still be an interesting character with interesting motivations. I think Dragon's Dogma is a good example of this done well.
TMQ: Do you have concrete opinions on how dragon anatomy or draconic nature should be presented in games?
KC: Coming from a non-developer perspective, I think it's important to select some sort of real-world creature, whether that's a cat or a horse or whatever you kind of want your dragon to look or act like, and use that as a base. Maybe you have a tall, lithe dragon meant for riding. If it has a walk cycle and anatomy similar to that of a horse, it grounds it a bit to reality, gives the player a point of reference. That's one great thing about dragons, you have some room for creativity with it, and wiggle room when it comes to anatomy. But it's still super important to use some sort of real-life references to make your dragon believable. I also think indie game developers that lack a triple-A budget should stick with more stylized models. Trying to go too realistic without the necessary resources can usually end up kind of goofy looking.
TMQ: In horse games, we’re generally hungry for quality animation, horse breeding, training and competing in different disciplines, building up our own stables… what would be the core pillars of your ideal “dragon game”?
KC: Quality animations are a big one for me. If your game has wonky animations, especially in flight, or in the transitions between ground and flight, it really ruins the experience for me. My ideal dragon game could go two ways: One would be a dragon riding game with a strong, character-driven plot, where you bond with your dragon and have to work with it to accomplish your goals. A focus on that connection is important. Alternatively, I want to play as a dragon with no human companion, but the important gameplay mechanics are pretty much the same either way. The ability to fly freely in a 3D world is essential. Aerial combat and flight need to be engaging and not just feel like you're dogfighting in an airplane – much in the same way you don't want horses to just feel like reskinned cars. I also want the vast majority of the game to be spent on dragonback, assuming you're going with the rider/human companion spin. Right now, sandbox-style survival/simulation games where you play as a dragon from hatching seem popular, but I prefer my games to be more single-player story-driven experiences. I want rich lore, I want the dragons to play an important role in the world, and I want them to fun to play as and aesthetically pleasing.
TMQ: Do you have a favorite video game dragon? And a least favorite, or one that you found disappointing? What makes them so?
KC: Honestly, I think I still have to go with the classic Spyro the Dragon answer for this one – admittedly partly out of nostalgia. Spyro is one of the earliest video games I remember playing, so he'll always hold a special place in my heart. To this day though, he remains one of the few main character, playable dragons in a triple-A game. He actually has personality and is just fun to play as. I think I need to give an honorable mention to the dragons in Breath of the Wild as well. Even though they are a tiny part of the game, I didn't know they were even there before playing, and finding one of them for the first time was a really magical experience.
As far as least favorite, I'll go with maybe a bit of a hot take (and I'll be honest that I've actually played very little of this game, so take this with a grain of salt) and say the Skyrim dragons. I've heard maybe they are actually interesting as characters, but I honestly really don't like their designs and I think their animations always look really wonky whenever I see gameplay videos. It's really a big reason I've never played Skyrim, because I expected more out of the dragons when that game was initially revealed. Also, shoutout to Spyro's design in the Skylanders series!
TMQ: You launched your site with its first article in early March 2022 – what can readers expect next? How has the reception been so far?
KC: I just published a two-part article about upcoming dragon games! Generally, I hope to do game reviews/previews, interviews with indie developers, and more analysis type articles where I take a closer look at some of the things I've talked about here, like animations and anatomy.
The reception has been better than I expected! I got a lot of interest from your Twitter followers when you retweeted my post, and I got a very warm welcome from the subreddit /r/Wyrmworks, which is a community for discussing dragons in media. That's another great place for dragon lovers in general to check out.
This is obligatory to include while we’re talking about dragons and horses sorry I don’t make the rules. Source.
I have to admit that reading Kendra’s explanations of what a good dragon game should be makes me want to play one myself – and I’m looking forward to her detailed analyses of what’s already out there. I’m certain we have some overlap between horse fans and dragon fans in our readership, so if you’re intrigued by this concept and Kendra’s insights, make sure to go check out her first handful of articles over on Wyverns and Waypoints!
Kendra has also set up a Ko-Fi account where you can send her a few bucks towards a much-needed gaming hardware upgrade. “But honestly, the biggest support would just be spreading the word about the blog and getting involved in discussions,” she adds. So there you go: spread the good news to all the dragon nerds you know. And if you happen to be a developer working on quality draconic content, I’m sure Kendra would love to learn more about your game.