Second Solar appears to be a wonderful shooter mixing a number of the greatest components from plenty of fashionable genres. It’s juggling a lot- open world, agile motion primarily based motion, RPG fashion development, procedural era for its world (with mounted landmarks), a story focus, and much more as well as. How does a sport sort out so many disparate, typically contradictory components? We not too long ago had the prospect to talk with developer Gray Wolf Leisure’s studio lead Mike Domingues, who walked us by way of all of this.
“Like in so many video games which have impressed us previously, movement is vital in Second Solar. We acquired our important inspiration for the motion from old-school shooters like Doom, Quake, and even Hexen.“
Second Solar is emphasizing agile motion and fast fight. Are you able to converse a bit of bit extra about that and the way it will affect the moment-to-moment gameplay expertise? What ought to gamers count on particularly the place the motion choices are involved and the function they may play in fight
Like in so many video games which have impressed us previously, movement is vital in Second Solar. We acquired our important inspiration for the motion from old-school shooters like Doom, Quake, and even Hexen. We took that frantic, fast-paced nature and determined to combine it with RPG components – abilities, talents, loot – which all work collectively in symbiosis.
Similar to in these 90s classics, motion remains to be key, however so is the viscerality and tempo of fight. Merchandise and ability development contribute to, amongst different issues, a extra diverse and fewer static & repetitive expertise whereas additionally including one other motivation to slaughter hordes of enemies.
What are you able to inform us concerning the number of weapons that gamers will be capable of use within the sport? How will abilities and skills come into play?
We tried to go for a novel mixture of magic-based fight and extra conventional firearms. Weapons vary from magic wands and staves to heavy machine weapons and crossbows. Similar to talents, some weapons are unique to particular lessons.
Abilities and skills are crucial methods of gaining an edge in fight, particularly in hairier conditions. These can vary from dashing – which may be very helpful relating to dodging enemies – to blasting your foes with a rain of meteors.
Second Solar is promising rewarding development mechanics. How expansive will these techniques be, and the way a lot freedom will gamers be afforded in tailoring their construct, particularly with the totally different lessons out there?
Every class has a novel ability tree and distinctive weapons and gadgets, permitting for distinctive playstyles that each one require a slight adaptation of the participant’s method. This implies every class will play otherwise! On the identical time, it permits gamers to determine what loadout works greatest for his or her respective lessons and streamline their private, optimum construct.
“The narrative just isn’t the primary focus of the sport. We spent most of our consideration on getting the fight and loot proper. However whereas that’s true, we nonetheless put plenty of thought into crafting an fascinating world to discover and an intriguing story to comply with from begin to finish.”
How a lot emphasis is Second Solar inserting on storytelling? Is the narrative going to be an important a part of the expertise, or is it meant extra as background setup for the world in an in any other case gameplay-driven expertise?
The narrative just isn’t the primary focus of the sport. We spent most of our consideration on getting the fight and loot proper. However whereas that’s true, we nonetheless put plenty of thought into crafting an fascinating world to discover and an intriguing story to comply with from begin to finish. Rowen is a vibrant place, filled with fascinating characters that you just’ll get to satisfy as you unravel Second Solar’s storyline. The identical goes for facet quests and different, smaller tales discovered all through the sport.
All this might solely be achieved by constructing a world that was fascinating in and of itself.
What ought to gamers count on from Second Solar’s open world by way of its dimension and the variety of environments?
Preserving gamers hooked in an open world is a big problem for any staff. Our aim with the world of Second Solar was content material over scale. We needed to take these areas and fill them with fascinating issues to seek out, enemies to combat, and loads of alternatives for extra loot.
We additionally tried to make it as numerous as attainable. Throughout your playthrough, you’ll come throughout totally different areas and traverse something from forests to deserts, every with their very own distinctive landmarks and traits.
What are you able to inform us about how the sport makes use of procedural era in its open world map?
For every new playthrough, totally different factors of curiosity are randomly generated and positioned across the map. Gamers can subsequently expertise Second Solar once more, with slight tweaks and recent alternatives for further loot, XP, and even companions.
“We purpose to have not less than 12 hours for the primary marketing campaign. Moreover, you’ll be capable of add a number of extra hours to your playthrough by way of facet quests and different sorts of facet content material.”
Roughly how lengthy will a median playthrough of the sport be?
We purpose to have not less than 12 hours for the primary marketing campaign. Moreover, you’ll be capable of add a number of extra hours to your playthrough by way of facet quests and different sorts of facet content material. In case you’ve made your means by way of all of that, there will probably be an endgame, which is nearly infinite.
Do you may have any plans to ultimately additionally carry the sport to consoles?
In the mean time, we’re focusing all of our sources on the PC model of Second Solar. Whereas there aren’t any concrete plans for a console port, we don’t wish to rule something out. We’d like to carry our sport to as many gamers as attainable, so if there’s sufficient demand, who is aware of?