10/05/2014 - IndieGame Magazine - Chatting with Crytivo...
Jun 29, 2015 22:13:57 GMT
Spiderweb likes this
Post by Lord Ba'al on Jun 29, 2015 22:13:57 GMT
Interview – Chatting with Crytivo Games about The Universim
By Vinny Parisi
Touted as a “next generation Planet Management God-Game” on its Kickstarter page, the developers at Crytivo Games are quite confident they’re developing an experience unlike any other with The Universim. Players first experience the game during the Stone Age, where they’ll have to help nourish a young species as it slowly grows, advancing from technologically deficient all the way to scientifically savvy enough to venture out across the cosmos. But reaching the stars is only the beginning of a much longer journey, one that could potentially become the biggest God-game of all time.
With the universe as their playground, players will then manage their civilizations as they inhabit new and vastly different worlds. It almost sounds too good to be true, developing a game on such a cosmic scale. To find out whether or not the team can make good on their promises, I spoke to Crytivo about their vision and the project’s scope, among other things.
IGM: You recently offered some details about the Prometheus engine, which among many other things, affects weather and climate change across the various planets. Can you offer some more details about how crucial a role the environment plays in The Universim?
Crytivo Games: The environments are a major aspect of how the simulation and gameplay experience play out. It is also what makes alien planets in the space era so unique and challenging. Environments will be split into biomes, and each will have their own unique characteristics and qualities. They will also affect your civilization in many different ways, from food/resource gathering to development. Of course, we wouldn’t just stop at having numerous biomes that have special quirks for the entire time you are playing on a particular planet. We decided to have seasons as well. The changing of seasons affects certain regions of the planet, and their biomes, majorly based on the timeline. Deserts will get hotter in summer, normal areas can be utterly brutalized by the winter if preparation isn’t done, and so the list goes on.
IGM: What made you guys decide to give players the option to influence the environment and only subtly impact the day-to-day lives of each planet’s inhabitants, as opposed to micromanaging each civilization?
Crytivo: We felt that this complimented the simulation aspect of the game perfectly. Having the AI make most of their own decisions really adds to the overall dynamic feel we are going for. You will still have a fair amount of control over their progression through the management of research and other options. You can also attempt to save them from themselves when mistakes are made. It is also just genuinely fun to not have the people know of your existence as it allows us to throw in some pretty humorous and entertaining additional features. I think people will be surprised by the depth we will eventually achieve!
IGM: How does the day/night cycle impact gameplay?
Crytivo: The AI/City/Village/etc will usually go to sleep during the night. There will probably be some activity, as you would expect, but most of the actual work for the day will usually be finished. This is majorly dependent on the era, though. Night could bring many dangers in the earlier stages, such as wild animals and extreme cold. You will see campfires going up (once you research this in the stone age) and city lights turning on. The nightlife in each era will definitely be interesting. Although, most activities usually occur during the day.
IGM: A lot of folks are a bit wary of backing the campaign due to the sheer scope of the project. As we’ve seen with some previously-successful Kickstarters, it can be hard to keep track of scale and feasibility when it comes to big productions. How is the team keeping The Universim in perspective?
Crytivo: We are approaching everything in a modular fashion. The dynamic nature of the game allows for a lot of versatility in the systems we aim to implement. We have pretty much everything planned out as far as a roadmap is concerned. Core features come first, which will actually form most of the Alpha phase (of course not all features will be present immediately, but that is why we will iterate throughout Alpha). There is a lot more details we plan to add which will most likely come a lot later on (or sooner depending on how things turn out!). We have a long way ahead of us, but we are ensuring that the foundation is already strong for all features in varying levels of development to be implemented successfully in the future. It is basically a process of building something and then fine-tuning/polishing it until you are ready to add the next level. Naturally you can always go back and improve it further, which will probably happen a lot.
IGM: Another thing potential backers are curious about is the goal itself. $320k seems like a lot of money, but when you’ve got a team of 14 core staff members and a projected release date of late-2015 at the earliest – not to mention a number of other taxes and fees to pay – that money can disappear pretty quickly. What would you say to those who feel you may be underestimating the total cost of such a large-scale project?
Crytivo: We have been answering this a lot on the actual page. It just boils down to us being a collaborative Indie Game studio. We just don’t have to deal with all of the costs usually associated with projects such as this as we are not a AAA game studio. To elaborate, most AAA game studios (mostly on Kickstarter) are pretty much forced to push for far higher budgets than usual due to the sheer size of the studio and what they want to achieve. There are just so many costs involved with the usual game development business model currently employed in AAA projects. That is why most stick to publishers when making their game.
This way they can enjoy all of the benefits of working for a proper, professional studio such as health benefits, dental, job-security, and so on. They can also iterate really quickly and get the game out far sooner than would otherwise be possible due to having hundreds of people working on the game. This model works brilliantly for all major franchises and the like, but it is most certainly not ethical for an Indie studio to attempt if they actually want the budget to last.
This is how we have planned our budget. We are not benefiting personally from the budget at all besides some payment for work done. Every cent is going into the game, which may even include hiring more people down the road or the inclusion of more expensive features. We have already been developing the game for over a year. What you see in the trailer is a few months of actual work on a working prototype. We definitely need the money to include all of the awesome features we have planned and develop it far quicker than we usually could. Many Indie teams have followed the same outlook and succeeded majorly. The secret to success in today’s world is to create an amazing product and let it speak for itself. That is what we plan to do.
IGM: I noticed you guys added an art book and strategy guide to some pledge tiers. Doesn’t a strategy guide sort of defeat the purpose of a god-game? Forge your own path and all that…
Crytivo Games: The strategy guide shouldn’t dictate how you play at all. It will definitely offer some tips on what to research and do if you are looking to go into a particular play-style and evolutionary state, but it will mostly just explain gameplay mechanics to the player and help them understand the more in-depth systems a little better. We will be sure to label sections properly so players can avoid looking into research tips and the like if they want to do their own thing. We have done some research and found that most players do like referring to strategy guides if they want a particular end-state in a game. The same applies to The Universim (unless one of the many dynamic events isn’t dealt with properly) when moving into the space era.
IGM: Gamers who like to customize their experience might be disheartened to know that the AI controls how cities spring up around the Epicenter. What sorts of personalization options are available to players who want to add their own visual flair to their planets?
Crytivo: That is actually a pretty great question! We will definitely have to do an update on that to explain it a little better. We allow players to place all ‘special’ buildings wherever they choose. Most of which comes from research. While cities will spring up dynamically, you still have a lot of choice in how your civilization looks in the end. We even have a stretch goal that aims to give players complete control over new buildings with a built-in building editor.
IGM: Are each of the planets players govern independent of one another? Or can they trade resources and help each other thrive?
Crytivo: Yes, there will be somewhat of a trade system. We are still coming up with a good balance between having so many planets, throwing in dynamic events through the news system (without being utterly bombarded), and ensuring that your intergalactic web of connected planets all work together properly. Not to mention many other aspects that we are not discussing just yet as they are meant as a surprise. We will have more info on this at a later time!
IGM: How do you envision the in-game News System turning out? It’s tricky to provide a steady stream of useful information without overloading players that are already multitasking, especially in the later stages of gameplay.
Crytivo: It is going to be a fair amount of work, but we are already coming up with great ways to ensure it is balanced and always informative (especially in the space era like we mentioned above!). It will also have many humorous stories to tell throughout the course of development. We cannot really confirm how it will turn out eventually as that is up to feedback and many other variables, but we can imagine it to remain incredibly informative and focused on your primary civilization up until the space era begins. From there, it too becomes wildly dynamic based on numerous parameters and situations.
IGM: Tell me a little bit about Expeditions. Are these secondary objectives that require the player to interact more directly with the game? Or is it simply a matter of sending out a search team to investigate?
Crytivo: This is a great example where players can actually have more interaction with their people. It is kind of like the colonization process in the space era, where players have a lot of control and need to strategize. Expeditions can be very dangerous, which is why we called it a very “high risk, high reward” kind of system. They too are dynamic events and their contents are completely random and unknown. Will you ever discover/ research a technology that can identify their contents? Perhaps
. But for the most part, you are taking a risk and having a bit of a gamble with what will happen once you disturb the fallen material. Leaving them be/disposing of them will be a viable option as well.
IGM: You’ve already stated that the game will be DRM-free and that all future DLC will be free. How do you plan on sustaining The Universim financially without micro-transactions or paid-DLC? How often do you envision releasing additional content post-launch?
Crytivo: Everything is dependent on the players and the backers of the game. Reaching the goal will guarantee the development of the game to completion, but all stretch goals are dependent on funding as well. Once the game launches, its success will largely dictate how much free content we will develop post-launch. But we definitely expect to add more content after launch because we have just way too many cool ideas (and not to mention great ideas coming in from the community!). The game is very community-driven, we are putting our fate utterly in their hands. Mod support can also be a major factor. We will see how it goes!
IGM: The key stretch goal listed is multiplayer, and requires nearly triple the starting pledge amount to secure. Why should folks be interested in adding a multiplayer component to The Universim?
Crytivo: The Multiplayer will technically be an even bigger game than The Universim itself. There will be a crazy amount of features and modes for players to choose from, and custom games too which we plan to possibly implement as well. It will offer players the opportunity to build civilizations together, form alliances, stab each other in the back, and destroy their rivals. We listed many great features on the Kickstarter page, but there is truly so much more we would like to talk about. Which we definitely plan on doing once the main goal is hit! Unfortunately Kickstarter has a nasty character limit (it’s justified though, otherwise most people like us would have released a book on the page by now) and we could barely fit the core mechanics of the main game on the page.
It goes without saying that The Universim is a colossal undertaking, one that Crytivo Games simply cannot complete without the aid of backers. For those interested to find out more about the game, or have heard enough and would like to directly support the project, head on over to the Kickstarter page. Currently, The Universim has a loosely projected release date of late 2015, but new features – such as the previously-mentioned multiplayer – could end up pushing the game’s launch into 2016. Be sure to stay tuned to IGM, as we’ll have followup coverage throughout the coming months as development progresses.
By Vinny Parisi
Touted as a “next generation Planet Management God-Game” on its Kickstarter page, the developers at Crytivo Games are quite confident they’re developing an experience unlike any other with The Universim. Players first experience the game during the Stone Age, where they’ll have to help nourish a young species as it slowly grows, advancing from technologically deficient all the way to scientifically savvy enough to venture out across the cosmos. But reaching the stars is only the beginning of a much longer journey, one that could potentially become the biggest God-game of all time.
With the universe as their playground, players will then manage their civilizations as they inhabit new and vastly different worlds. It almost sounds too good to be true, developing a game on such a cosmic scale. To find out whether or not the team can make good on their promises, I spoke to Crytivo about their vision and the project’s scope, among other things.
IGM: You recently offered some details about the Prometheus engine, which among many other things, affects weather and climate change across the various planets. Can you offer some more details about how crucial a role the environment plays in The Universim?
Crytivo Games: The environments are a major aspect of how the simulation and gameplay experience play out. It is also what makes alien planets in the space era so unique and challenging. Environments will be split into biomes, and each will have their own unique characteristics and qualities. They will also affect your civilization in many different ways, from food/resource gathering to development. Of course, we wouldn’t just stop at having numerous biomes that have special quirks for the entire time you are playing on a particular planet. We decided to have seasons as well. The changing of seasons affects certain regions of the planet, and their biomes, majorly based on the timeline. Deserts will get hotter in summer, normal areas can be utterly brutalized by the winter if preparation isn’t done, and so the list goes on.
IGM: What made you guys decide to give players the option to influence the environment and only subtly impact the day-to-day lives of each planet’s inhabitants, as opposed to micromanaging each civilization?
Crytivo: We felt that this complimented the simulation aspect of the game perfectly. Having the AI make most of their own decisions really adds to the overall dynamic feel we are going for. You will still have a fair amount of control over their progression through the management of research and other options. You can also attempt to save them from themselves when mistakes are made. It is also just genuinely fun to not have the people know of your existence as it allows us to throw in some pretty humorous and entertaining additional features. I think people will be surprised by the depth we will eventually achieve!
IGM: How does the day/night cycle impact gameplay?
Crytivo: The AI/City/Village/etc will usually go to sleep during the night. There will probably be some activity, as you would expect, but most of the actual work for the day will usually be finished. This is majorly dependent on the era, though. Night could bring many dangers in the earlier stages, such as wild animals and extreme cold. You will see campfires going up (once you research this in the stone age) and city lights turning on. The nightlife in each era will definitely be interesting. Although, most activities usually occur during the day.
IGM: A lot of folks are a bit wary of backing the campaign due to the sheer scope of the project. As we’ve seen with some previously-successful Kickstarters, it can be hard to keep track of scale and feasibility when it comes to big productions. How is the team keeping The Universim in perspective?
Crytivo: We are approaching everything in a modular fashion. The dynamic nature of the game allows for a lot of versatility in the systems we aim to implement. We have pretty much everything planned out as far as a roadmap is concerned. Core features come first, which will actually form most of the Alpha phase (of course not all features will be present immediately, but that is why we will iterate throughout Alpha). There is a lot more details we plan to add which will most likely come a lot later on (or sooner depending on how things turn out!). We have a long way ahead of us, but we are ensuring that the foundation is already strong for all features in varying levels of development to be implemented successfully in the future. It is basically a process of building something and then fine-tuning/polishing it until you are ready to add the next level. Naturally you can always go back and improve it further, which will probably happen a lot.
IGM: Another thing potential backers are curious about is the goal itself. $320k seems like a lot of money, but when you’ve got a team of 14 core staff members and a projected release date of late-2015 at the earliest – not to mention a number of other taxes and fees to pay – that money can disappear pretty quickly. What would you say to those who feel you may be underestimating the total cost of such a large-scale project?
Crytivo: We have been answering this a lot on the actual page. It just boils down to us being a collaborative Indie Game studio. We just don’t have to deal with all of the costs usually associated with projects such as this as we are not a AAA game studio. To elaborate, most AAA game studios (mostly on Kickstarter) are pretty much forced to push for far higher budgets than usual due to the sheer size of the studio and what they want to achieve. There are just so many costs involved with the usual game development business model currently employed in AAA projects. That is why most stick to publishers when making their game.
This way they can enjoy all of the benefits of working for a proper, professional studio such as health benefits, dental, job-security, and so on. They can also iterate really quickly and get the game out far sooner than would otherwise be possible due to having hundreds of people working on the game. This model works brilliantly for all major franchises and the like, but it is most certainly not ethical for an Indie studio to attempt if they actually want the budget to last.
This is how we have planned our budget. We are not benefiting personally from the budget at all besides some payment for work done. Every cent is going into the game, which may even include hiring more people down the road or the inclusion of more expensive features. We have already been developing the game for over a year. What you see in the trailer is a few months of actual work on a working prototype. We definitely need the money to include all of the awesome features we have planned and develop it far quicker than we usually could. Many Indie teams have followed the same outlook and succeeded majorly. The secret to success in today’s world is to create an amazing product and let it speak for itself. That is what we plan to do.
IGM: I noticed you guys added an art book and strategy guide to some pledge tiers. Doesn’t a strategy guide sort of defeat the purpose of a god-game? Forge your own path and all that…
Crytivo Games: The strategy guide shouldn’t dictate how you play at all. It will definitely offer some tips on what to research and do if you are looking to go into a particular play-style and evolutionary state, but it will mostly just explain gameplay mechanics to the player and help them understand the more in-depth systems a little better. We will be sure to label sections properly so players can avoid looking into research tips and the like if they want to do their own thing. We have done some research and found that most players do like referring to strategy guides if they want a particular end-state in a game. The same applies to The Universim (unless one of the many dynamic events isn’t dealt with properly) when moving into the space era.
IGM: Gamers who like to customize their experience might be disheartened to know that the AI controls how cities spring up around the Epicenter. What sorts of personalization options are available to players who want to add their own visual flair to their planets?
Crytivo: That is actually a pretty great question! We will definitely have to do an update on that to explain it a little better. We allow players to place all ‘special’ buildings wherever they choose. Most of which comes from research. While cities will spring up dynamically, you still have a lot of choice in how your civilization looks in the end. We even have a stretch goal that aims to give players complete control over new buildings with a built-in building editor.
IGM: Are each of the planets players govern independent of one another? Or can they trade resources and help each other thrive?
Crytivo: Yes, there will be somewhat of a trade system. We are still coming up with a good balance between having so many planets, throwing in dynamic events through the news system (without being utterly bombarded), and ensuring that your intergalactic web of connected planets all work together properly. Not to mention many other aspects that we are not discussing just yet as they are meant as a surprise. We will have more info on this at a later time!
IGM: How do you envision the in-game News System turning out? It’s tricky to provide a steady stream of useful information without overloading players that are already multitasking, especially in the later stages of gameplay.
Crytivo: It is going to be a fair amount of work, but we are already coming up with great ways to ensure it is balanced and always informative (especially in the space era like we mentioned above!). It will also have many humorous stories to tell throughout the course of development. We cannot really confirm how it will turn out eventually as that is up to feedback and many other variables, but we can imagine it to remain incredibly informative and focused on your primary civilization up until the space era begins. From there, it too becomes wildly dynamic based on numerous parameters and situations.
IGM: Tell me a little bit about Expeditions. Are these secondary objectives that require the player to interact more directly with the game? Or is it simply a matter of sending out a search team to investigate?
Crytivo: This is a great example where players can actually have more interaction with their people. It is kind of like the colonization process in the space era, where players have a lot of control and need to strategize. Expeditions can be very dangerous, which is why we called it a very “high risk, high reward” kind of system. They too are dynamic events and their contents are completely random and unknown. Will you ever discover/ research a technology that can identify their contents? Perhaps
. But for the most part, you are taking a risk and having a bit of a gamble with what will happen once you disturb the fallen material. Leaving them be/disposing of them will be a viable option as well.IGM: You’ve already stated that the game will be DRM-free and that all future DLC will be free. How do you plan on sustaining The Universim financially without micro-transactions or paid-DLC? How often do you envision releasing additional content post-launch?
Crytivo: Everything is dependent on the players and the backers of the game. Reaching the goal will guarantee the development of the game to completion, but all stretch goals are dependent on funding as well. Once the game launches, its success will largely dictate how much free content we will develop post-launch. But we definitely expect to add more content after launch because we have just way too many cool ideas (and not to mention great ideas coming in from the community!). The game is very community-driven, we are putting our fate utterly in their hands. Mod support can also be a major factor. We will see how it goes!
IGM: The key stretch goal listed is multiplayer, and requires nearly triple the starting pledge amount to secure. Why should folks be interested in adding a multiplayer component to The Universim?
Crytivo: The Multiplayer will technically be an even bigger game than The Universim itself. There will be a crazy amount of features and modes for players to choose from, and custom games too which we plan to possibly implement as well. It will offer players the opportunity to build civilizations together, form alliances, stab each other in the back, and destroy their rivals. We listed many great features on the Kickstarter page, but there is truly so much more we would like to talk about. Which we definitely plan on doing once the main goal is hit! Unfortunately Kickstarter has a nasty character limit (it’s justified though, otherwise most people like us would have released a book on the page by now) and we could barely fit the core mechanics of the main game on the page.
It goes without saying that The Universim is a colossal undertaking, one that Crytivo Games simply cannot complete without the aid of backers. For those interested to find out more about the game, or have heard enough and would like to directly support the project, head on over to the Kickstarter page. Currently, The Universim has a loosely projected release date of late 2015, but new features – such as the previously-mentioned multiplayer – could end up pushing the game’s launch into 2016. Be sure to stay tuned to IGM, as we’ll have followup coverage throughout the coming months as development progresses.
