Hidden on the surface of a far-away planet, are many strange and marvelous life-forms. The environments of other planets span a vast range of living conditions which shape life in all sorts of unusual ways. However, one thing is certain: all organisms serve a purpose in the greater ecosystem.
Creature Redesign
Far Away features lush worlds teaming with life. The ecosystem your explorers wander into is full of creatures. They form the core challenge of the game. Some may try to eat the players, others may destroy their buildings, and some just get in the way. Every creature is different and the emergent behavior that evolves from various creature combinations is also different. We’ve talked before about the game design challenge in letting this unique behavior naturally develop without forcing too much role-playing on the players.
New Experiences
Satya Nadella preaches “customer-obsession” to his employees. He proclaims, “the core of our business must be the curiosity and desire to meet a customer’s unarticulated and unmet needs with great technology.” The word “unarticulated” strikes a note with us while we’re deep in Far Away’s iterative design and playtesting phases. We receive a lot of feedback. All of it is recorded and considered. However, the data only goes so far. Feedback often misses the root problem and directly addressing it may work against the player experience.