In a recent Game Rant interview with Romain Piquot, the developer behind the open-world horror survival gameDerelicts, we delve into the creative process, inspiration, and innovative mechanics that set this title apart from others in the genre. As a passionate gamer and developer, Piquot shares his views on survival games and discusses the unique elements he has introduced to create captivating and immersive gameplay inDerelicts.
Derelictsoffers players a fresh take on thesurvival genre, with innovative crafting mechanisms, intense weather events, diverse energy sources, and challenging boss fights. Throughout the interview, Piquot discusses his inspirations, development challenges, and future plans for the game.The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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Q: Can you introduce yourself and give us a little summary of how you found yourself developing games?
I’m Romain, I’m 33 now, and I am French. Initially, game development was not my real job. It started as a hobby, like a passion project. Four years ago, Istarted learning Unreal Engineas a hobby in the evenings and weekends. I started to work on small projects, first to learn the engine and the software. Then, three years ago, I started to work on my gameDerelicts. At first, it was again a passion project, so I wanted to make a survival game on my own. It started to get a bit more popular as I posted on social media.
Q: What inspired you to create a post-apocalyptic survival game likeDerelicts?
It’s because it’s one of my favorite genres: multiplayer, co-op games. Basically, the game calledThe Forestwas a big inspiration. I played it with my friends, two of my best friends. I really loved the game and wanted to make a co-op game myself, and I thought that the survival genre was best for that. As for the post-apocalyptic setting, it’s because most survival games are set in this type of world. I also love post-apocalyptic movies and games, likeI Am Legendwhere New York is completely overgrown with vegetation and foliage.
Q: How did you come up with the idea of adding mutated animals and humans as enemies for the players to face?
I wanted to avoid the trope of zombies because it’s been done so many times for ages. There are stillreally good zombie games out there, but I wanted to make something different. I thought that mutated animals and humans are still classic and used in other games, but I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of games where you have mutated animals, like giant insects and so on, so I wanted to make it a little different. They’re more interesting enemies in terms of behavior and AI. I wanted to have a survival horror vibe as well, not simply survival. Kind of like inThe Forest, which I like because it’s both survival and horror. I thought that mutated things would be a great addition to the mix.
Q: Can you elaborate on the crafting system in the game and how it relates to the player’s survival?
I wanted to have thecrafting system to be involved in the gamevery organically. I don’t want a lot of cluttered UIs and a lot of things on the screen. In games, we call it diegetic. It’s where interfaces are implemented in the game as realistic elements. I did this in my game, as also inspired byThe Forest. The crafting system is derived from this. You can take, for example, take two sticks and a rock, and you can make an axe or something. This has been done a lot in survival games already, so I wanted to innovate a little.
You can also use the benches, like the forge, to craft directly on them. The aim is to involve the people in the crafting. It’s not just select two items and you craft an item; you have to actually hit the item with the hammer and use bellows on the fire. I really wanted to have the player really involved in crafting, to be a bit different from most games. That is also what I really like in a game; I wanted to make a game I like to play.
Q: What kind of balance have you created between the building and combat aspects?
I thought about it in the way that some areas in the game would be harder in terms of enemies. You start with the first few days being quiet and not being attacked by enemies or animals, and as you progress further, you will have more and more enemies. This requires you to build traps, ballistae, and so on to defend your base. My vision was to sort of force their equipment via the base. Player needs to build a better base to get better weapons and tools in order to explore the world. At some point, the players are going to encounter more aggressive enemies, and with just a bow and arrow, it’s going to be really hard to defeat them.
I am trying to find an organic way to force people to progress - although I don’t like the word force - but it’s essentially what I am trying to do to make the players explore all the mechanics of the base building. It’s sort of like in anRPG, where you have to upgrade your gear to move further in the game. There are also some innovative mechanics, like the log flumes. This is something new I wanted to add to the crafting and building mechanics. At first, you have to chop the logs in a sawmill and transport them via log flumes as you provide the log flumes with water. It sort of automates the process.
Q: What are some of the harder challenges that players can expect to face when playingDerelicts?
The first one isweather events. There are blizzards and tornados that can destroy parts of your base. I really like the aspect of natural events and disasters that can really threaten your base and safety. Because when a player gets too strong, the game can get boring. I wanted to add random events that keep the players on their toes, and the weather affects the base in other ways too. When the player builds a water wheel and the water freezes, the wheel stops working. This is also one of the ways I like to challenge the players. When there’s no wind, the windmill will not turn, and when it’s the night the solar panels don’t work. The player really has to diversify their sources of energy.
I am also planning to add debris rain. I won’t spoil too much of the game, but there will be a reason for spaceship debris raining from the sky. Another thing is bosses.
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Q: Let’s talk about bosses, what kind of approach did you take to them?
My game issort of like a Metroidvania, and you need to get some key items to get to the end of the game. It’s like in other games you might need four keys to enter a temple. The goal for me is to have these dungeons, and at the end of them, there’s a boss that drops a key. It’s a simple way of world-building, but I like it because it’s all about exploration. The goal is about having a map that is interconnected.
One of my inspirations for the map isDark Souls. It’s a little ironic becauseDark Soulsis not a survival game, but thelevel design inDark Soulsis something that is inspiringme a lot, especially the multilayered levels where you’re able to go deeper and deeper. I really love this aspect and want to implement it in my game as well.
The surface is a sandbox with a large forest and the shoreline, while the dungeons are underground. Everything is interconnected, and you can go from one dungeon to another once you unlock a particular boss. The bosses are required to advance in the game, and the player needs better equipment to take on a new boss.
Q: The world is divided into the barebones survival situation the player is engaged in and the more advanced civilization elsewhere. Can you expand on this, and how it might come into play?
The spaceship isn’t from any other advanced civilization, it’s a human spaceship. The plot is that the Earth was flooded with radiation for several decades, so humans tried to search for a way to fix it and find its origin. However, at the same time, they planned to leave the Earth in case they couldn’t fix the problem. They left Earth and went to live in a space station. At the beginning of the game, the players are returning to Earth with a shuttle as it crashes. This is why there’s spaceship debris falling.
I am planning to add this kind of wreckage of the ship that you may explore. A little bit like inSubnauticawith thesame principle, as inSubnauticawhere you can go and explore this large ship. I like this idea and plan on implementing it.
The goal is to find the origin of the problem. A team of scientists has found out the vicinity of the source, but they didn’t pinpoint where exactly it is. You have to find the exact location.
Q: You mention that the game has a canine companion. What does this bring to the gameplay or is it just for flavor?
Initially, I designed it for people playing solo, so they have a companion because sometimes it is a little sad to play a survival game alone. I told myself that itwould be cool to have some sort of AI to help you around. At first, it was to have some sort of presence and to give it simple orders like to go fight enemies.
I noticed that people really love dogs in games and I got feedback that it was a good idea. Then, I decided to work on a better AI for the dog and improve the possibilities. It will be able to find items for you by digging, although I haven’t yet implemented it. I also would like to havea mechanic dog, like the Boston Dynamics robot dog, to carry stuff and so on.
The dog is mainly for flavor, but with some functionality. It’s a cool thing for people to have when playing solo and also funny when playing multiplayer.
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Q: The game is also going to include co-op gameplay. Can players form alliances or build relationships with other survivors in the game? And what else might it enable?
Derelictsdoesn’t have PvP like other survival games, so there’s no player vs player aspect. The game is aimed to be played with friends, you may also play with random people too, but there are no alliances. It’s just your team, like inThe ForestorGreen Hell. It’s really just a co-op experience. There’s no connecting to other people’s servers to go fight them. I don’t think I will even implement friendly fire. Maybe it will be an option, but it’s not a goal in the game. In my mind, it’s exclusively a solo or co-op experience.
At first, in Early Access, it will be up to four players. Later, I will likely make it up to eight players. I will keep four player maximum at first because multiplayer is already hard to implement, so I will do it in steps.
Q: Can you give us a sneak peek into any release information or perhaps even post-release updates and features?
I would like the Early Access to be next year, 2024. It will really depend on the progress during this year, of course. The closed alpha is aimed for this year, closed beta maybe beginning of next year, and then if the state of the game is good enough, I will release the game on Steam Early Access.
I can’t tell you a specific release date because I don’t know how long it will take to test it with the community. I might also hire a company of professional testers to be sure that everything is in order. I don’t want to promise too much to players because a lot of people are waiting for it and asking when will it be available.
When I release the game in Early Access, the story is probably not going to be finished. Again,kind of likeThe Forestdid. At first, there’s going to be a sandbox part of the game where you can build and fight, probably with some dungeons. Maybe one or two dungeons to start the story. My plan is to make updates every month or two months. Making the whole game will take me years, and a lot of people told me that they don’t mind playing in Early Access. Obviously, I want it to have no bugs and everything.
There’sa lot of debate about Early Access. There are examples of good Early Access content and others that are not that good. People are a little suspicious of Early Access, and I can understand that.
Q: Finally, is there anything you’d like to add or people that you’d like to give shoutouts to?
Shout out to my community because they have been amazing so far. We have a Discord with great people there, and I have had volunteers helping me with 3D modeling and sound effects. Shout out to them! The community has helped me a lot and kept my motivation up; it’s cool to have people backing you up.
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Derelictsis set for a Steam Early Access release in 2024.
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