In today’s devblog I wanted to discuss in more depth what kind of game Alterborn actually is from a game design standpoint, as in what genres it falls into in terms of its core gameplay loop, among other things.
Most games try to replicate a specific formula; the same formula that was utilized by hundreds if not thousands of other projects beforehand, with similar systems and mechanics. While there have been countless soulslikes and shooters made over the years, there have been very few soulslike shooters like Alterborn which makes it a one of a kind benchmark.
These two genres are very different, in some cases having solutions that are literally polar opposites of each other. The potential to create something unique with a breath of fresh air is limitless but at the same time, there are some challenges to overcome.
All of us at the studio are very passionate about making something that will truly stand out on the market and on a daily basis we spend many hours analyzing other games and playing our own, to come up with the best formula possible.
Soulslike Mechanics
Many have tried to replicate the essence of From Software games. Creating a soulslike is an extremely nuanced and complex topic which honestly deserves its own book but just briefly I’ll try to give you an idea about what goes into making such a game.
At first glance, AI in soulslikes can seem quite simple. There are no stealth mechanics of any kind and once an enemy commits to an attack action, they won’t change their behavior mid-animation.
Each enemy action in Alterborn has an explicit 'tell', signaling to the player that they need to prepare to avoid an incoming attack.
The thing is, extreme care and thought is put into the animation timings themselves and the resource management system, as is the case with Alterborn. As a player, often by trial and error you have to learn the said timings with extreme accuracy, a single animation frame can be the difference between success and failure.
In Alterborn, we try to take this to the next level. You will have tools at your disposal that are not seen in many soulslikes, letting you briefly become extremely powerful and interrupt deadly enemy actions that otherwise would punish you. Basic actions in Alterborn are also designed to correlate in a meaningful manner, for example if you time your Heavy Melee Attack correctly as an enemy prepares to leap onto you, you can interrupt their leap mid-air and stagger them.
Playing a soulslike game can sometimes feel like an action chess if you will; you commit to an action, usually planning it ahead of time and if you fail to predict something, you are punished for it.
Then there are additional gameplay mechanics such as an action queuing system that actually lets you cancel action animations within a specific time window in order to perform a different one. Holistically, all of these mechanics make up for the engaging gameplay that has captivated millions and we work hard to make sure ALL of them are present and very polished in Alterborn.
Enemy Balancing & Placement
While in some games you take on hordes of enemies that alone can pose little to no threat, in soulslikes each encounter feels meaningful and if you are not paying attention, one basic enemy can be the cause of your demise.
Rarely are there more than a couple of enemies rushing at you at once and yet the intensity spike is more severe than in any other action game. If one pays attention, they’ll realize that in some games enemies are just there to act as an extremely slow target dummy, to occupy the level’s geometry and let the player hack or shoot at something. Rarely will an enemy have a faster attack animation than the player. That is not the case with soulslikes - some enemies will be much quicker than you BUT they will have a downtime that will reward you IF you are patient and observant. In Alterborn, we also design our enemy and player actions to achieve such a gameplay outcome.
Each Combat Arena is an intricate puzzle that can be solved by those who take their time to spot patterns and most importantly, understand and learn them.
And yet, with the shooting action thrown into the mix, having a swarm of target dummies is pretty much a requirement to keep one engaged when traversing a gameplay space. So how does one achieve that within the soulslike formula? These are the kinds of things that require careful consideration and many hours of playtesting and we feel pretty confident that we managed to come up with optimal solutions that will make for a captivating experience.
While in Alterborn each combat arena will feel memorable as is the case with combat arenas in From Software games, with meticulously positioned enemies that let you approach fights tactically so that you can plan out your movement (and toolset) in advance, there will also be moments which surprise you with a flood of enemies, forcing you to adapt to the situation and play a bit differently. Our AI operates on a hive-type logic meaning it tracks each other's actions and based on that, makes informed choices on what to do.
This is it for this entry, we will follow up on it later on. We also have some exciting news coming your way in the future so be sure to stay tuned on all our socials.
And if you have not joined our discord server yet, here is the link: https://discord.gg/eFZeyKU4Xg You can ask us anything about the game and we’ll do our best to provide an answer.
Thanks and see you in the Shattered Lands!