Posted August 30, 2017
Why Games in Development?
The feedback we received for Sunless Sea was pivotal to its development, and we would like to work with players once again to shape Sunless Skies.
Opening the game to players in GiD will provide us with crucial feedback to help us create a game that's delicious, delightful, and dangerous. With Sunless Sea, you helped us discover what type of combat worked, what accessibility features were necessary and how much cannibalism truly meant to you.
We still feel there’s plenty of lessons to learn, and hope you’re excited to help us craft the most exhilarating way to propel through space in a locomotive, kill a sun and much much more. Though to be absolutely clear, we’re looking for those people who don’t mind playing a game at an early state to help us sort out bugs and mechanics. If you’re looking for a fully polished, bug-free game, we wholly recommend you wait until our full release.”
Approximately how long will this game be in GiD?
“We expect the game to In Development approximately nine months, but this may change depending on the feedback we receive from you.
If feedback tells us to redesign a large system (such as combat), this may extend our final launch date. However, this would mean the final game will be better than it would have been without this redesign, which is why we've elected to take part in GiD again.”
How is the full version planned to differ from the GiD version?
“Our initial version for the GiD release will only include one of the four game regions: the Reach. As development continues, other regions will be added to the game. Regions consists of a host of new places to explore, including a large number of new stories, art, music, enemies and mechanics.
Gameplay-wise, a basic, though broad, mechanical basis for the final game will be available from the start of GiD: a lot of our design will be in, though there will be much to iterate on. You’ll be able to explore the skies, dock at ports, interact with stories, fight and die.
Throughout development we will release updates that add polish and add more complexity to the mechanics you see at launch. We’ll also of course be adding more locomotives, ports, sky-beasts, loot, equipment, discoveries, wrecks, characters and stories.
Along with this, we will continue to add more long-form features and systems to the game, such as character creation, character progression and Ambitions.
Initially, mouse and keyboard will be the only option for controls, though the game has been designed with controller support compatibility in mind. The same goes for accessibility features—we've aimed to make Sunless Skies as accessible as possible, but you may not see accessibility features in-game until further along in development.”
What is the current state of the GiD version?
“When we launch in GiD, players will have access to a small but functional piece of the entire game: a vertical slice. This is one of the major reasons we decided to launch with only one region at the start, so we could give players a small taste of what the final game will be like rather than a big taste of an emptier, less representational world.
Players will be able to experience the basic mechanics they’d expect to find in a Failbetter game, such as Hunger, Terror, combat, exploration and the ability to interact with stories.
We’ve been testing the game for three months in a closed Alpha, in which nearly a thousand of very different players have been helping us find and track bugs, as well as give us general feedback about the feel of the game. The GiD build will still have bugs as we continue to develop the game, but we are confident that the Reach is at a playable state.”
Will the game be priced differently during and after GiD?
“Our current plan is to keep the price the same for both GiD and full-release.”
How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?
“We cannot wait to let you loose amongst the stars! The feedback we received during the GiD period of Sunless Sea absolutely made the game what it is today and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on Sunless Skies. Through development we will be looking for your feedback on all aspects of the game.
We have a dedicated Sunless Skies bug report/feedback email ( skies@failbettergames.com ) and will of course be listening to players on our Steam forum, GOG forum, our own Failbetter forum and all our other social channels (Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Tumblr). We’ll also be continuing to share our progress through development blogs and our FBG podcasts on Twitch.
The feedback we received for Sunless Sea was pivotal to its development, and we would like to work with players once again to shape Sunless Skies.
Opening the game to players in GiD will provide us with crucial feedback to help us create a game that's delicious, delightful, and dangerous. With Sunless Sea, you helped us discover what type of combat worked, what accessibility features were necessary and how much cannibalism truly meant to you.
We still feel there’s plenty of lessons to learn, and hope you’re excited to help us craft the most exhilarating way to propel through space in a locomotive, kill a sun and much much more. Though to be absolutely clear, we’re looking for those people who don’t mind playing a game at an early state to help us sort out bugs and mechanics. If you’re looking for a fully polished, bug-free game, we wholly recommend you wait until our full release.”
Approximately how long will this game be in GiD?
“We expect the game to In Development approximately nine months, but this may change depending on the feedback we receive from you.
If feedback tells us to redesign a large system (such as combat), this may extend our final launch date. However, this would mean the final game will be better than it would have been without this redesign, which is why we've elected to take part in GiD again.”
How is the full version planned to differ from the GiD version?
“Our initial version for the GiD release will only include one of the four game regions: the Reach. As development continues, other regions will be added to the game. Regions consists of a host of new places to explore, including a large number of new stories, art, music, enemies and mechanics.
Gameplay-wise, a basic, though broad, mechanical basis for the final game will be available from the start of GiD: a lot of our design will be in, though there will be much to iterate on. You’ll be able to explore the skies, dock at ports, interact with stories, fight and die.
Throughout development we will release updates that add polish and add more complexity to the mechanics you see at launch. We’ll also of course be adding more locomotives, ports, sky-beasts, loot, equipment, discoveries, wrecks, characters and stories.
Along with this, we will continue to add more long-form features and systems to the game, such as character creation, character progression and Ambitions.
Initially, mouse and keyboard will be the only option for controls, though the game has been designed with controller support compatibility in mind. The same goes for accessibility features—we've aimed to make Sunless Skies as accessible as possible, but you may not see accessibility features in-game until further along in development.”
What is the current state of the GiD version?
“When we launch in GiD, players will have access to a small but functional piece of the entire game: a vertical slice. This is one of the major reasons we decided to launch with only one region at the start, so we could give players a small taste of what the final game will be like rather than a big taste of an emptier, less representational world.
Players will be able to experience the basic mechanics they’d expect to find in a Failbetter game, such as Hunger, Terror, combat, exploration and the ability to interact with stories.
We’ve been testing the game for three months in a closed Alpha, in which nearly a thousand of very different players have been helping us find and track bugs, as well as give us general feedback about the feel of the game. The GiD build will still have bugs as we continue to develop the game, but we are confident that the Reach is at a playable state.”
Will the game be priced differently during and after GiD?
“Our current plan is to keep the price the same for both GiD and full-release.”
How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?
“We cannot wait to let you loose amongst the stars! The feedback we received during the GiD period of Sunless Sea absolutely made the game what it is today and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on Sunless Skies. Through development we will be looking for your feedback on all aspects of the game.
We have a dedicated Sunless Skies bug report/feedback email ( skies@failbettergames.com ) and will of course be listening to players on our Steam forum, GOG forum, our own Failbetter forum and all our other social channels (Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Tumblr). We’ll also be continuing to share our progress through development blogs and our FBG podcasts on Twitch.
Post edited August 30, 2017 by JudasIscariot