Hey there — I’m Scott, Design Director at Coronary heart Formed Video games, and I’ve been given the chance to share a bit in regards to the distinctive design course of behind our new sci-fi grand technique RPG, We Are The Caretakers. Quite a bit went into creating the sport over its 4+ years in improvement, however I’d prefer to concentrate on how our design staff found enjoyable and novel new technique gameplay mechanics from a most unlikely supply: the poaching of endangered animals and real-world animal conservation work.
Inspirations and Ideation
I’ve at all times wished to make a grand technique recreation with a big roster of characters to arrange and improve, just like video games like Xcom, Darkest Dungeon, or my private all-time favourite, the traditional Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. I had labored on ideas and prototypes within the grand technique style for a few years prior, however lastly discovered the fitting time to revisit these designs after our staff was approached about making a recreation in regards to the monitoring and administration of wildlife poachers.
At first this appeared like an odd matter to construct a recreation round, however after spending time with precise researchers and rangers working within the subject to guard endangered animals, we got here away impressed. Their unbelievable work led us down a path of discovery in regards to the realities of human-animal conflicts and animal conservation. Rangers work in small groups, with restricted sources, monitoring animals and poachers that transfer in unpredictable patterns throughout gigantic areas. That distinctive administration problem translated into fascinating gameplay choices, and mapped completely to the squad-building and huge roster administration RPGs we liked. We rapidly realized we had one thing progressive and particular on our fingers and set to work.
Bending Genres and Creating New Gameplay
Our resolution to translating that analysis right into a recreation was to mix quite a lot of recreation genres that every emulated an essential side of defending wildlife. We designed a Caretaker headquarters the place you manage your a whole bunch of recruited characters into squads, take care of detained poachers, and improve your expertise earlier than heading out into the sector. We created a real-time-with-pause map exploration system, the place you deploy your squads to seek for poacher exercise. And we created a turn-based fight system to resolve conferences between your squads and poacher groups, supplying you with diplomatic choices along with conventional JRPG-like skills.
By giving gamers actions to take on the macro and micro ranges over the course of our 30+ mission marketing campaign, they get to expertise what it’s like piecing collectively a corporation and that may struggle again.
Constructing a World
Whereas the gameplay design was a protracted discovery course of, we put an equal quantity of effort into creating an thrilling world and elegance that matched the gameplay. Artwork Director Anthony “robotpencil” Jones discovered inspiration in Afrofuturist works corresponding to Black Panther for the surroundings and character designs; Composer Jon Parra infused a hanging orchestral rating with inspirations from rap beats; and Narrative designer Xalavier Nelson, Jr. heightened the real-world tales with the addition of alien close-encounters and a post-apocalyptic planetary redemption story.
Classes Discovered
The largest lesson realized making We Are The Caretakers was that wanting outdoors of conventional genres and gameplay tropes is the trail to new and unique concepts. By bringing in collaborators from outdoors of the video games business and constructing a various improvement staff, we ensured we had quite a lot of views that would discover the fitting resolution and create one thing thrilling and contemporary for our gamers. Working with the staff at Coronary heart Formed Video games on We Are The Caretakers has been one in all my best skilled joys, and I hope it exhibits within the ultimate recreation you’ll get to play.
We hope you get pleasure from We Are The Caretakers as a lot as we do. It’s accessible for pre-order immediately and launches on Friday, January sixth! Your buy additionally helps the parents that impressed the sport, with 10% of web income from the sport being given to Wildlife Conservation Community’s Rhino Restoration Fund.
We Are The Caretakers
Coronary heart Formed Video games LLC
$19.99
$17.99
We Are The Caretakers is an afrofuturist squad administration RPG. Assemble an arcane staff of protectors in squad-building techniques impressed by Darkest Dungeon, Ogre Battle, and XCOM. Defend the endangered animals your world depends on in strategic turn-based fight. Outline your strategy to a world resistance by balancing your popularity, funds, analysis, animals and alliances. We Are The Caretakers is a difficult technique RPG fusion that asks you to guard a planet by combating for the individuals, animals and ecosystems that inhabit it.
