Topic: FAR: Game design of the series
Lecturer: Don Schumurker-Okomotive Co-founder, Creative Director
Field: Development
Time: 2022.11.18 (Thu) 12:00 ~ 12:50
Summary: Since the launch of the first title in 2018, FAR: Ron Sales, the sequel, FAR: Waves of Change, what caused them to enter the sequel, and to the difficulties faced with the process I talked about it.
■ The sequel to the indie game -There is a good sequel, and there is a bad sequel.
Today I would like to talk about the topic ‘sequel’. The sequel has a good sequel and a bad sequel. In particular, the sequel does not appear in the indie game. But there’s definitely a successful game. Ducks and blind forests and Little Nightmare are representatives of successful sequels.
We will tell you how we made two episodes and decided that after launching our first title FAR: Ron Sales in 2018. Our first game was very successful and came to think about it after that. We discussed a lot and made a small prototype, and we decided to make a sequel. Expectations were high everywhere from the start. And if such expectations are approaching, we have a pressure on the past we need to solve. It is always behind our heart.
The first expectation is expectation for ourselves. I had a high expectation for ourselves because I had time to make a sequel. I wanted to see what kind of feedback I received in the first game and to solve it. What if we don’t like people of our sequel? We analyzed feedback and made action points from it. But we did not change our formula too much. Everyone had their own ideas, and we had to find a way to collect the idea into 1. Each team was motivated to create new and interesting things in the entire development process.
There was also the expectations of the publishers. It was important whether the new game was a sequel to the previous work. You have to decide whether to market or not. We wanted to work with a bigger publisher. This meant that our team and the company had to set a more specialized structure. Since we have found a new publisher, we should have thought about how the new publishers are going to proceed to a new IP.
The third is the expectations of fans. Will they like the second game like the first game? It was about whether new people who did not do the previous work would like the game. And the very important thing was the gameplay time. Because the first game was too short for some people. But it was the right way for others. And we knew we had to face and solve the problem. We proved the whole game idea and no longer wanted a short game. In addition to these three things, we always thought about and made a decision.
■ Things I faced while developing a sequel -I should be more enjoyable than the previous one
We started designing concept design in the summer of 2018 and planned to develop two episodes. I thought about various topics, but there was a big change. The game elements had to be more fun and had to be fun enough to spend twice as much as the previous work. I needed to add various ideas, elements, and layers. Both the first and sequel were important to ride. The first was a vehicle, and the second was the ship. In Ron Sales, it is a vehicle. Although there is such a section directly or such a section, a straight line was the basis. In direction, there was not much to make a decision. The second episode has doubled the play time, so the size of the ship has doubled.
The biggest change is diving. Freedom has increased by creating the concept of water, but it was not easy to create that space. It gave the player more freedom, but it was very difficult to make this freedom an interesting thing. There were also a lot of difficulties in the camera composition. It was because the stomach filled the camera. We wanted to see the environment because we thought about the experience of enjoying the surroundings. So we have a very complicated camera system that makes things look good depending on the situation. You can also change it manually.
The main gimmick of our game is a puzzle called ‘Obstacle’. Part 1 proceeded most of the things in the building. The car and the main character were separated. Part 2 is like a ‘hub’ like a train station. My stomach was anchored, and I felt like solving puzzles at the train station. Part 1 used a very simple color. It gave an abstract and desolate atmosphere. I thought the second episode should be distinguished from 1. Don’t just do it as a gray background, and you have a strong reflection and a variety of colors for each stage.
The sequel had an effort to do everything in three dimensions in the background. For example, the belly in the background is adjusted to the size of a little perspective. But we still wanted to make as many 3Ds as possible. We made it bigger and extreme.
Conclusion. We talked about how we made two with our expectations, the expectations of the publisher, and the fans’ expectations. Furthermore, we seem to have done well as a sequel. Furthermore, we didn’t have a story of one and two, but it was good to be able to use the community created by fans. Furthermore, we think we have solved most feedback, but now we have a lot of new feedback.
■ Q & A of Q & A -FAR developer thinks
Q. Didn’t the communication with team members change in the process of developing episodes 1 and 2?
Our case seems to be a bit unique. As our teammates made one, they knew that our studio was a company that made this game. Taste fits well with each other. I rarely talked about different things. But the idea discussion was very long. There was a lot of effort to narrow each other. It was very good to have a good taste. In the second episode, it was not easy. In the process of development, I had to put a new element, and I liked it, but some people hate it. Still, it is important to talk. It was important to tell Flora as much as possible to communicate as much as possible. Whether there are differences between each other, open communication was important.
Q. I’m curious about the playtime you think of the developer.
The second episode seemed to have no complaint that it was too short. The first part was because I thought so much that the play time was too short and internally. The first part was a little short when I thought about it now. I think there was not enough mechanic introduction or worldview introduction. Part 2 thought it would be better to give a little more time when introducing a new element, but I don’t think it’s bad for gamers to do this. There is a personal difference between playtime. There is no happy choice for every1. Our vision was done so that it was right. If you are convinced, it’s appropriate to build a game while dragging it out.
Q. How much did the feedback of users affect the game?
In fact, it did not increase the playtime with feed millions. We have increased the playtime because the idea inside the feedback and the inside of the interior of the feedback was consistent. We hope that fans want to travel a little longer, and the feedback to increase the positive time was very pleasant.