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Wayfinder
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| 1s | Parks attendees. |
|---|---|
| 3s | Please welcome origin stories. |
| 5s | Bringing Wayfinder to life. |
| 15s | Hello, everyone. |
| 16s | How are you today? |
| 19s | This is exciting. |
| 21s | I know there's going to be people at home watching and we've got 80 people |
| 25s | in front of us. |
| 25s | Hopefully more fun alone because this is, you know, a great look at Wayfinder. |
| 30s | Eighty-Thousand! |
| 31s | 80,000 people sort. Of hype it up. |
| 34s | Today. You have a treat. |
| 36s | About to happen. |
| 37s | We've got Joe Madureira, CEO of Airship Syndicate. |
| 42s | Again, we've got Ryan Stefanelli the President, and we've got AJ |
| 46s | LaSaracina, who is honestly just the best looking guy in the room. |
| 51s | The only bald one. Here is that all the names are out. |
| 53s | I'm really excited. |
| 53s | He did pretty. Good. |
| 54s | It's phonetically on the list here. |
| 57s | Now I am less important because I'm not with Airship. |
| 61s | I actually I'm just a content creator |
| 63s | that got a chance to play Wayfinder back in September. |
| 66s | We were flown out to play the game, gives them |
| 69s | feedback and it's been pretty incredible. |
| 71s | Watching it progressed |
| 73s | over the last few months and, you know, even playing it again here today. |
| 76s | Some of the changes that I suggested are in game and you know, |
| 80s | that's a testament to you guys listening to feedback |
| 83s | and wanting to make this the best game possible. |
| 86s | I have a feeling, Joe, that you may have a little bit of |
| 89s | impact on where this art is coming from. |
| 91s | Can you give us a little bit of a backstory on on your path |
| 95s | through comics and then into now gaming? |
| 99s | Yeah, |
| 100s | So way back in the day, a long time ago, |
| 104s | I worked at Marvel |
| 107s | and most notably on the X-Men, but I did a bunch of other books as well. |
| 112s | I started a comic called Battle Chasers, |
| 116s | which, thank you |
| 118s | famously only made it nine issues, although ten is coming out in June. |
| 122s | Stay tuned. |
| 124s | And that ended up being our first game of the airship. |
| 126s | Also, we were going to Kickstarter and we were like, |
| 131s | we knew we wanted to make an RPG, and Battle Chasers seemed perfect for that. |
| 135s | And, you know, along the way And before that, though, |
| 139s | rewinding a bit, I was one of the founders of Vigil with Ryan, |
| 143s | and we did the Darksiders Games, which you guys may be familiar with. |
| 150s | And just over time, |
| 152s | I think my style evolved. |
| 155s | You know, it's always going to have some some element |
| 159s | of like comic book superhero ness to it |
| 163s | mixed with like dark fantasy |
| 166s | and and just fantasy games in general have always inspired me. |
| 170s | Even Battles Chasers was kind of like my wanting to do a Final Fantasy style |
| 176s | universe in US comics, which just didn't exist at that time. |
| 180s | Fantasy comics were like CONAN the Barbarian or something like that. |
| 185s | So that the |
| 187s | blend of steampunk fantasy technology is something I was always excited about. |
| 192s | And in Wayfinder, we're pushing that even more. |
| 194s | There's a lot more sci fi. |
| 196s | Obviously I can't take credit. |
| 198s | All the amazing visuals is there. |
| 201s | I have to credit our amazing concept, our team and our 3D artists. |
| 205s | Like we just have historically always been |
| 208s | an art focused studio and we just keep pushing the envelope |
| 212s | there and building like the most amazing art team. |
| 216s | And we can. |
| 217s | I mean, even the first time I played it, I realized that |
| 220s | a lot of these visuals are essentially timeless. |
| 224s | I find that some games you see that or were trying |
| 227s | to be the highest fidelity or the most beautiful visually. |
| 231s | In some cases they get dated and you look back at some games |
| 234s | like Wind Waker, which at the time was so cartoony in, and now |
| 240s | it's one of the better looking games because it just didn't really age. |
| 243s | I feel like a lot of the models, a lot of the environments, |
| 246s | they're going to look beautiful five years from now, ten years from now. |
| 249s | And with this game, I think that's a good thing |
| 252s | because you guys are really committed to wayfinder being something that people |
| 255s | are going to keep playing year after year, which is really cool. |
| 259s | Now, you mentioned that, you know, you were in comics before |
| 262s | and then moved into gaming, I believe you stayed with Vigil |
| 264s | and so with Airship Syndicate Ryan, you and Joe |
| 268s | have kind of come together for this company. |
| 270s | How did that all start? |
| 272s | Well, we work together very long time at this point. |
| 276s | And, you know, yeah, some days |
| 281s | and I |
| 282s | Joe had gone back into comics after Darksiders two |
| 285s | and after original THQ went through bankruptcy, |
| 290s | a group of us from Vigil had |
| 293s | splintered off and then started a US based studio for Crytek. |
| 296s | And it was around that time |
| 299s | that Joe and I started discussing again the idea of starting a new studio, |
| 302s | something that was smaller, something would let us work |
| 304s | on a different kind of game, one we had always wanted to make because |
| 307s | as game developers, we've |
| 308s | always been sort of like wanting to check games off our bucket list of the game. |
| 312s | We would tend not to work on the same genre more than once, |
| 315s | which may be kind of foolish sometimes. |
| 317s | But, you know, Darksiders was like our love letter to Zelda. |
| 321s | Definitely with our own. |
| 322s | Our own take and Battle Chasers was, Man, we really want to make a turn based |
| 327s | RPG that tugs at the heartstrings that, you know, Final Fantasy |
| 331s | in those classic games did like the the Super Nintendo era turn based RPGs. |
| 337s | And at the same time, |
| 338s | it actually ended up really working well with our vision for Airship |
| 342s | as a studio that we just we'd never really put a cap on our growth, |
| 345s | but we knew we wanted to start small and so we wanted the game that we made |
| 348s | first to be something we could achieve with a smaller, smaller studio. |
| 351s | And actually it didn't start as battle chasers. |
| 354s | That first game we were going to do is a turn |
| 355s | based RPG was going to be a new IP, and we kind of had to talk Joe |
| 359s | into using battle chasers because I think it's a sign of his own humility. |
| 363s | He was like, |
| 364s | People don't care about battle chasers anymore, which thankfully was not true |
| 368s | because then when we went to Kickstarter, I think it's a big reason |
| 370s | why Battle Chasers was was such a huge success. |
| 374s | Yeah, I mean, it was interesting coming to Austin |
| 377s | because I actually didn't realize that you guys did. |
| 381s | The League of Legends run King stories as well. |
| 383s | And then I look back and think, Well, and Darksiders |
| 385s | and I started putting the pieces together |
| 387s | and it's like, Well, I've already played games and love games from you guys. |
| 391s | And now all of a sudden, you know, there's there's this new, like triple-A title |
| 394s | that's coming out. |
| 395s | And so |
| 396s | I think that if you look at the Metacritic and the games that you've done already, |
| 399s | there has been some great reception. |
| 401s | And so I think, you know, as a gamer myself, |
| 404s | my faith is definitely up there and I think a lot of people |
| 408s | are going to be excited to see what Wayfinder evolves into and is. |
| 412s | And so sign up for the beta right now, |
| 415s | make sure you're in on that so you can play it as soon as possible. |
| 419s | But I've been playing it like there's been three different |
| 422s | betas so far and the game has progressed and progressed and, and now we're going on |
| 426s | the fourth beta coming up and I can't wait to see what new changes come. |
| 430s | Yeah. |
| 431s | Think I think on that line like the one thing I mean |
| 434s | obviously we announced our partnership with digital extremes |
| 438s | at ten on last year and so ever since then it's really been about |
| 443s | growing the team at airship, building the game alongside of digital extremes, |
| 447s | who is great in terms of helping us and things like our free and fair |
| 451s | monetization, listening to the community. |
| 453s | And then as you mentioned, it's like taking that |
| 455s | and actually making it actionable. |
| 456s | There's a lot of companies and a lot of games that might say like, |
| 458s | Hey, we want your input, but like we genuinely want your input too. |
| 462s | I'm Tasha's point. |
| 463s | Like everything that someone submits through like a feature upvote, |
| 466s | which we have, we have a really active discord community Steam forums. |
| 469s | Like we read through those things, we talk about it as a group. |
| 471s | We say, Hey, is this a good idea? Is this a bad idea? |
| 474s | So making a game is a big task. |
| 476s | And I think when we say, Hey, sign up for beta, we really mean it. |
| 480s | And that's really what I think the digital teams help because like you |
| 484s | said, it's a total shift from making those other games. |
| 486s | All the games we saw behind us are awesome. |
| 488s | People love them, we love them. |
| 489s | But this is this is a brand new beast that we had to kind of start from scratch. |
| 493s | I mean, Steve isn't here today, but I remember just chatting with him |
| 497s | the first time. |
| 498s | You could see he was geeking out about the game more than I was. |
| 501s | Like, you know, I'm asking about passive abilities and the bosses. |
| 504s | And he was right there with me |
| 505s | so you could see that love for the game and building this new thing. |
| 509s | And that's exciting. |
| 511s | And the fact that you had us out to talk about it so early |
| 514s | and give feedback, it shows that you want this |
| 517s | to be the best thing possible, which you know is a is a bonus. |
| 520s | Now, with this whole process |
| 523s | joining up with digital extremes, this project has grown |
| 527s | even from kind of the inception of what you first expected the game to be. |
| 531s | What have some of the struggles been along the way? |
| 535s | Anytime you have to grow the size of a business, that's that's a challenge |
| 540s | because one finding great people, which we've been very fortunate to do, |
| 544s | even going from for up to 80 or 90 that we're at now, |
| 548s | it seems like that's fast growth. |
| 550s | But secretly or quietly, we've been in business for almost nine years. |
| 554s | Sometimes that number surprises even me because time is. |
| 557s | Just had six like within the last week, like six years ago. |
| 560s | Like now is nine years ago. What the hell? |
| 564s | But yeah, |
| 564s | growing the team is, is is a big challenge because you want to. |
| 568s | We knew that things about the studio culture would have to evolve. |
| 573s | We didn't necessarily want the feel of what it was to work at our ship to change. |
| 577s | We knew it was going to evolve though, |
| 578s | which is a little different than wholesale change, |
| 580s | and I think we've more or less accomplished that. |
| 582s | But then on the development side, what AJ was pointing out |
| 586s | are probably the biggest shift, which is you go from premium |
| 589s | box title development |
| 590s | where you're kind of developing in secret until the |
| 592s | and when you reveal the game, you're sort of being predictive |
| 594s | about what you think players will want to see what what's going to land, right. |
| 597s | Maybe you get to do some small scale focus tests to get feedback, |
| 601s | but you're more or less behind the curtain |
| 604s | until you reveal the game and kind of cross your fingers. |
| 606s | Right? |
| 607s | And this is the opposite of that, which is where you lay the foundation |
| 609s | and you say, get it in the players hands early and now we can |
| 613s | let them tell us what we should do next in a way. |
| 616s | And we're not always right. |
| 618s | I'm sure there's a lot of armchair devs that think they know |
| 622s | what's best for gaming. |
| 623s | And I mean, even when I was sitting there, it's like, what about a helicopter? |
| 627s | Like should you add one to weight finders? |
| 629s | And I think there's that balance between developers. |
| 632s | I mean, we'll think about it. |
| 633s | Yeah, we could do a theme park is basically an airstrip Me. |
| 636s | Know we actually had a bug in one of the betas where you could just |
| 640s | kind of infinitely keep like jumping in the air and like float around. |
| 644s | And when we removed it, people were bummed. |
| 646s | They're like, Bring that back. That was so fun. |
| 648s | Was it? But it's broken. |
| 650s | Wasn't there a rumor that you didn't want, like the air attacks in game |
| 655s | because you were really worried about the the level designers |
| 659s | having to deal with the game essentially breaking and then you played with it |
| 662s | and it was like. |
| 663s | Yeah, air dash, actually. |
| 664s | Yeah. |
| 665s | So spoiler alert we might be adding air dash. |
| 669s | Yes, Air Dash was |
| 670s | was a very requested feature by players, but also internally. |
| 674s | And we've been resisting it just because so much of the game was built |
| 677s | and it would definitely piss off the level designers, the environment artists |
| 681s | because bugs galore. |
| 682s | As soon as you can jump, double jump than air |
| 684s | dash, you're going to get out of bounds really easily. |
| 686s | So I was actually staunchly opposed to air dash trying to save everybody's sanity. |
| 690s | And then Steve made the mistake of just as a quick test |
| 694s | enabling dashing in the air. |
| 695s | And then he had me play it and I was like, |
| 697s | You're screwed, man, because that's too fun. |
| 699s | So we are definitely putting in air dash. |
| 701s | And when people are mad, you can talk to Jesse and Clinton |
| 705s | and John are our leads on level design and environment art. |
| 708s | But I mean, that also, you know, shows that you have a great idea. |
| 712s | You try to implement in the game and working with digital extremes as well. |
| 717s | You know, they need to have faith in you |
| 719s | that you're going to make the best decisions possible while developing. |
| 722s | You know, how did that partnership happen with digital extremes? |
| 726s | You know, I played some of their other games. |
| 728s | You know, I've known about them for a long time. |
| 729s | And so as |
| 730s | soon as that name was attached to this, it definitely did piqued my interest. |
| 733s | How did that come about? |
| 736s | It's funny because when we were pitching the game |
| 740s | to the publishers, |
| 742s | one of the ways that people would wrap their heads around the |
| 746s | the game we were making is like, Oh, it's kind of like fantasy Warframe. |
| 749s | And we're like, I guess it is kind of like that. |
| 752s | And then when we met with DC, finally they said the same thing |
| 756s | and we were like, Wow, wouldn't it be cool if like we actually did this together? |
| 760s | Because enough people |
| 761s | had made that comment during the pitch that we put it in the pitch. |
| 765s | Yeah, well, it's going to help people understand it. |
| 767s | And then we're friends and then we pitched it to DC |
| 770s | and we got to that slide and I kind of looked at it |
| 771s | and I thought, okay, wait, I promise this was in here |
| 773s | before we knew we were talking to you guys. Yeah. |
| 775s | And I think they a lot of our visions aligned like they liked a lot of like, |
| 783s | I guess |
| 784s | having the Warframe style. |
| 789s | What do you want to call it? |
| 790s | Like, I don't know if we were in sync on a lot of things. |
| 793s | So like the loops or like the kind of gameplay that we. |
| 797s | There's a lot of core elements that we share, like being a collection |
| 800s | based and character based. And so it just made sense. |
| 803s | I think once they saw that |
| 804s | and they saw the passion and the vision of the team, |
| 806s | it's like we want to play these games just like Warframe Creative |
| 809s | because they want to play that type of game. |
| 810s | They wanted to make something and make it awesome. |
| 812s | And being in a fantasy world like it felt like substantially different. |
| 816s | So it was a completely new experience despite that. |
| 819s | So yeah, and when we say we use the term fantasy Warframe, obviously the game |
| 824s | moment to moment is nothing like it, but it's similar in that |
| 829s | there are some randomly generated dungeons that are instantiated. |
| 832s | We have static overworld, it is collection based and I think the |
| 837s | the thing we're really leaning |
| 838s | into through the partnership with them is understanding of what |
| 841s | players have appreciated about Warframe monetization |
| 844s | and in the way it's free, the way it's fair |
| 847s | of everything that is power related can be earned in the game. |
| 851s | Players have responded very well to that. |
| 853s | And so that's like if it ain't broke, don't fix that thing. |
| 856s | We have a lot of trust in them to lead us the right direction. |
| 860s | Yeah, well, I noticed like while playing in the open world too, |
| 865s | it seems like it's an evolving game |
| 867s | or even just the gameplay loops do change because I was just fighting some enemies. |
| 872s | A star essentially like landed on the ground |
| 875s | and it was a public event that I had to deal with. |
| 878s | There was another one that opened up a dungeon for me |
| 880s | that I had to go in and so |
| 881s | and I don't even truly know what this game is, but if you could |
| 885s | sum it up in just a few words, what would you kind of |
| 888s | want to put out to the world? |
| 889s | What is Wayfinder? |
| 892s | I think the way we usually describe it is that it's an online |
| 895s | character based action role playing |
| 897s | game for you and your friends, like old friends, new friends. |
| 901s | Like I mentioned before, we we of all played these type of games |
| 904s | and we're passionate about these type of games. |
| 905s | We played everything from Wow to EverQuest to Destiny two to Vindictive. |
| 909s | There's like so many games that the DNA is inside this game, |
| 912s | but it's really about adventure and it's about playing online with people |
| 916s | and it's tapping into airships |
| 918s | strengths, which are amazing characters in a beautiful world. |
| 922s | We have an awesome set of lore with it, with an awesome writer |
| 925s | that you might talk about a little bit later. |
| 927s | And we'll show some cool stuff too. |
| 929s | But it's really about just getting in there and feeling like you're progressing. |
| 933s | You get 5 minutes, you get 10 minutes of 15 minutes, |
| 935s | you can level up your character, |
| 936s | you can go on a hunt with friends, you can go collect a weapon, |
| 939s | you can explore something like you found and maybe find a public event. |
| 942s | So we're really making the game that we want to make that we know |
| 944s | a lot of players want to make. |
| 945s | And it will appeal to a lot of players |
| 947s | based on what the time that they have and and they want to make do it. |
| 951s | Now, you mentioned that Wayfinder is a character game. |
| 954s | There are multiple characters that you know, I've had a chance to play already. |
| 958s | Why did you make the decision to do a character based game? |
| 962s | Well, didn't start that way. |
| 964s | So let's talk a little bit of how we started it. |
| 966s | Early on, it was a little more traditional RPG ish where you had like a blank slate |
| 972s | and you could make the character you wanted Pick a class. |
| 975s | This is some old school art that's like the very, |
| 977s | very, very first this the. O.G. |
| 981s | and you know, |
| 983s | it was like Rogue Warrior and it felt a little generic. |
| 987s | So as we started to, like, infuse it with, like, |
| 992s | what would make it more exciting for us and, you know, upping the level, |
| 995s | it was a lot more grounded too, like it was |
| 999s | everyone was human and you were like in a little village |
| 1001s | and we started to just push it more and more. |
| 1004s | And having worked on |
| 1007s | Ruin. King |
| 1010s | It, we just had the idea, like, if you were, like, |
| 1014s | taking these characters that had predefined stories and histories |
| 1020s | as places in the world, relationships with each other, |
| 1024s | but they still fulfilled like different combat roles. |
| 1029s | It just it's a way more exciting starting point. |
| 1031s | And I think it leans on our expertise a little more, |
| 1036s | and it was just more exciting, to be honest, for the whole team. |
| 1041s | And as soon as we started to like, brainstorm what these characters could be, |
| 1044s | there was like no turning back. |
| 1046s | And of course, the flip side of that is giving players enough |
| 1050s | customization options that they can make their win grave. |
| 1054s | Different from my Wingrove and Irwin grave, |
| 1057s | both in like combat ability and but also like visuals. |
| 1061s | So you still get to scratch that itch of like, you know, |
| 1064s | having your version of the character. |
| 1066s | But it gives us another storytelling device to |
| 1070s | by having characters that, |
| 1072s | you know, have a place in the world and these relationships |
| 1076s | that we can touch on over time |
| 1078s | because we do plan on building this game for years to come. |
| 1080s | And you know, something we'll we'll talk about a little later, too, is exploring |
| 1086s | the story. Even outside of the game. |
| 1087s | We always wanted to make it feel like |
| 1089s | there's way, way more here than what you actually are |
| 1092s | seeing at any given moment in the game, whether it's explored |
| 1096s | through, you know, short stories or novels or animation. |
| 1102s | We do plan on like telling the story of this game world |
| 1107s | in a like every way that we can. |
| 1109s | So yeah, so and the one thing I want to jump into is like we've kind of |
| 1113s | talked a little bit about the game and now the characters as well. |
| 1116s | But like this world is fully |
| 1117s | fleshed out in terms of like it is a world that we want players to get lost in. |
| 1121s | And tell us a little bit about the actual the world itself. |
| 1124s | We talked about the gloom without saying the gloom. |
| 1126s | So set the stage for us in terms of what the game is and the backstory, |
| 1129s | what the player is doing. |
| 1130s | Yeah, so the world is called Avner and you exist in the city |
| 1134s | called Skylight, which has a beacon that's protected. It |
| 1139s | throughout |
| 1140s | this apocalyptic event called the Gloom. |
| 1143s | And the gloom is sort of like a mystical |
| 1147s | alien presence, for lack of a better word. |
| 1150s | There's a lot of mystery surrounding it. |
| 1152s | And actually, when you start the game, |
| 1154s | a lot of it is just figuring out |
| 1155s | what it is and what it's done to the rest of the world. |
| 1159s | But you meet a character called Omen pretty early on, and she |
| 1164s | brings your hero character back from the gloom. |
| 1167s | Using an echo and echoes are kind of like fragments |
| 1171s | of distorted reality that have been touched by the gloom. |
| 1174s | It gives us a really good story device to be able to |
| 1179s | randomly generate areas, for instance, or have multiple instances |
| 1183s | of the same character running around |
| 1185s | because it's kind of like our version of a multiverse where anything |
| 1188s | that the gloom has touched can be manipulated or brought back. |
| 1193s | Yeah, it is kind of like a multiverse engine in a way. |
| 1196s | The gloom, which is why some of these areas |
| 1198s | that we call the lost zones, those are fully lost to the gloom. |
| 1201s | So every time the Wayfinder uses the gloom dagger, |
| 1203s | which is the only thing that compares |
| 1204s | the veil of the gloom and only a wayfinder can wield it. |
| 1207s | Every time they slice through it, |
| 1209s | they're basically stepping through into some twisted |
| 1212s | version, some seed of reality, as it once was or may have been. |
| 1215s | And it's twisted by the gloom, |
| 1217s | and it's always anchored in the gloom by a thing called the gloom anchor |
| 1221s | and the way finders are just always sort of trying to go into the gloom |
| 1223s | and destroy these gloom anchors to try and kind of keep the gloom at bay. |
| 1227s | It's like this constant maintenance of it while also trying to |
| 1231s | find the creatures that you're hunting that ultimately control it. |
| 1234s | But that same energy that twists and bends lost zones is can be |
| 1239s | used to recreate like the lost heroes that were killed fighting the gloom. |
| 1243s | And that's what the way finders are. |
| 1244s | My sense is from a week ago, yours is from a month ago, but it's still her. |
| 1249s | She's got her personality, that showboating. |
| 1252s | And I mean, even the first time, |
| 1254s | I think that was the first character that I played in Austin. |
| 1257s | I was like, oh, it's a it's a gladiator. |
| 1260s | And then when you do the showboating and you start flexing on the enemies, |
| 1263s | I was like, Oh God, that's so much more spice. |
| 1266s | And I think that is the nice thing about the characters is they have that |
| 1269s | that personality to them. |
| 1270s | They are a character with, with pros and cons |
| 1275s | and some personality, and I think it does add to it a lot. |
| 1278s | And even one of the visuals that you showed us in Austin, it was like, |
| 1282s | Whoa, this is like a little animated little story, and I'm excited |
| 1286s | to see a lot of these things unfold and figure out |
| 1290s | who are these people, What is the gloom and how do we stop it right |
| 1295s | now with characters and customization? |
| 1299s | There are some visual things, but can you touch on |
| 1302s | How can I make my omen or my winged grave different from yours? |
| 1307s | One of the one of the biggest and I think most interesting matters |
| 1310s | that we have available is that every character when you unlock |
| 1312s | them, will start with their signature weapon that belongs to a weapon class. |
| 1316s | And the weapons definitely define a large part of the character's |
| 1320s | role in playstyle. |
| 1321s | For example, you can give almost any character in the game a sword and shield, |
| 1325s | and there are many steps towards being tanky, right? |
| 1328s | But initially each character only starts with the weapon class that their signature |
| 1333s | weapon belongs to. |
| 1333s | Unlocked, and that helps you understand the character's sort of their identity. |
| 1338s | It's what you'll see |
| 1338s | when we're talking about the character and lore or showing trailers. |
| 1342s | But players can work to unlock any weapon class on every character, |
| 1346s | And so that's probably the biggest and most visible difference from one win |
| 1349s | grave to another is that you may be standing in town. |
| 1351s | You've got |
| 1352s | traditional sword and shield with grave, and you see another guy who's got a rifle, |
| 1356s | and if he's got the rifle, he's probably got a rifle build, |
| 1358s | which means the creature echoes, which are a lot of elements |
| 1361s | that drop off creatures probably got an interesting roster of those. |
| 1366s | The way he's chosen to upgrade his abilities |
| 1368s | might better synergize with the rifle than it does with the sword and shield. |
| 1372s | And I think we're really keen to see how players, what they do creatively |
| 1376s | with the meta to slot characters into different roles |
| 1379s | based on the weapon that they have equipped. |
| 1381s | And I think that's probably the most |
| 1383s | significant functional way that players customize. |
| 1386s | And then there's tons of cosmetics |
| 1387s | just to look different dyes, different styles and different slots. |
| 1391s | So I really once we get into early access, |
| 1394s | I don't think any two scenarios or any two silos are going to. |
| 1398s | Look the same. |
| 1399s | It's interesting because you might have omen |
| 1401s | that looks like almost a spell caster and the meta might be greatsword |
| 1406s | omen slashing in there and just playing like a glass cannon type thing. |
| 1411s | And that is something that I'm definitely excited about. |
| 1414s | Now, I'm not sure if you'll tell me. |
| 1416s | I'm going to try to get some leaks for everyone here. |
| 1419s | You mentioned that there are some dungeon bosses |
| 1423s | and they may even have unique weapons, different |
| 1426s | from some of the starting weapons that have different abilities. |
| 1429s | How do these weapon abilities change the way a player might play? |
| 1433s | But I know you picked it up first. |
| 1436s | Did I? Yeah. I don't know. Yes. |
| 1439s | Rock, paper, scissors. |
| 1440s | Rock, paper, scissors. Yeah. It's about |
| 1443s | like Brian was saying before, too. |
| 1444s | When you're customizing character, you're really customizing how you play. |
| 1447s | And so it's important to note that we're not a lute driven game |
| 1451s | like, say, a Diablo, |
| 1452s | where it's like, Hey, you're getting 15 or 16 swords in a dungeon run, right? |
| 1455s | We want players to work towards creating that sword and then it's theirs |
| 1459s | and then they're upgrading and they have it for a long period of time |
| 1461s | and maybe it's good on one boss, or maybe it's good |
| 1463s | because it has a support ability. |
| 1465s | We have a sword and shield in the game |
| 1466s | that when you pop it's ability, each weapon has a unique ability. |
| 1470s | It gives a shield to you and everyone else around you, right? |
| 1472s | And then there's another sword and shield |
| 1473s | that when you throw it out, does the Captain America type bounties. |
| 1475s | So it's really about finding what you want, going after it |
| 1479s | and then upgrading that weapon for for a long period time? |
| 1482s | Yeah. Weapons have names. They're unlocked. |
| 1484s | And really once you're, let's say, your wing grave and you love to head to |
| 1489s | 200 stores or 200 axes, the reason you'd get a different two handed ax |
| 1492s | and they're similar to characters |
| 1493s | that they have a name, they level up, they have different ways |
| 1496s | that you can upgrade them, different stats. |
| 1498s | But the most significant difference between one two handed |
| 1502s | sword and another is the weapon ability that it comes with. |
| 1505s | So basically, every time you swap out |
| 1506s | a weapon, you're swapping out one ability button on that character. |
| 1510s | And so there's a lot that players can do to mix and match. |
| 1514s | Even if you love one weapon class, they're going to be different. |
| 1516s | You're going to have different weapons, just that you can have a different weapon |
| 1518s | ability in your arsenal based on, you know, if you're just running solo, |
| 1522s | you probably want a deeper stability. |
| 1523s | But if you're Wingrove and you're going into |
| 1527s | an epic |
| 1527s | hunt or an elite hunt where you have to be playing sort of roles |
| 1531s | and you need somebody that's keeping aggro and you need somebody |
| 1534s | that's going to heal and you need somebody that can burn things down. |
| 1537s | You'll probably pick one that's got a defensive ability. |
| 1539s | Can you leak one cool ability |
| 1542s | from a weapon, an official one. |
| 1545s | Leak? |
| 1546s | Um, well, I don't know, I, I just like whirlwind. |
| 1550s | There's going to be a badass whirlwind in the whirlwind. Okay. |
| 1553s | Yeah, I came to. |
| 1555s | Yeah, I know, but that was pretty much just. |
| 1557s | I'm trying to get as much info as I can because I'm excited now |
| 1562s | with that. |
| 1563s | I mean, I just mentioned bosses or dungeons. |
| 1567s | I mean, that's a whole other design concept too, that I wanted to touch on |
| 1570s | because creating the characters is one thing, but |
| 1573s | I was watching some trailers of a new I don't even know what to call it, |
| 1577s | Monstrosity running around hunting the players is big. |
| 1580s | And that thing right there, um, you know, I find it |
| 1584s | so interesting that you've come up with all these different enemies. |
| 1588s | Is that |
| 1590s | as fun as creating some of the characters? |
| 1592s | Is is it less fun? Is it is it more difficult? |
| 1595s | And what are your thoughts on creating some of these? |
| 1597s | Feel like you like drawing monsters more than characters, even. |
| 1599s | Yeah, I mean, I love creatures we have. |
| 1603s | It's some of the most fun meetings we have is like running through, |
| 1608s | you know, like the The Creature Review Weekly, |
| 1611s | where they just have finally implemented |
| 1614s | creature and like getting its behaviors working and stuff. |
| 1618s | It also has some of the funniest like A.I. |
| 1620s | breakdowns too, and they just behave sporadically. |
| 1624s | But yeah, we have a lot of creatures in this game like you'll be shocked. |
| 1629s | We're always because we have like a, like an archive of creatures |
| 1633s | that are still waiting to get, like, rigged and animated and get their A.I. |
| 1636s | and everything. |
| 1637s | So I think you'll be pleased with the number of even bosses. |
| 1642s | We have many bosses, We have elites. |
| 1644s | We have one target target. |
| 1647s | It was just the other day like there was a conversation Slack |
| 1649s | or someone posted something and it was like |
| 1651s | supposed to be like the little trash mobs. |
| 1652s | And maybe if you or someone else, you're like, No, that was awesome. |
| 1655s | It should be just like this big, hulking boss. |
| 1656s | It's like, |
| 1657s | it's fun to see how organically these characters |
| 1659s | just kind of grow and grow and then change and then become members. |
| 1661s | Literally. |
| 1661s | They just get bigger and bigger in scale. |
| 1664s | That guy. |
| 1665s | Everybody at the studio loves |
| 1666s | hearing Joe's feedback, which usually starts with scale it up. |
| 1669s | Yeah, make it bigger. Like, why is it so small? |
| 1672s | That's good though, because, I mean, sometimes if you're fighting |
| 1674s | the same enemy, type over and over again, it does get dull. |
| 1677s | I saw some slimes. |
| 1678s | I haven't got to fight this big battle yet, but I'm definitely excited for that. |
| 1682s | And with the dungeons, |
| 1685s | I think you kind of mentioned earlier, are the procedurally generated, are they |
| 1689s | are they like standardized and it is the same dungeon every time. |
| 1693s | How does that stuff work? |
| 1694s | So they're randomly generated using hand-built tiles. |
| 1697s | So it's not procedural. |
| 1698s | That is, the tiles |
| 1699s | have handcrafted elements within them and then they are randomly generated |
| 1702s | and then using Inhumans on the dagger to create mutated mutations |
| 1706s | can have a big effect on the way each of them plays. |
| 1710s | And you can use mutations |
| 1711s | to summon specific things into a dungeon, maybe change the size, |
| 1714s | change the effects, but ultimately the big thing you're changing is the |
| 1718s | the loot, the things you're on the chase for, |
| 1720s | because you can craft every character, you can craft every weapon, |
| 1723s | you can craft accessories. |
| 1725s | Sometimes you just need |
| 1725s | resources to combine things and to do those to get the best versions |
| 1729s | of all those, you're going to have to not just go on dungeon runs, lost on runs, |
| 1733s | but take the time to craft the mutations that will specifically target something. |
| 1737s | And sometimes there are things |
| 1738s | that may appear on their own randomly and like we have a loot goblin |
| 1741s | and he appears whatever percent chance, small percentage chance |
| 1745s | or you can create a specific type of mutation |
| 1749s | that will guarantee that he's in the run along with some other effects, |
| 1752s | but you can guarantee that he'll be there. |
| 1753s | So if there's something that, you know, he drops that you need to craft |
| 1756s | a particular weapon, you can kind of target. |
| 1758s | You can set that goal for yourself and targeted by by crafting a new day. |
| 1761s | Or some of them you'll do |
| 1762s | just because it's fun and it ups the, you know, occurrence of that you might get |
| 1766s | or a particular snipe, a particular type of like universal crafting ingredient. |
| 1771s | But I think that's ultimately where when we say control the chaos, that's |
| 1773s | what it's about is using mutation on on dungeon runs, but also bosses, |
| 1778s | because you can apply those |
| 1779s | same mutations to bosses and sometimes they have a minimal effect. |
| 1782s | But every now and then there's a very special type of mutated |
| 1786s | that gets applied to a boss that completely changes the boss's mechanics. |
| 1789s | And those are their secret until it ends up on the internet, |
| 1792s | and then everyone will know what the recipes are. |
| 1794s | But those are some kind of epic ways that you taters |
| 1797s | can vastly affect the experience. |
| 1800s | Through different movesets and attacks and everything. |
| 1803s | Yes, often different phases. |
| 1804s | It'll give them a different ability, give them different behaviors, |
| 1807s | and you'll know because the name will be different. |
| 1809s | Something about the visual might be a little different. |
| 1810s | At its core, it's that same. It's the same boss. |
| 1813s | Like the King's Line becomes the royal slime and got a little crown on. |
| 1816s | And everything about him is very different. |
| 1819s | But yeah, those are |
| 1820s | those are some of the ways that we think mutations are going to make controlling |
| 1823s | aspects of the game really fun for players and different because randomly generated |
| 1827s | isn't really interesting anymore and it's, you know, at its core |
| 1830s | you have to do something interesting with it |
| 1831s | and the mutations are how we're doing that. |
| 1834s | It's actually very interesting because there might be, |
| 1836s | you know, the king slime boss that I get crushed is danger, but |
| 1839s | I can go in his omen and have a great time and playing with the different weapon |
| 1843s | types as well. |
| 1844s | It sounds like there's a lot of the player agency |
| 1847s | and they can play how they want and combat these challenges how they want. |
| 1852s | And you know, even with those daggers being able to build for defenses |
| 1856s | or for for more damage or whatever it is, I like the idea of that. |
| 1860s | So that's great. |
| 1863s | Now, with the, uh, okay with the characters. |
| 1867s | So I mean, I know of five currently. |
| 1870s | Would there be more characters that get added to the game over time? Yep. |
| 1875s | We plan on doing seasons, which right now are about three months apart |
| 1880s | and we're going to introduce a new way finder each season |
| 1884s | and they'll have their own signature weapon and, you know, their own abilities |
| 1888s | and backstory and stuff. |
| 1889s | And each one is going to be accompanied by a really cool, like launch trailer |
| 1896s | sizzle trailer that we really wanted it to be more like a vignette |
| 1901s | and like an actual story that that adds to the world |
| 1905s | and to the characters, not just like a marketing thing, |
| 1909s | but an actual side story which will accumulate over time and |
| 1913s | help build out the world. |
| 1915s | And I think, are we going to show one of those? |
| 1917s | I think we are, but I think it's a little bit later on. |
| 1919s | Down, all of it right now. |
| 1921s | We could do it right now, I guess. |
| 1923s | Yeah, Well, don't go anywhere. It's cool. |
| 1926s | It's the first time we're showing it. |
| 1928s | It's going to introduce the new character that's like the worst kept secret ever. |
| 1931s | And we've already showed her, and people have spotted her in screenshots. |
| 1935s | I think in Austin I was like, That character is not in game. |
| 1939s | Is that. All right? We pretend like we did it on purpose. |
| 1941s | Well, we'll. |
| 1941s | We'll talk. About that before we go to her. |
| 1943s | We'll talk about creating that because we have that video first and then |
| 1946s | we can go to |
| 1948s | see do we have that video that we can throw up there? |
| 1950s | The character. |
| 1952s | There? Yeah. |
| 1953s | So sometimes it starts this loose. |
| 1956s | It's like |
| 1957s | you're just thinking, I do that one. |
| 1960s | It'd be really cool if we had this, like, Gladiator and maybe she, like, |
| 1965s | has some PTSD where she, like, still is |
| 1967s | like in her mind, like in the arena fighting her enemies. |
| 1971s | Then it like, amps her up to like, you know, hear the chair of the crowd. |
| 1977s | And so that's where that like a lot of that like fist pumping and like |
| 1981s | she's almost like like a a wrestler, like a WWE wrestler. |
| 1985s | And so we started playing with that idea like, is that even doable? |
| 1990s | Is that something we're going to pull off? |
| 1991s | You know, we got the rose petals falling down, I think, you know, |
| 1993s | and you can actually hear like the crowd cheering |
| 1997s | and it like powers up her abilities |
| 1999s | and then you just do a bunch of drawings. |
| 2002s | Our concept is amazing. |
| 2004s | It takes a lot of iteration. |
| 2006s | You'd be shocked. |
| 2007s | And then once we finally have a direction we like, it moves to 3D. |
| 2011s | Even then, once you see things in 3D, sometimes |
| 2014s | it just doesn't work like it did on paper. |
| 2019s | And so we always, you know, do passes to refine that. |
| 2022s | And then of course it gets rigged and animated. |
| 2026s | And even that like is, you know, |
| 2029s | every step of the way, we're trying to add to the character |
| 2031s | and to their attitude and everything. |
| 2032s | And so and make them feel unique as much as we can. |
| 2036s | I think we eventually want even like, different. |
| 2040s | We we want them to move different. |
| 2042s | We want them to feel different in every way. |
| 2044s | Obviously, like early on, there's a lot of sharing going on, |
| 2047s | but we're doing our best there. |
| 2049s | There's that when this I remember when this rendering of Sanja |
| 2053s | hit and we shared it around the studio, we were like, Oh my God, |
| 2056s | everyone's going to this is going to be everyone's favorite character. |
| 2060s | But every time we add a new character, that becomes people's favorite character. |
| 2063s | So hopefully that continues because we want |
| 2066s | we want people to have healthy arguments about who is the coolest |
| 2070s | and hopefully we'll have dozens of characters and the game will go on and on. |
| 2073s | Yeah, the first time I played with her |
| 2075s | I actually gave quite a bit of feedback because I liked the showboating. |
| 2079s | I wanted to taunt them, but it wasn't strong enough. |
| 2082s | And in the recent build that I played, you guys definitely tuned it in |
| 2087s | and it's almost cool because you have a ton of ability |
| 2090s | and instead of just pressing it, you can literally showboat |
| 2093s | and flex on the enemies |
| 2095s | and they're attacking you |
| 2096s | and you're gaining more bonuses and you're buffing your team |
| 2099s | because you're stuck in that animation and taunting them even longer. |
| 2102s | And it really does play to that character. |
| 2105s | And I think you guys definitely nailed the feel of that one. |
| 2108s | So far. |
| 2110s | Yeah, I think |
| 2110s | the the other thing is obviously Joe's talking about how the characters start |
| 2114s | and then we look at them and they get refined |
| 2116s | and they get made and then they become people's papers in the office. |
| 2118s | And then the next step is that we have to cast them, right? |
| 2121s | Like our characters have voices. We want to tell their stories. |
| 2124s | As Joe was saying, inside the game, outside the game, |
| 2126s | through trailers, through comics, through other means. |
| 2129s | So that's kind of the next phase. |
| 2131s | And so we do have voice activated characters all the way. |
| 2134s | Finders of voice acted. |
| 2136s | We want to show what that kind of looks like |
| 2138s | in terms of when you're starting the game. |
| 2139s | You get to pick a character that that has a set history and has a set background. |
| 2144s | We're going to play that in a second, but you'll probably recognize the voice |
| 2147s | and then we'll discuss the voice talent just a little bit. |
| 2151s | You'll know we're going to watch it. |
| 2153s | It's coming up. |
| 2154s | I think. |
| 2157s | Oop, Well, there you go. |
| 2159s | Yeah. |
| 2161s | Um, we play the there. |
| 2164s | I remember. |
| 2166s | I am Hollis Wingrove, who was a warrior, |
| 2171s | an imperial uncle charge to carry the light of the Arctic. |
| 2174s | Into the darkest places and to vanquish |
| 2177s | the forces of evil. |
| 2182s | How much time has passed? |
| 2184s | It's all fake. |
| 2187s | I remember countless enemies, cultists, |
| 2191s | monsters. Now |
| 2197s | it seems that the empire has been swallowed up by this darkness |
| 2201s | that the architects themselves may have fought. |
| 2205s | But their light lives on in me. |
| 2208s | And I will fight to protect. |
| 2210s | Those who've survived. |
| 2215s | Mm hmm. Who was it? |
| 2218s | No one announced. |
| 2220s | Yeah, that was So. |
| 2221s | That was JP Blunk, who we've actually worked with in the past. |
| 2226s | He's in our |
| 2228s | van vendor |
| 2230s | and usually like, we'll put out a casting call and everything, but like, |
| 2235s | we knew that when Grave was coming up and like, |
| 2237s | I was literally watching Arcane and I'm like, I want TV to do it. |
| 2241s | And he was like, all on board. |
| 2243s | He's also Brumm from League of Legends, So we've worked with him a couple of times |
| 2247s | and he's just the coolest guy ever, so we're super excited to have him on board. |
| 2252s | A good voice can bring a character to life. I love his voice. |
| 2255s | He can literally say anything and you're just like, Oh, read me a story. |
| 2259s | Yeah, yeah. |
| 2260s | We'll have the full cast for the characters up on the website. |
| 2262s | We had it up here really quick, but it's a great cast. |
| 2266s | Will be telling their stories inside the game now. |
| 2268s | We're really excited that when you're a character that might be familiar |
| 2270s | with the location of the game, you'll hear them |
| 2271s | talk about it, be like, Hey, I remember this, or I fought a war here. |
| 2274s | Like we want to tell those stories through those characters |
| 2276s | because that's what makes them memorable and that's what makes them powerful. |
| 2279s | Will there be some of those kind of color commentary |
| 2282s | things that they throw in while exploring and doing Done? Yes. |
| 2285s | Oh, exciting. Yep. |
| 2288s | Now who's that behind us? |
| 2289s | And I said, I'm just sitting here looking at that and I'm. |
| 2291s | Like, I don't know. Joe is like, Oh, we should talk about this cast. |
| 2294s | So people have noticed then, like sneaking around in the background. |
| 2297s | And she actually was even in Skylight as an NPC for a while |
| 2302s | just to like get her in the game. |
| 2303s | And we, I think we forgot to like, remove her when we started showing. |
| 2307s | But yeah, she's the venomous |
| 2310s | and a.k.a then her friends call her. |
| 2314s | She doesn't have a lot of friends but yeah. |
| 2317s | And so she her place is all about I. |
| 2320s | Got a better idea instead of you explaining |
| 2322s | why don't we play them a little bit of a video that way. Yeah. |
| 2324s | Let's do that. |
| 2325s | Yeah. |
| 2325s | So as we said, we're interested in telling the stories inside the game it out. |
| 2329s | This is an example |
| 2330s | just a little bit of a teaser of one of those animals |
| 2333s | that we've been putting together |
| 2334s | that will be a short on YouTube when the character is out. |
| 2337s | So let's roll that sweet. |
| 2345s | Shot of the |
| 2347s | child growl. |
| 2348s | Pass us color |
| 2352s | puff. |
| 2352s | The Shadow nation must be here. |
| 2354s | Beast Push his harness the most dangerous magic on the planet. |
| 2358s | I'd be celebrating too, then for the drinks talks we're taking it |
| 2362s | home to the maze. |
| 2364s | There is an out entrance out of this probably unreachable. |
| 2370s | I figured that up. |
| 2374s | You're joking, right? |
| 2391s | What the hell. Happened? |
| 2393s | Yeah. |
| 2400s | Look at the burn marks. |
| 2404s | Elden Blades. |
| 2405s | Oh, no, she's here. |
| 2408s | Let's say hello. |
| 2410s | Fang White. |
| 2446s | As that. |
| 2447s | The fight is so good. |
| 2449s | I wish. You wanted to cut that earlier. |
| 2451s | On. I actually wanted to show the fight scene another day detail, but it's okay. |
| 2454s | We'll save it for later. |
| 2455s | Now I have more questions. |
| 2457s | How do I get them? |
| 2458s | How do I get those daggers? |
| 2460s | Guess how strong are they're in their optimal. |
| 2462s | The one one cool thing about this one is that it does introduce a new character, |
| 2466s | but it also |
| 2468s | shed some light on this. |
| 2470s | Who's one of the starter characters that actually and so you learn a little |
| 2474s | about the brand and like the backstory that connects these two characters. |
| 2478s | Specifically, |
| 2481s | I not to spoil the ending, |
| 2482s | but they both take part in like a mission that goes horribly wrong. |
| 2488s | And so they're sort of bound by that secret. |
| 2491s | Nobody else survived it. |
| 2493s | And so they have a lot of conflict, |
| 2496s | but also a lot of like |
| 2499s | almost I wouldn't call them friends, but I think that |
| 2503s | when you have like something traumatic |
| 2504s | like that in your like shared past, then it kind of binds you together. |
| 2508s | So these these are the kind of stories I hope that we can do |
| 2512s | as many of as possible as the game hopefully blows up. |
| 2516s | And we just have all the support and resources. |
| 2517s | And the opportunity to do something like this is a big reason that we decided to go |
| 2522s | character based. |
| 2522s | You know, just to reiterate that, because I know it's |
| 2524s | you know, people have strong feelings about that when they're playing a game |
| 2527s | that, you know, pushes into MMO territory. |
| 2531s | But we felt like it was a really unique opportunity for us |
| 2534s | and give more meaning to because a lot of times you'll see |
| 2537s | in a game like this stories being told about NPCs, |
| 2540s | these are these, these standing giving you questions. |
| 2542s | Another thing entirely to see those stories, |
| 2544s | know those characters and then get to play them, |
| 2546s | which certainly is a lot of, you know, inspiration. |
| 2548s | We talk having gotten so close to the league. |
| 2551s | IP With with a scene like that, do you think that that would be, |
| 2555s | you know, at the end of a quest type thing to give more information on the lure |
| 2560s | or do you plan on interjecting these bits of lore into the world? |
| 2565s | So this I mean, stuff on this level really will exist outside of the game, |
| 2570s | but it'll be referenced in game by like the characters interactions and dialog. |
| 2576s | QUEST NPC is my talk about it. |
| 2579s | We have a discovery system. When you |
| 2583s | find certain things in the world, whether it's a location or a character |
| 2587s | or whatever, it'll sometimes trigger like a memory from that character. |
| 2592s | And we want to do as many like |
| 2595s | cutscenes and motion graphics and stuff as we can. |
| 2597s | Sometimes it'll be like journal entries, but we will touch on all this stuff |
| 2603s | in some way or many ways, depending on on what it is. |
| 2607s | But obviously these like big budget cuts, things |
| 2611s | are take a very long time to make and and are quite expensive. |
| 2615s | So it's really going to be like an outside of the game thing for now. |
| 2621s | Yeah. |
| 2621s | And like this one here and ones like it that we're going to be doing will |
| 2625s | generally introduce a new season which is what she's doing cause |
| 2628s | this is our first, which will be early access season one. |
| 2631s | So is Venom is going to be with season one or is she going to be |
| 2635s | at the launch of the game? |
| 2636s | Yeah. |
| 2636s | So season one for us will be early access. |
| 2640s | When we say season, as you just said, we're all clear. |
| 2642s | That's how we're we're telling stories. |
| 2643s | It'll be themed around specific characters with cosmetics and events |
| 2647s | and other things. |
| 2647s | So the first one we're calling Gloom Blue Gloom break |
| 2650s | and we'll be around venomous and kind of that that style motif. |
| 2654s | So one of the ways that we are going to be introducing characters with the season |
| 2659s | is one of the things we want to announce today is our battle pass system. |
| 2662s | So our battle pass is unique for a couple of different ways, |
| 2664s | and one is that that premium battle pass does come with the character. |
| 2668s | We don't want players to have to choose. |
| 2669s | Besides buying that battle pass or buying the character, you get all that content |
| 2673s | and then there's a battle pass with tier as well |
| 2675s | that gives you a jumpstart towards that character. |
| 2677s | It's also really important to us that they feel value from that battle pass |
| 2681s | and so they don't expire. |
| 2682s | You can pick and choose when you have one active, |
| 2684s | you're constantly working towards it, but we really are excited for players |
| 2688s | to have their battle passes and be able to work towards it at their own pace. |
| 2692s | Everyone, everyone hates the idea of having time |
| 2694s | content that they might lose out on this or might not get to that. |
| 2697s | So we're not we're not going down that route. |
| 2700s | So yeah, Venomous will be our very first season |
| 2703s | essentially in our first characters will also have a signature weapon |
| 2707s | and that'll be for early access when it hits sometime in May. |
| 2709s | And a common question we get about seasons two. |
| 2711s | We've gotten even |
| 2712s | just to pack since we've been here is, you know what happens to that content |
| 2716s | when you move from season one to season two? |
| 2718s | Like, But what we're doing with each season |
| 2720s | really is expanding the story and that content stays. |
| 2723s | So there's the battle pass, which lives forever. |
| 2725s | For anybody who bought it during the season. |
| 2726s | But the actual stories that are being told, if we introduce |
| 2729s | a new lost zone or we inject new gameplay into existing lost zones, |
| 2733s | here's the here's our battle pass. |
| 2734s | Yeah, that'll still be there for for players. Yeah. |
| 2736s | And also we want the players to have the choice. |
| 2738s | So it's kind of almost like a mini board game. |
| 2740s | It looks awesome. |
| 2741s | Shout out to our UI team for |
| 2742s | doing such a great job with it, but there is a path that you can follow, |
| 2745s | but you can pick and choose your awards on that path. |
| 2747s | And like Ryan just said, that they just don't expire. |
| 2749s | So you able to work towards that your own right? |
| 2751s | Yeah our goal with this when we thought about okay |
| 2754s | most games that are a service like ours have a battle pass |
| 2757s | players are going to probably expect that but what can we do |
| 2760s | to make it a little different and how can we really make it |
| 2762s | closer to the heart of what Wayfinder is, which is adventure? |
| 2766s | And so we came up with this concept of making it like exploring a dungeon. |
| 2770s | So as you play through the season, rather than leveling up your battle |
| 2773s | pass job, you will earn keys and each key will unlock one of these nodes. |
| 2777s | And players |
| 2778s | basically work their way down these paths to unlock the unlock the rewards. |
| 2782s | And what's cool about it |
| 2783s | too, is there's an adventure elements where you may discover |
| 2786s | a switch that you can flip that's next to one of the nodes |
| 2789s | you unlock that will drop a gate |
| 2790s | and let you progress a new direction or maybe even reveal a secret. |
| 2793s | Or this is a platform for gameplay that we want to introduce. |
| 2798s | It's a very simple that we still want the battle pass to be lightweight, |
| 2802s | but it's going to be a fun new way. |
| 2803s | We hope for players to interact with something |
| 2805s | that they've traditionally seen is just like unlocking rewards linearly. |
| 2809s | This is a new way to interact with them |
| 2810s | and make it more, make it more fun and make it feel like |
| 2812s | it's actually a part of the game and not something I slept on. |
| 2816s | And you know, you're already talking about season one. |
| 2818s | Season two. |
| 2819s | It seems like, you know, this is games as a service you're planning |
| 2822s | on, on taking care of this game long term and with digital extremes as a partner. |
| 2827s | I mean, we've seen in the past with Warframe and things like that, |
| 2831s | what why did you choose games as a service or why |
| 2835s | why is this the the kind of optimal way to tell this story, do you think. |
| 2841s | When we when we started working on the game, |
| 2843s | we didn't necessarily really Well, let's go back to the pitch. |
| 2845s | The pitch for the game wasn't necessarily a game as a service or a premium title. |
| 2849s | We knew that there was game play we wanted. |
| 2852s | We knew we wanted it to be a world that would grow over time |
| 2855s | and we knew what sorts of experiences we wanted the player to have. |
| 2858s | And when we put this idea in front of digital extremes |
| 2861s | because we showed it to to a lot of people, |
| 2863s | we put this idea in front of digital extremes. |
| 2865s | They said, Have you considered this as a service based title? |
| 2868s | And we weren't necessarily for or against it, |
| 2870s | but we really thought about it because we didn't |
| 2872s | want to substantially change the game or create something |
| 2875s | that was a bad fit just to try and tick some game as a service boxes. |
| 2879s | It really, we believed, was probably the best chance for this game to grow |
| 2884s | and grow slowly as a business or rapidly see how players like it, |
| 2888s | but to live kind of forever. |
| 2890s | That service based model really works well for that. |
| 2893s | It ended up facilitating a lot of the goals we had for what |
| 2896s | this game would be in one season, one year, five years. |
| 2900s | So we were kind of excited about it actually. |
| 2903s | So that means that there's going to be dungeons |
| 2905s | and other things to do five years from now. |
| 2907s | That's the game plan. You still better be. |
| 2910s | Yeah, we're currently looking at |
| 2912s | we're looking at about three months when we do a season, |
| 2914s | so that would be a brand new character, the new weapon, new events, new questions, |
| 2917s | new things that we can enter into the game every other season. |
| 2919s | We're looking to do larger |
| 2921s | scale content as well, terms of like open world areas or dungeons. |
| 2925s | And so we'll just keep leapfrogging that and the game that'll be in a year |
| 2929s | or two years from now won't be the same as when we had early access. |
| 2931s | But that's that is the service model and we're really relying on our players |
| 2935s | that are playing now in beta |
| 2936s | as well as those that'll be taking part in early access to |
| 2938s | to help us shape it because we're listening and |
| 2940s | we're making the game that we want to make and that they want to make too. |
| 2944s | Well then how much would I have to pay to play this when it fully launches? |
| 2949s | I don't have an answer for that right now. |
| 2951s | Well, isn't it the answer that you can actually do some of this stuff. |
| 2954s | Free to play? |
| 2954s | That's true. |
| 2955s | So it will be a free to play game when we fully launch later on this year. |
| 2958s | Yeah, a couple big caveats with that. |
| 2960s | The elephant in the room that I'll kick out of the room right now, |
| 2962s | we don't have any loot boxes. |
| 2963s | There's no gotcha systems inside the game. |
| 2966s | The content I think that somebody mentioned before might've been writer Joe |
| 2969s | is that the characters, the weapons, all this stuff discernible. |
| 2971s | If you want to play through the content and you want to really firm up your |
| 2974s | your venomous when when that time comes you're able to do so |
| 2978s | and so we think that that's a fair way to approach content and we want to respect |
| 2981s | players times as well as their wallets. |
| 2983s | So that's one of the great things that digital Extremes |
| 2985s | has really helped us understand and and shape the game in that model. |
| 2989s | And we've got great feedback about it so far. |
| 2991s | That's amazing. But what if you wanted to play sooner? |
| 2994s | Are there any options for that? Yes. |
| 2996s | So we will be offering founders packs. |
| 2998s | We get asked that a lot, probably because Warframe was so successful and so of |
| 3002s | the founders packs live in infamy now because you can see some of that |
| 3005s | Excalibur prime that you can never get anywhere else. |
| 3007s | So we'll have some. Yeah, right. |
| 3008s | Next one, people. All right. Fun story time people. |
| 3011s | When we did that announce video |
| 3012s | thought that we staged that and then it was totally fake. |
| 3015s | And that wasn't actually your Warframe account. |
| 3017s | And that was actually. Was my that was my steam. |
| 3019s | That was my hairy knuckles. |
| 3020s | That was my yard ago. |
| 3022s | We did not log in to some magical dev account. |
| 3024s | So that is true. |
| 3025s | So yeah, we will have awesome stuff on that Founders pack. |
| 3028s | We'll be announcing it a little bit later. |
| 3029s | There'll be multiple tiers and that will be upgradable as well. |
| 3032s | But we'll go into details of those and a little bit later time. |
| 3034s | But we the whole point of that early access |
| 3037s | will be to build alongside of us and that's what we want people to do. |
| 3040s | Right. |
| 3040s | And we've really done that. We've already been |
| 3042s | there's a lot of changes that we've done to the game already. |
| 3044s | Jared You spoiled the the air. |
| 3047s | Yeah, the air dash. |
| 3048s | We've done things like adjust matchmaking, have a helper queue, |
| 3051s | allow you to move around the scale a little bit differently, loot, |
| 3054s | adjustments, character like all that stuff is constantly changing. |
| 3056s | And back to your question about like, Hey, |
| 3058s | why I guess game like that's why I guess game, right? |
| 3060s | Like you can constantly improving constantly |
| 3062s | make what the players want and make it with them. |
| 3065s | You know I mean we we gave a lot of feedback in Austin |
| 3068s | I don't know how many there were like seven or eight of us that were there. |
| 3071s | Nine and there's nine, nine and two. |
| 3074s | Drones, which is pretty. |
| 3075s | Nice, is pretty awesome. |
| 3078s | Are there any notable ones from our time in September |
| 3081s | where you're like, We got to fix that or we're going to change that? |
| 3084s | I mean, it has to be silo, It has to be the gun I love with the gun. |
| 3087s | I mean of the way. |
| 3089s | Yeah, the rifle. |
| 3090s | Yeah, the rifle are what called it a musket. |
| 3094s | The must get it must be like what the hell? |
| 3095s | It's a rifle. |
| 3097s | Yeah. |
| 3097s | I mean people played it and we had some people that play games |
| 3101s | like Destiny and Invention and |
| 3104s | basically we had graders there that play these type of games |
| 3107s | and especially a couple of people that are really into the gunplay |
| 3109s | and saw the gun and they're like, Oh, I want to play this. |
| 3111s | And the overwhelming feedback was, It sucks. |
| 3113s | And we're like, okay, well, why does it suck? Let's break it down. |
| 3115s | That's why you guys are here. |
| 3116s | Tulsa sucks. |
| 3118s | And so we made a lot of adjustments, both with the active reload, |
| 3121s | which is inside the game, making it feel a little bit better. |
| 3123s | The magnetism. |
| 3124s | We added a bunch of settings that you get a job. |
| 3126s | Yeah, I think. |
| 3127s | That was the thing that I sat and I was like, It's got to be stickier. |
| 3130s | You got to be a little bit. Yeah. |
| 3132s | Even today when I played it, I noticed Ninja, |
| 3135s | you know, it was a very control ball and it's like, I want to hit that guy. |
| 3138s | I'm going to hit him. |
| 3139s | And the gun was a big one. |
| 3141s | But there were, |
| 3141s | there was |
| 3142s | a mountain of just small detailed feedback like where certain frame, you know, |
| 3146s | how think, how it felt to dodge where the eye frames were like |
| 3149s | but what it felt to turn like the windows that would allow you |
| 3152s | to interrupt your animations to turn while attacking and. |
| 3155s | Then just showboating too, is another one that you used to just take a beat |
| 3158s | when you were like, you know, trying to like showboat, like enemies would hit you. |
| 3163s | And it didn't really feel good. |
| 3164s | It felt another one was just difficulty in general. |
| 3166s | I think like we obviously wanting |
| 3168s | to make a game that's accessible for people |
| 3169s | to play and jump in and you don't want them to get frustrated. |
| 3172s | But the overwhelming feedback from both the Creator summit that we had |
| 3174s | and even when we were in our first technical test |
| 3176s | was like, Hey, this is a little too, too easy. |
| 3177s | We want a challenge. I'm like, okay, you guys want to die? Yeah. |
| 3179s | We were so relieved that you guys were enjoying it though. |
| 3182s | Like we were just nervously watching and we could hear laughter and really, |
| 3186s | I think they like it. Well, I played. |
| 3189s | I played this spider dungeon with my brother, |
| 3192s | but if I wanted to do that |
| 3193s | solo, is there a full solo experience with Wayfinder? |
| 3197s | Almost. |
| 3198s | I mean, we want the majority of the game to be so livable, |
| 3201s | even though you're always online, and especially if you're in our Overland's |
| 3203s | or in Skylight, you're to see other people |
| 3205s | and we call that like, you know, alone in the crowd. |
| 3207s | So we always want you to feel like there are people there. |
| 3210s | You don't have to interact with them. |
| 3211s | You can keep it at arm's length. |
| 3213s | Really, the only exception to that will be occasionally |
| 3216s | if you're talking, which is the main story quests, so to speak. |
| 3218s | Some of the bosses, some of the really difficult hunts will |
| 3221s | will ask you to get together with a group to be able to to take them down, |
| 3225s | but matchmaking makes that easy and otherwise. |
| 3229s | Yeah, we want it to be a very solo friendly game. |
| 3231s | If you go into a lost time with friends, it'll change it up a little bit |
| 3234s | and maybe make it a little easier in some cases more difficult. |
| 3237s | But yes, it is definitely a solo solo friendly the game. |
| 3240s | Guess what? |
| 3241s | Those Harder Boss fights came out of that that summit as. |
| 3244s | Well as they did. |
| 3245s | I wanted like a dedicated hard mode |
| 3246s | that was like, Hey, you have to have a group of people. |
| 3248s | Specifically distinguishing a type of hunt that required a group from one. |
| 3253s | Actually, |
| 3253s | when you guys played it, a lot of you thought it was too easy in a lot of cases. |
| 3257s | So we just said that. Yeah. |
| 3258s | But then they said, Oh yeah, and they loaded into that |
| 3262s | ranking of that orange or a knight like that big a crusader. |
| 3266s | Yeah, there. Was a crusader and we just got dumped on. |
| 3268s | So I mean I think there's obviously some balancing that needs |
| 3272s | to be figured out along the way, but it's been cool to watch this evolve |
| 3275s | and I just want to get the like that's that's where I'm. |
| 3278s | That. There's a lot to collect. |
| 3281s | Yeah. |
| 3281s | Did you have an official number on how many weapons are in game right now? |
| 3286s | No, I don't know a lot. |
| 3287s | I have no before weapon classes and quite a few weapons within each class, |
| 3291s | I would guess. |
| 3292s | Probably in that. |
| 3293s | 16, 20, somewhere in there. |
| 3294s | Hopefully Steve was. Here. Only Steve was here. |
| 3296s | Being the numbers guy. |
| 3297s | So even though immediately Steve's a game director, each. Weapon does have. |
| 3300s | Steve's yelling at right now. |
| 3301s | So it got him. |
| 3302s | And there's not a lot of stealth making a new visual like it does like |
| 3306s | have gameplay. |
| 3307s | And it's almost like its own little character, right? Yeah, exactly. |
| 3310s | And you kind of mentioned that with that Crusader, that weapon |
| 3314s | could be kind of a game changer for your class. And, |
| 3318s | you know, I can probably can't spoil everything, but it was pretty cool to see. |
| 3322s | Now I have a question for you. |
| 3324s | If people wanted to play Wayfinder, |
| 3327s | what is the best way they can do that in the near future? |
| 3330s | So we will have another beta event in April. |
| 3333s | So sign up now and play way |
| 3335s | dot com or you can visit Steam directly and opt into it. |
| 3338s | And then we will be having early access in May on PlayStation |
| 3342s | four, PlayStation five PC, and then we'll add additional consoles |
| 3346s | towards the end of the year. |
| 3347s | But jump in to the beta event and build it alongside of us. |
| 3352s | Yeah, like I said on console and PC cross playing cross theme, |
| 3355s | I think we said that, but that's also important to know. |
| 3356s | We want you all to play with all your friends. |
| 3358s | So it's a game to play with friends. |
| 3360s | And your involvement leads to a better game because these guys listen. |
| 3364s | Well. |
| 3365s | Thank you. We try things. |
| 3366s | And we want it. |
| 3367s | We want the feedback, good and bad. |
| 3370s | Well, thank you so much for having us today at the Pax panel. |
| 3373s | I'm M Tash. Yeah. Thank you guys. |
| 3377s | Really play way by. |
| 3378s | Having you guys out. There. |
| 3379s | Thank you. |
| 3380s | Shout out to all our discord and all of our fans |
| 3382s | that are watching around the world as well. |
| 3383s | So thank you, guys. |
| 3384s | Cool. |
| 3385s | Right on. Oh. |