Gatewalkers News

When it comes to video games, the day and night cycle serves different purposes. Sometimes it’s just the designation of time of the day, on the other hand - it creates a peculiar climax for a location. However, with the same cycle, the designer can introduce unique mechanics to the game, that will change the aura of gameplay, depending on what time of a day it will take place.

Games are using day and night differently, and it all serves various reasons. Some of them build climax, others introduce completely new mechanics. Some create new, remarkable atmosphere, that not only adds new elements to the gameplay but also extends the lore. When we were planning on what do we want to show in our game, we got the idea of making the night-time some sort of mystery. So, after the sun sets, the player needs to explore surroundings to uncover the secrets of darkness.



During the development of Gatewalkers we implemented mechanics, connected with daytime - one for the mobs, and the other for survival. Both of them have a huge impact on gameplay during a different time of the day. Moreover, we’ve decided that the cycle should not only influence players (they need to encamp, craft more useful weapons or create a light source in order to survive in the night), but also the creatures living in particular world.

Hienne - Day/Night (Concept arts)

The night has a direct impact on creatures, some of them transform under the influence of the night. Transformed creatures don’t only change their appearance, but also gain new abilities and are getting stronger in the process. Because of that - during the night the world becomes even more hostile and full of terrors. Studying creatures’ behaviour during the day is a very useful practice, however, this knowledge won’t do much for players after the sun goes down.

Lizard - Day/Night (Concept arts)

Now, let us introduce how the time of day influences players. Each player exploring forest world need to face its own fears that are indicated by their mental health, During the night many Gatewalkers see possessed creatures lurking in the shadows. Long exposure to cursed darkness often makes them lose their sanity. If player gets lost in madness her/his subconscious will spawn nightmare creatures. To stay sane one need to stay within the source of the light - e.g. by staying near a campfire or by holding a torch. This way, we are introducing different feel of gameplay during a different time of day. In result, players must choose whether they prefer to explore the world safer during the day or prefer to risk their adventure at night in return for better loot.



In real life - we don’t really pay attention to how the day changes. We just do our duties, follow the particular schedule and just check the clock to get to know, how much time do we have left in order to finish a task. However, in Gatewalkers, day and night cycle is very important and in consequence make the game more engaging.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1125710/Gatewalkers/

Players love to challenge themselves. When it comes to reaching a peculiar goal, like getting the highest rank or collecting all the achievements, players are able to get to the heights of their abilities in order to get the desired trophy. However, it’s not only about winning the whole thing - it’s more about the process that’s needed in order to succeed. The satisfaction coming from realization, that you’ve made it all by yourself, with your own skills is.
When we were working on the game environment, we’ve decided that every dimension needs to be unique, so that player won’t get bored with repeatability, but will also need to adapt to new surroundings. Every world brings new challenges, and survival in each of them requires a different tactic. We’d like to introduce the whole idea with our concept of an icy world, in which the survival mechanics are based on body temperature.



Locations with an ice theme always give creators a chance to introduce new features, that’ll diversify the gameplay. However, most of the games, literally, use ice as an obstacle, and the player needs to learn how to profit from it. We wanted to go a step forward and make every aspect of winter a challenge to deal with. First, compared to the forest or toxic world - ice is much different when it comes to terrain. There are lots of chasms and plateaus, and it's impossible to get through any of them since they're unimaginably vast.



Secondly, in order to survive, players should craft warm clothes, eat adequate (fat) food and use heat sources, like campfires, to warm themselves. Players will need to pay attention to more than one aspect to face cold: what’s the temperature and how does it change, whether they are dressed properly and - if not - how to deal with frostbite that causes them to be more vulnerable.

Thirdly, we’ve prepared special events that will distract the players, and also force them to change the direction of their mission. One of them is a blizzard - incoming snowstorm means, that players need to find a shelter since it’s too dangerous to stay in an open field. It will destroy every campfire and tent, so it’ll be best to find some sort of cave or build a proper shelter. It will take some time, however, blizzard anticipation doesn’t mean that players only wasted their time. For a short period of time, after the snowstorm, some unique resources will appear, ready to be collected.

All of those mechanics combined, create a feeling of travelling through actual ice world. It is full of surprises, so players need to be prepared for every unforeseen circumstance.

But there’s more than just environment - the inhabitants of the ice world have adapted to their climate perfectly. Their survival abilities make them one of the most dangerous enemies for frozen players. Allow us to introduce them:



Tanaraq is one of the largest animals, players will find in the ice world. It’s one of the best fat, meat and sturdy leather source. However - just because it looks like easy prey, doesn’t mean it will not fight back. They’re strong enough to trample their hunters.



Nilak might be small and cute-looking, but when it comes to facing them in large groups - they can be very challenging opponents. Their main ability allows them to merge and transform into way larger, more fierce opponent. And huge Nilak is something, that you don’t want to cross your ways with.

This is how the new world looks like. In our opinion - venturing into uncharted Ice World will bring a lot of new challenges to overcome, but will also be fun for our players.
Actually - you can try it yourself, during next alpha event, that will take place from 26th to 29th March 2020! Atmosphere might be a bit chilly, but we warmly invite you to join us there!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1125710/Gatewalkers/

We play different games. As for us - the developers - playing is not only a pleasure but also a way to inspire our own title. Back when our game was only an idea on a paper, we were trying to figure out what would be the best genre combination to show to the players. And we have quickly discovered, we have either played survival games - full of dangerous exploration and crafting - or aRPG, which are mostly about character development and combat. As great enthusiasts of challenges ourselves, we eventually came out with an idea of mixing a huge part of survival with a bit of aRPG, since there’s no such game on the market. The creation of these mechanics will serve every individual and unique experience to every single future player of our game.



Speaking about the survival part – before implementing anything to the game, we needed to figure out how realistic we wanted all the mechanics to be. The trick there was to create a believable and entertaining challenge that will not bore the players, but make them even more committed to the struggle of survival. Gatewalkers is a cooperative game, but we needed to address it to the players not just by making the survival harder when playing alone. This was also the part where we wanted the action RPG elements to kick in. Imagine the feeling, when you spend the time with your team, finally resting after the exploration. The immersion unleashed by taking care of each other is supposed to make the players feel that they play an important role and without one’s help others won’t make it. You will have to start a fire to let others warm up, someone will take care of building a tent, so all of you can rest. There will always be something to do!



Every world that players got to explore is different, so are the environments and their inhabitants consequently. You’ll have to face toxic atmosphere, lack of oxygen, terrifying darkness, penetrating cold and powerful snowstorms. It’s all about adaptation and advance planning. Players aren’t forced to rely completely on what they find in a particular world, they can prepare ahead and bring the essentials with them in order to endure the hazardous surroundings. You will also have to collect unique resources and use them for crafting in order to develop and prepare for bigger challenges.



Our goal was to underline the part of action RPG and survival fusion, by making Gatewalkers a game based on cooperation and teamwork. It is easier to cope with all the misfortunes when having friends by your side. When together you can share all the duties and mutually support each other. Also, the team always consists of characters with different and unique abilities that complement each other; imagine all the combos arising from fusing your different spells. Those will be also needed when you’’ have to face the boss, and every single one is full of surprises! That’s how players will always feel the importance of their contribution to the team, by playing their role and – what is even better – the impersonation of a character is something that they have created themselves.



Gatewalkers is a game in which we don’t put the labels on the players – they can be whoever they want. Creating an enjoyable character makes it easier for the player to take on the role and play it while cooperating with a team. Thanks to that, the survival aspect is being reinforced, because everyone feels the urgency of taking care of all the party members, not only themselves. This is how we combined those two genres: by making all the parts complement each other, being a unique experience for both: every single individual and the entire team.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1125710/Gatewalkers/

Gatewalkers!

We have a piece of short but good news for you. The next Alpha tests will take place from March 26 to March 29. There is plenty of time to subscribe to the newsletter on our website www.gatewalkers.com. This is the most convenient way to sign up for the tests. Just do it once, and we will remind you of the event at the right time. Remember to pass the information on to your friends with whom you would like to check what's on the other side of the Gate.

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Gatewalkers Team

Gatewalkers!

It's been a long and very challenging year for us. We moved forward with our game development, we had a pleasure to meet some of you during video games events, and finally, we managed to run the first Alpha test! Next year is going to be very busy for us. Of course, we are planning more tests, but what's more important we are planning to go Early Access.

As today is the last Monday of this year we want to celebrate it by revealing our plans for 2020👀

⚔️ Here's our roadmap: https://gatewalkers.com/roadmap

Thank you for being with us!

Gatewalkers Team