Hello Ectypes!
This is our fifth “Space Log”, where we share what we are doing and some of the things we are currently working on for Void Crew.
Void Crew is in Early Access, which means we have looooads of things we still work on. It also means that sometimes we are experimenting on features as well as balancing, and with the help of feedback from you all in the Void Crew Community, to keep improving the game.
… with the goal of making it a great and fun co-op action experience.
So, let’s get on with it:
I’m Daniel, the Creative Director for Void Crew.
Since the launch, we’ve gotten a TON of great feedback, both in how we can improve the game but also what works. Adjustments have been made, and we see needs we didn’t see before.
To align the future with the vision, I do catch myself thinking back to the original inspiration: Being part of a crew aboard a spaceship, headed into the unknown with friends, trying to make the best out of the equipment at hand and sparse resources - all while facing menacing odds. But just the same, it’s all about players creating their own (chaotic) adventure [to share].
As I reflect on the journey of developing Void Crew, I'm struck by the myriad of iterations and the rich tapestry of learnings each one brought. It's a humbling thought, knowing that if we had the wisdom of hindsight, our decisions might have been different.
So let’s open up a bit and talk about where we are headed. I do think it’s important to remember where we came from, and therefore carve out a clearer future for Void Crew.
This article will reflect some of my thoughts on our roadmap, core design concepts and feedback we’ve gotten since our launch into Early Access in September last year.
Early Access Reflection
Embracing Early Access was a pivotal moment for us, and perhaps one of our wisest decisions. Yet, the path was not without its trepidations. From a developer's perspective, the prospect was (and still is) daunting. We were acutely aware of the bugs that needed squashing and the polish that the game was yet to receive. The real challenge, however, lay in the vulnerability of opening up, a significant leap for someone who cherishes their introverted sanctuary.
The upside, however, was amazing - just seeing people playing and having a blast, creating fan art, asking lore questions, reporting bugs, requesting features and more… to see the community grow and forming groups to play is just indescribable.
Some very condensed takeaways from the community include freedom of setting up your ship (hint: Stay tuned for our upcoming update!), adjustment to the progression/game loop, and also looking into our co-op mechanics, which we’ll dive into in a second.
The Three Pillars
Void Crew is anchored in three fundamental pillars:
- Co-op Gameplay
- Tactile Mechanics
- Epic Space Battles
Co-op Gameplay
The heaviest pillar IMHO, and the heart of our vision lies in the co-op experience, where the synergy between players elevates the adventure to epic proportions - and more than anything, we want the game to tell your story!*
While adding more players does indeed introduce an element of fun, our journey through Early Access has highlighted the potential for deeper, more meaningful co-op play, hell, I’d even call it social play, that we have yet to fully explore.
Stories can occur by themselves in sandbox environments, but very sandbox-y games tend to put the responsibility of fun on the players themselves - I think a lot of those kinds of players would probably have equally as much fun in a literal sandbox! So being a small team, it’s clear that our strategy is to create sandbox elements, and then have mechanics and balancing revolve around creating situations and conflicts that force players to cooperate. And then making a bit of fun with it and celebrating what we call “Happy Accidents”.
An early model we used was that slow, progressive pressure would eventually break any cooperation and communication down and Ectypes would start to make costly mistakes. Being an Early Access game, this balance is hard to maintain as we are still shuffling things around, but it is something we are constantly aiming for.
Little fact: In the beginning we tried to use mechanics that “sabotaged” players cooperatively (think “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes”), but we found that we didn’t need to … players would eventually mess up by themselves! (yes, partially thanks to the increased pressure model I mentioned earlier).
Moving forward, I do see us spending more time digging into the player mechanics, and how they could create fun situations that have some interplay with other systems. In the realm of examples, we recently did a prototype of “space swimming”, yes, it makes very little sense**, but grants just a tiny bit of control if you get blown out the airlock or lose gravity in your ship (due to an unsanctioned Void Jump).
* This does include the lone wolf’s solo runs as well!
** We could argue that suits have micro-air-exhausts, auto-released in case of panic movement…
Tactile Mechanics
Our tactile interface allows players to interact with the game world through intuitive controls, like pressing buttons, flipping levers, and deploying gadgets. The game revolves around this living entity that is your spaceship - even though it’s an advanced piece of technology, it still needs to be operated manually as each system is isolated. The Ectypes (the players), are the meaty vessels that spread the word of METEM and they do so with their very own hands - limiting as liberating, it protects the ship from the dangers of relying on electronics and automation for survival. A mechanical race like the HOLLOW would surely seize such opportunity if it was otherwise.
Epic Space Battles
These mechanics set the stage for thrilling confrontations with foes, eager to turn your space vessel into cosmic dust. We present things that challenge players, creating the canvas in which players can be tested as a crew, and overcome these obstacles if they work together.
It’s easy to categorize this pillar as all about new enemies, new objectives and more wrecks to explore, but it’s also about how to make players feel like being part of the battle. For example, we had a tactical screen at some point, where players could get a kind of radar-top-down-perspective of things. I admit, it was a darling <3. The concept worked to some extent, but it didn’t play too well with the tactile mechanics pillar, and it meant the player was looking into a screen instead of seeing all the cool things happening around the ship. In the end, the darling was nuked and other less explicit systems were introduced to help players get a better overview and stay aware of their surroundings during combat and exploration, which served the pillar much better.
Summary and looking ahead
All in all, Void Crew is in Early Access, which means the game is not done yet!
We want to do more on several aspects, especially making an even stronger co-op experience, and more “drama”/ “happy accidents”. Plus of course better stability and ironing out bugs. It also means the roadmap is living and might be adjusted as we get more and more feedback.
We have some pretty neat ideas we can’t WAIT to share more detailed with you, but right now, at the moment of writing, we are wrapping up an exciting Update 3, which - spoiler alert - includes Elite enemies, more module and weapon marks, improved lootboxes, collectable Codex-lore entries, the experimental “Freedom” ship loadout and maybe even some Valentine’s special stuff!
Oh, and more stuff we want to try out that completely unbalances stuff we probably shouldn’t have … but, it’s a game in Early Access after all!
In other words, we are working hard on the further development of Void Crew, and with all the great feedback we have gotten and still getting (hint hint, keep sharing!), our goal is to make Void Crew the greatest Co-op Space Action Adventure out there!
If you have thoughts, then head over to our discord and share your ideas in the Feedback channel :)
Until the next rambling ...
Metem Preserve You!
// Daniel, Creative Director
Hutlihut Games
* End goal, of course, being THE GAME that you and your friends keep coming back to for more epic space adventures :)