Ahoy, Ectypes!
A few weeks ago we gathered some questions from our community on Discord (
come join us!), and we did a small stream with Daniel, our Creative Director, answering them. He told us a bit about Void Crew, what inspired him and the team at Hutlihut Games to create the game, and even a little bit about future plans…
You can check the full video below, but we wanted to provide you with the transcript as well!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylPQfK86AJ4
[h2]Daniel, could you please tell us a bit about the game?[/h2]
Void Crew is a Co-op sci-fi action adventure.
We at Hutlihut Games love sci-fi, and we love co-op games; bringing people together, making bonds as well as new relationships.
Void crew is set in space, onboard spaceships with a crew of up to 4 players, you have to prepare the ship, battle off swarms of enemies, repair the battle scars and get ready for more.
It’s based on 3 prime pillars:
- Co-op
- Tactile mechanics
- Epic Space Battles
All leading to frantic co-op fun with quirky elements, and what we call… “happy accidents” - who doesn’t love being torched by engine thrusters, squished by inertia force or an involuntary space walk.
It is a 1st person game, where players really have to work together to succeed in the quests ahead.
And yes, accidents will happen - and they are to be celebrated. Especially since the other person is to blame, right?
[h2]The game is not yet released… but, is it possible to play Void Crew now?[/h2]
Well… we just had a Closed Beta Test, which was really popular, over our expectations! It was quickly filled up with the planned amount of players (we actually had to increase the cap). We got lots of good feedback from the community. We might do more CBT’s, but not yet decided and there’s no dates. But one thing for sure … we can't wait to get the game in the hands of players again!
[h2]What inspired you to make the game?[/h2]
We wanted to make a co-op game we wanted to play ourselves. We thought… with so many other shooters around, we wanted to build something quite different. It seemed so obvious for us to build this game.
Fun story… one of the thoughts originated when I was playing with my brother (who of course also loves co-op games). We often had difficulty finding a really good co-op game we liked. So… why not build what we wanted to play? A game that we would love to play with friends, or fight with siblings over.
[h2]What other games were the inspiration?[/h2]
There are a lot of great games out there. For inspiration for Void Crew there are three particular games.
First and most obvious one is
FTL - Faster than light. Imagine you’re playing that game and then you think about "what if?". What would it feel like if I dived into it and became one of those crew members? How would it be if that was first person, real time? How would you operate the ship? How would you control the cannons, operate the door... how would this be in first person?
And even better, what if those other crew members were your friends (or siblings) that were doing their part?
So one thing with FTL is that it is a "god view's" game. You see from top down, you have all the information. So what if we removed that god aspect? And instead each crew member is enveloped with their own perspective and information, and together they would gain that "god aspect". Then they could work together and solve the challenges ahead.
With that as well, if you look at FTL, there are two more things that make sense for the game: the shared value between the crew members, which is the hull, right? As individuals it doesn't matter if you die, if you have an accident. Because for the greater scheme of things, the important thing is the hull. If the ship blows up, you're a goner.
And the last thing I think it's important from FTL, that we think it's a very good design, it's the modular approach towards weapons and systems. So in Void Crew you can install weapons and uninstall them, install auxiliary systems etc so you can adapt to the situation and progress in terms of power.
So another game I think it's worth mentioning is
Left4Dead. It's one of my favorite co-op games, it's a lot about fighting back-to-back. You stay together or you die separately; I think they really nailed that. In Void Crew the ship ties the band together, so to speak. There's intense combat, and there's a power progression, but also attrition; attrition being that you slowly lose your ship's health. And you're going to regain some of it, but you're never going to be as strong; but you're going to get better equipment. So that balance between those.
And I think the third one is going to be a bit of a stretch, but hear me out:
Overcooked. So, visuals aside, it's a lot about the "happy accidents"; there's friendly collaboration between the players, and everything goes well... until someone runs out of dishes, and somebody has to break what they're doing and kind of compensate and also do dishes. In terms of game design I love that it's a set of series of actions that players have to do to operate the spaceship, but under pressure that really pushes team communication and puts the team to the test.
[h2]Along the lines of the previous question - What were the biggest inspirations for the game in any medium (shows, books, etc)?[/h2]
There is lots of good material out there, but for me I think in terms of TV it would probably be The Expanse, those epic space battles from The Expanse. Firefly is one of my favorites, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars and Star Trek of course.
In terms of books I'd probably go with David Weber - On Basilisk Station. I'm still reading it, so no spoilers!
And of course board games; if you haven't tried them, I'd recommend Space alert and Galaxy trucker.
[h2]How did it feel to read feedback from players during CBT knowing the original vision and path for the game?[/h2]
Was it a surprise or were many things expected?It is both exciting but also intimidating when letting players play the game for the first time. We thought there would be problems, and players understood those things out of the gate; and then there was stuff we thought we got covered that just completely was not understood. So that means some priorities had to be shifted, which is kind of the point of a CBT, right?
The primary takeaway for me is the distinctions between learning and discovering. Players enjoyed discovering some of the mechanics we thought we had to teach, and they get this “aha!” moment instead of us giving them an IKEA manual. And then there was other stuff that we thought was completely easy that clearly needs better explanation. So it’s a fine line wanting to keep those “aha!” moments (or somebody tells you or shares with you their discoveries) without too much hand holding.
[h2]Will there be a more complex loadout system? [/h2]
For example will it be like Deep rock galactic or Barotruama where each loadout has something different yet essential to the crew - if not what will different loadouts change?I'm assuming here this just means personal loadout, like for each crew member and not the ship itself. So just to give an idea of how we designed player roles, we think of them as fluid; as in each crew member can cover for the other crew members. So there's not like one pilot; you can jump out and go do something else, somebody else can jump in and fly.
We have our perk system, which allows players to gain benefits for different roles, so they can get better at it. But it doesn’t make the other players obsolete in said role.
THAT being said, I cannot tell you that we may or may not have plans for the future to make players' roles and abilities (loadouts so to speak) a lot more varied and interesting.
[h2]Any plans to add fighter drone bays as weapons to be controlled from a system within the ship?[/h2]
So glad you asked! As part of the CBT (Closed Beta Test), some value we get from it is validating our future plans compared to player expectations. So I can’t say anything about installing a “fighter drone bay” other than that sounds really cool and fun!
[h2]Why have ice shard storms been designed in a way they are always aiming at ships on spawn?[/h2]
Karma is evil. Yes, you got us there. The long version is... optimization, network stuff, we had to limit the amount of asteroids getting thrown at the player, you want to make them relevant thus aiming at the player. We could optimize this further with determinism; have the entire sector be bombarded, or have some far-off asteroid indications just to get the illusion of it.
But part of the CBT is also validation of mechanics. The purpose of the ice shard storm is to add some spice to that sector. We wanted to make sure that spice was right before going into optimizing it and making it completely well rounded. We also needed to know if the illusion was good enough or if we needed to add more layers to it to make it consistent and immersive. So again, this is a good example of what kind of feedback we get back from the CBT; so now we know the illusion is not completely air-tight and we need to add another layer to it.
[h2]We already have a selection of bling for the Ectypes… but what about the ship itself?[/h2]
Might we get the chance to customize the deck or exterior of the ships we crew? Whether that's simple color palette swaps or changes in the layout (e.g. Run down looking interior with hanging wires and distressed paneling Vs. The clean sleek look we currently have.)Another great question, which similarly relates to the fighter drone bay. Is this something players would really enjoy? Is that something the community wants? Sure, the game “works” without it, but it would be pretty cool, that we can agree on.
So in other words, we have a lot of exciting ideas I’m very eager to share with you, but for now I’ll have to ask for patience, but it is definitely something we are considering.
[h2]Will there be official mod support, unofficial mod support in the form of acceptance of mods or will there be no mod support at all? [/h2]
We want to keep an open mind, that features can be added depending on the community feedback, the involvement and what is popular requests. Overall we see the community as a vital part of the game development, and working together to build a great game. In other words, nothing is set in stone but there are no plans at this time.
[h2]Will the arsenal be expanded from what we've already seen available in the beta? [/h2]
A thought occurred that there seems to be very few ship mounted counter-measures - Only one I can think of is the Kinetic Point Defense system. But, maybe things like chaff to disrupt enemy ship lock-ons or disrupt homing projectiles.
Something that can counter the Frostmorph would be handy too. There were a few instances where our ship was basically "destroyed" by a Frostmorph on account of it striking the ship from an angle that none of our hardpoints could shoot it from. Leaving us frozen in place and unable to continue the mission?Yeah, those Frostmorphs....
So, first off: some blindspots are a natural part of the game, because they are unavoidable. We encourage pilot-turret communication. That being said, the case you describe here with the frostmorph I agree it might be a bit too harsh on the balancing, and we will of course adjust that (so yay for CBT feedback!).
For the second part of the question: yes. Yes yes yes. The way we see it, we’ve created the “base” for the game and a starting array of systems players can play with. We see a lot of the future development is just adding more systems and toys to add variation.
Just as an example, we have plans for a “limited angle” weapon that is very powerful, but requires tight communication between pilot, gunner and loader!
[h2]Even though this game is advertised as a team based adventure, many players gave feedback commenting on how solo play was very difficult. [/h2]
Especially if you don’t have any friends online at the time but you still want to play the game - Are there any plans to add smaller or larger crewed size vessels? Say something nimble for 1-2 players or something massive for 4-6Yes, that is something we are aware of and yes, our first priority is the team based adventure. That being said, there is some balancing needed for solo players, so it is easier to win and do some grinding while you wait for your buddies to come online. We get that.
The frigate class ship is made to be playable for 2 players, with a central corridor that makes access to the various ship systems easy for a small crew.
We have made sure that we have a matchmaking system (which we plan to continue improving) so it’s easy to meet new players, and of course support dynamic joining to have a friend drop in. Not to mention our Discord server where there are LFG channels, which I usually used during the CBT and played with a cool group - shout out to you, guys!
[h2]Is it going to be an Early Access release?[/h2]
Maybe… I'm in teasing mode haha
First of all, we want to work closely with the Void Crew community in building a great co-op game.
We encourage feedback and input, and try our hardest to be responsive. Of course, we can’t do everything as some things might be out of scope or maybe not in alignment with the direction of the game, but we see the community as the foundation for the future development of Void Crew.
We are already getting really good feedback from our community, and working on integrating in the game.
As an example, the community requested specific improvements on our Pinging system. Remember, the first pillar of the game is co-op, so this is good relevant input, and we have just upgraded our Pinging system with that feedback in mind. If you haven't already, check out the
video from earlier this week.
I can say that we have several more community updates in our pipeline already. So, long story short: we are neither confirming or denying Early Access at this time.
Thank you for reading! If you want to know more about Void Crew, remember you can join our Discord and follow us on social media!
