The following interview is with Dale Ward, lead designer, sound designer, resident musician at Evil Aliens.
What kind of game is ORBITOR? What can players expect to find within the game?
ORBITOR is an action arcade game that also has adventure, exploration and puzzle elements. We’re leveraging the design in every way we can make the content as varied as possible, so players should expect a game with very solid core mechanics complimented by lots of fun features. We’re keeping most of the features quiet at this stage as we’ll be releasing the game in stages and they could change. But, it will have a story, various environments, and it’s possible that your little ORBITOR probe is not alone.
Explain some of the mechanics that players will have to use in ORBITOR.
Well obviously the main one is the orbiting mechanic. When people first see or hear about the game they immediately think it’s a gravity and physics simulation. We went completely the opposite way and made it fast but precise. There’s also the tracking mode that slows down time allowing you to aim for the next object and the boost for exiting orbits and increasing speed when free roaming.
What you can’t see in the gameplay footage is things like the control you have on the objects themselves, turning into and out of the orbit speeds you up and slows you down, the increased turning during tracking mode which is great for corrections or avoiding things and the feel of the System Limiters ( the giant spheres ) that act like gravity bubbles.
What is the one feature that you feel players will find the most enjoyable about ORBITOR?
I’m sure players will each get something different out of the game. For some it may be enjoyable simply floating around the level being hypnotised by the orbital patterns. For us it’s the speed. We have a lot of fun stringing together multiple orbits, launching from one system to another and even avoiding / colliding with objects, but it’s so much more enjoyable at high speed. This game can be insanely fast.
From the trailer, the game looks to be very fast-paced and intense. Do you feel ORBITOR will fit in well with casual players? Or do you feel that the game will satisfy both the casual and hardcore players?
We feel the game works for both the casual player and the dedicated gamer because they can play at they’re own pace. The gameplay is forgiving enough for players who want to take it slow, orbit a few objects and move onto the next level. However, if you want to generate big points you’ll have to go fast, and the faster you go the more challenging it becomes. There will also be achievements, high-score tables, hard to reach and secret areas and a lot of other features we cant talk about at the moment so there should be enough to keep the skilled players busy.
Where can readers find out more and get updates on the development of ORBITOR?
We’re currently building our developer site evilaliens.co which will have information on all of our projects, but for now go to orbitor-game.com and from there you’ll be able to get to our Facebook page, Twitter feed and Youtube channel etc. It’s a little bare at the moment but there will be a lot of updates once we return from GDC and we’ll be starting a video blog of the development. We love talking about our game so feel free to contact us.
A big thanks to Dale and the rest of the Evil Aliens team for their time!
1 comment
looks awesome can’t wait for it to come out