RPS: The game seemed pretty playable from the IGF/Onlive build. And it has a brilliantly crafted atmosphere that really immerses you into a role, which I hope FTL manages to do as well. It reminded me how fun and diverse entirely text-based adventures can be. Matthew Davis: King Arthur the Roleplaying Wargame would probably be a surprising influence. Other than being an excellent game, I feel Derek Yu really figured out the formula for distilling the spirit of Roguelikes into another genre. Justin Ma: It may not be surprising since I say it often, but Spelunky was an experience we drew from frequently. ranging from classics like Fallout and X-Wing to more modern inspirations like Mass Effect. We wanted to replicate the tension and danger of space exploration so every decision the player makes feels vital for the survival of their fragile ship and crew.įor the actual game design, details were pulled from the hundreds of games we've played growing up. Ships seem so fragile in those shows, just one hit (despite “shields at 80%”) results in smoke and destruction. They gave us the atmosphere and experience we wanted to create. Matthew Davis: The obvious TV show/movies (Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Star Wars, etc.) were definitely big inspirations. What have you been inspired by and why do they resonate with you? RPS: There are some obvious influences, Star Trek being the one I run in my head when I keep booting it up. It was freeing and somewhat terrifying at the same time. We didn’t have a lot of examples to draw from when designing the actual user interactions so early on it felt like there were an infinite number of directions we could take the game. Justin Ma: This abstract player experience was clear goal from the start but the details of how the game would function were entirely up in the air. We wanted a game where we had to manage the crew, fix the engines, reroute power to shields, target the enemy life support, and then figure out how to repel the boarders that just transported over! We wanted that experience, as opposed to the “dog fighting in space” that most videogames focus on. In any given episode of Star Trek, the captain is always yelling “Reroute power to shields!” or telling the engineer what to do now that their Warp Core is on fire. Those led to the initial idea to replicate the feeling of being the captain on a starship. Matthew Davis: When we were trying to decide what sort of game to make, we had been playing a couple of board games that focused on running a ship instead of flying it and I had been working my way through a Deep Space Nine boxset. RPS: Where did the idea spring from, how has it evolved over time? Going indie seemed to make sense since we covered most of the necessary skill requirements between us, and China was an affordable place to live. Like Justin, I had trouble getting excited about the projects we were working on. Matthew Davis: I got a degree in computer science before going to work at the game studio where Justin and I met. Matt and I got along quickly but we really bonded over playing boardgames with a number of friends. I had been a game designer on a few projects I didn’t feel strongly about and got more satisfaction out of my side projects: little experiments using GameMaker. Justin Ma: We were both working in a larger game studio in Shanghai, China. RPS: Can you tell me a little bit about yourselves: how you met, how you got into game development, what you worked on before going indie? They talk about how the project came to be, how they're still in shock over their massive Kickstarter success, and how it was that the game was inspired by text adventures. And now, Craig's spoken with its creators, Justin Ma and Matthew Davis. Last week Adam posted some impressions of the spaceship managing FTL, and you're allowed to read them.
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