Dev Take Tuesday - Deep Breaths in Subnautica

Subnautica, the ocean-themed survival/exploration game from developer Unknown Worlds, captures a mood better than any other game I’ve played. That mood is a vibrant mix of awe, tension, and fear—probably the same emotions I’d be feeling if I actually did crash-land in a dangerous but beautiful ocean on an alien planet. After playing several hours, I realized that I would immediately and invariably take a deep breath of relief whenever I returned to safety in my lifepod or underwater bases. I honestly can’t think of higher praise for a game about surviving a perilous underwater world.

Official screenshot from the game's Steam page.

So how does Subnautica manage to create such a powerful and pervasive mood? Obviously, audio and visual elements both play a key role. But I think it comes down to two important design decisions: embracing the setting and balancing risk with relief.

Subnautica fully embraces its setting. Because the game takes place almost entirely underwater, you feel constantly exposed. Danger can come at you from any direction, and tunnel vision could quickly get you killed. The shallows feel safe not only because less dangerous fish spawn there, but because you have ground beneath you and open air above you, limiting the field of threats and orientating your character. In sharp contrast, some of the most harrowing moments in Subnautica come as you explore caves or wreckage and lose your sense of direction. Oftentimes the path back to air isn’t all that complex, but even memorizing a few turns gets complicated when you can move freely in three dimensions. The “floor” of the wrecked spaceship might be at a 45-degree angle above your head when you enter, and that gets disorienting, especially when under stress.

An interesting distinction between Subnautica and other survival games I’ve seen is the use of what I’d call “true relief.” Your starting lifepod and the underwater bases you eventually construct are (from what I’ve seen) entirely safe from the watery depths’ denizens. But the game’s other systems force you to move out of that comfort zone. Hunger and thirst will eventually force you to risk leaving the safety and oxygen of your base, and expanding your living arrangements will also require you to leave and gather resources. This creates a natural rhythm of risk and relief that perfectly captures the mood of diving into the water. At early levels, the comparison is clear. You have less than 30 seconds of oxygen in your tank, so you dive down from the surface to maybe catch a couple fish, and then you have to swim back up. Over and over. However, even when a miniature submersible and larger oxygen tank allow you to explore more freely, your longer expeditions still maintain that rhythm of leaving comfort, gathering supplies, and returning with a deep breath of relief.

Indie Illuminator - Starmancer

As an English major, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard references to Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. But I never read it. I often feel that impostor syndrome creeping in when I think about all the classics I have yet to read (and might never read). And I feel that way toward some video games too, including the somewhat bizarre but beloved management/simulation game called Dwarf Fortress. For the uninitiated, Dwarf Fortress is a game in which the player controls a bunch of dwarves in a procedurally-generated world. There are no concrete objectives and most of the game’s beauty lies in how the various mechanical systems combine and create unique, emergent gameplay. However, the game is difficult, and without mods the text-based art of the game scares a lot of modern gamers away. Including me. Which brings us to Starmancer.

An image of a starmancer (from the game's press kit)

Starmancer, inspired by Dwarf Fortress as well as other games in the genre like Rimworld, aims to provide the same emergent gameplay but with a more accessible interface. In the game, you assume the role of a starmancer, a fusion of human and machine. You control a space-faring ark of lab-grown human bodies, each imbued with a consciousness from Earth. You will need to manage colonist morale, avoid mutiny, protect your space station, and expand your influence with the other competing factions of the universe.

Starmancer provides plenty of customization (image from the game's press kit)

I’ve been following Starmancer’s development for a while now, and every little animated art update shared on Twitter makes me smile. The pixel art graphics are full of charm, and it looks like the game will include a significant amount of customization for the player, which multiplies that charm astronomically. Being able to not only build and design the structure of a space station but paint its walls and decorate its corridors?  That’s the kind of customization I like.

Overall I’m looking forward to playing Starmancer to get at least a tiny little taste of the classic Dwarf Fortress. If you feel similarly, or if you just want to find out more about the game, check out their current Kickstarter campaign! From what I understand, backers can gain access to a demo right away.

Dev Take Tuesday - Flavor in Stages

Last week I attended a lovely presentation at the University of Utah about board game design and storytelling. The two presenters, Alf Seegert and Ryan Laukat, shared insights from their experience as board game designers and concluded the presentation with a Q&A session. Both presenters offered their advice on how to build lore and storytelling into a game beyond the traditional“flavor text” some games offer.

Flavor text, for those unfamiliar with the term, refers to narrative- or theme-building snippets of text added to different components of a game. Magic: the Gathering might be the most famous example, but other games like Apples to Apples utilize the technique. Flavor text allows game designers to add a dash of seasoning to their games without needing to meddle with the game’s mechanics too much.

A bit of flavor text really spices up an otherwise bland Magic card (Image source).

But is this the most effective way to add seasoning? Professional cooks say you should add seasoning in stages instead of simply adding them at the end. Salt, for example, will benefit meat, vegetables, and starches in distinct ways if added early in the process. In some ways, flavor text is akin to just giving the salt shaker to the players—they can add it to their gameplay experience if they want, but many players simply ignore it and “eat” what’s in front of them. This isn’t always a bad thing—lock gameplay behind too much narrative and some players might just push the dish away. However, if your goal as a designer is to share a meaningful story or depict a beloved theme alongside your game mechanics, you might want to cook some of that flavor into your game from the start.

The Road to Canterbury's game board, featuring the seven deadly sins (Image source).

Alf Seegert, in his game The Road to Canterbury, showed how the mechanics and even the material components of a game can build a theme by themselves. Playing as a pardoner, everything used to play the game invokes a unique story about the commodification of sins—an effect achieved without requiring players to read non-gameplay material. As video game designers, we need to remember the power of building flavor directly into our game mechanics. One example that always sticks out to me is Bloodborne’s “rally” system. To encourage aggressive gameplay and make the player feel like the hunter they are supposed to be, players can recover recently lost health by attacking enemies. A good deal of character building comes from that mechanic alone—what type of person would act with such fearlessness and ferocity in the face of such horror?

The first-person flavor text of Empires of the Void II (Image source).

Ryan Laukat shared how he “tricked” players into reading flavor text in his game Empires of the Void II. Certain cards have first-person actions written at the top of the card (instead of the bottom, where flavor text is usually located). Because the text uses a first-person perspective, more players would read the text since it seemed to naturally describe what they wanted to do in game. From a video game design standpoint, we could probably put more thought into how we name actions and skills, or how we introduce abilities and mechanics to the player. Describe mechanics clearly, but use those moments to impart a bit of flavor into the game as well.

Overall, I think there’s a lot for video game designers to learn from board game design, despite the vast differences in development and distribution. I look forward to covering more board games on Dev Take Tuesday, as well as adding flavor in stages to our game, Alkanaur.

Indie Illuminator - Bevontule: Altar of Roots

Looking for a game that lets you explore 3D open worlds, fight tactical turn-based battles, and immerses you in an intriguing new fantasy setting? If so, Bevontule: Altar of Roots might be just the sort of game you’re looking for.

Gif of the game's overworld from Bevontule's Kickstarter page

Players will explore Bevontule’s world by travelling freely in a 3D environment. If they collide with a roaming monster, they’ll initiate the game’s robust tactical battle system. Player-controlled characters and enemies will take turns in a free-movement system that ditches the typical grid. Characters can also take several non-movement actions including special skills—careful execution will be key since some skills require time to charge and multiple skills can trigger a chain of devastation.

Gif of the game's combat system from the Bevontule's Kickstarter page

When players aren’t delivering spinkicks or gut punches to enemies, they’ll be learning more about the continent of Onich, its different nations and factions, and the all-encompassing threat known as the Kelvari. These enigmatic root-like creatures are spreading across Onich, consuming land and resources in their wake. What’s worse, they can also assimilate organic matter and create frightening and fearsome creatures known as Rootsouls. The various factions of Onich react in vastly distinct ways to the Kelvari threat—some welcome their determined advance with open arms, while others push back against their incursion.

Kelvari concept art from the Bevontule's Kickstarter page

Bevontule’s development team, Multithreaded Games, just launched their Kickstarter this week. Check out more about their plans for the game (they’ve got a ton of information there), as well as the wide assortment of rewards they have planned for their backers, on their Kickstarter page.