Dev Podcast 3 - Upcoming gameplay option, "Free mode"

Main topic of this week is the new upcoming gameplay mode called "Free mode". UW demos have had only one mode so far which follows a set story, thus we call it "Story mode". While Story mode is where most of the important things are happening like characters, dialogue and delivering a one big story, we've planned for this Free mode since the beginning of the UW development. Free mode will have comparably high replay-ability as well as flexibility in development for our team to utilize in making UW better and testing quickly to rapidly iterate in each demo release.

(prototype of Free mode worldmap)

Free mode will feature rogue-like gameplay experiences you can get from games like Mount & Blade or FTL : Faster Than Light. Many elements of this mode will be randomized in a way that every play-through feels different and makes you want to play again after beating the game of failing to do so. The world will be constantly changing with AIs in constant territorial conflicts.

(Mount & Blade Warband worldmap where AIs constantly change and effect the world for player to tackle)

There will be bunch of events for you to run into during your play though, for example, where you get to recruit a new character or running into a group of travelers that might give you a valuable information about the world. You could find a cache that could have some good loot or it could be a booby trap placed by an hostile force. We're planning to start small but keep expanding this pool of events and possibly allowing our followers to create their own small story to add into this mode.

(Random events player can encounter in FTL : Faster Than Light)

In addition to these new features, the fact that this mode doesn't have to follow a linear progression of Story mode will allow our development team to test new features more efficiently. For example, while some equipment or characters are unavailable until you reach a certain point in Story mode, we can allow those in Free mode for you to try out right away without having you to go through the same story line that you've read for every single demo.

Adding a new mode is no small task, so it has been taking some time, but it's looking good so far that we believe we'll have a rough demo of Free mode in a few weeks. So please stay tuned and let us know what you think!