How would you like to venture through huge, beautiful yet dangerous solar systems whilst making a ton of cool discoveries – all while wearing a cool hat?! Whilst that description doesn’t cover everything you’ll be doing in Amazing Discoveries In Outer Space (ADIOS), it’s a good way to describe the game to those who haven’t seen it in action. Sounds intriguing though, right? You can check see ADIOS in action in the video below:
It’s a great concept and the game offers plenty for players to do – with so much to discover and procedurally-generated solar systems, each playthrough of ADIOS will feel unique.
We recently got the chance to speak to the game’s designer, Niclas Forsell (ex-DICE), about ADIOS and the space adventure it will offer gamers – check it out below:
Firstly, how would you describe ADIOS in your own words? Niclas Forsell:
It’s a fast-paced space-sim-platformer where you can jump in and play for 15 minutes and do some serious space exploring.
In that time, you will have explored several solar systems with planets and asteroids, perhaps even discovered some interesting aliens. We are huge space nerds so accuracy in flight model has been one of the key features of this game.
Use A Potion:
There’s a heavy emphasis on making discoveries in ADIOS. What sort of things will the player get to discover as they travel from planet to planet?
Niclas Forsell:
Lush forests with alien plants. Harsh environment ravaged by heat. Traces of lost civilizations. Aliens! If you are lucky you will find other lost astronauts, ships, powerups and hats. Perhaps you might even discover coordinates to secret solar systems.
The two main categories of discoveries are:
1) Discoveries that give you star-data, which is needed to active your faster-than-light engine, the Z-Drive.
2) Cargo items that you can extract energy from. Energy is spent by the ship thruster engine, when you make repairs or use the ship’s auto-doc, etc.
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With each planet and solar system procedurally generated, players will have a different experience each time they play the game. What sort of variations will they find with each planet and solar system?
Niclas Forsell:
Each solar system you play will be unique, even if you restart the game. The creation of planets actually takes things like distance to the sun into account. This decides the surface temperature together with the atmosphere composition. If a planet is big enough and has strong enough gravity to keep an atmosphere, you might see life there and so on. The foundation of the game is built on science, but it’s a bit exaggerated, and obviously completely flat/2D.
A planet can, for instance, happen to be formed close to a star. Surface temperature will be burning hot (and thus dangerous) because of the closeness to the sun. A harsh desert environment, completely barren of life. The next time you play, you might not even encounter a planet of this type.
There are many things that you won’t experience until you have played the game quite a lot. We have aimed to fill the game with lots of things that are unlikely to happen. In that way you will encounter something out of the ordinary every game you play.
Use A Potion:
What sort of hazards will the player face throughout each solar system?
Niclas Forsell:
There are a lot of dangers in ADIOS. Here are some of the more common hazards you will face: hostile planetary environments with spikes, heat or storms. And some aliens aren’t very keen on getting visits from space explorers.
Asteroid fields are high risk, high reward. Difficult and dangerous to navigate, but could potentially be rich with energy and star-data. They are also the source of meteors crashing down onto planet surfaces. Hundreds of asteroids colliding with the result that one stray asteroid comes hurtling down to the very planet you are exploring.
The ultimate hazard in ADIOS is not the Black Hole (which is quite dangerous, of course) but the collision between two planets. Pro tip: Avoid.
Use A Potion:
What sort of tools will the player have at hand to make each space expedition a success?
Niclas Forsell:
The most important ones are…
– Mass Amplification Device (or M.A.D.): It looks suspiciously much like a hat (obviously completely wrong). We call it “the space explorer’s best friend”. It weighs you down, looks stylish and provide you with defensive capabilities.
– Tow cable: Allows the ship to lift and move things around. It can also drain energy from machinery.
– Flashlight: It’s essential for exploring planets during night time.
– Jetpack: Gives your jump extra boost. Also helpful during space walks.
– Repair tool: Mend things with this effective welding tool.
– Trajectory tool: Analyzes the gravity fields of the celestial bodies in the solar system and shows the predicted course for the ship.
Use A Potion:
How long would it take the average player to discover everything that ADIOS has to offer?
Niclas Forsell:
To do and find everything should take you at least 30+ hours. But you can get through the main story faster than that.
There are in total three campaigns to conquer. The last campaign can be considered “end game” content. You will really need to use all your skills to get through this one. It is designed so that the fans of the game can keep playing it for a long while.
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You’ve previously worked on some big name titles including the likes of the Battlefield and Need For Speed series. How different has it been working on a title like ADIOS as an independent developer compared to a AAA game with a big name company?
Niclas Forsell:
When you are working for AAA titles you are usually part of a very large team. It could be as many as 200 people in the same project. This allows for people to be focused in a specific area. When you are a team of four, you need to take on many different roles at once. Some of which you might not even be comfortable with. It might not be a bad thing because it forces you to grow and learn. (And we sure have learned a lot!)
Use A Potion:
When is ADIOS going to be released and on what platforms?
Niclas Forsell:
We release February 3rd in Europe (2nd in the US). On Playstation 4.
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Finally, can you tell us something about ADIOS that no-one outside of the development team knows?
Niclas Forsell:
The sound effect that is played when you enter the ship is a combination of:
– Someone tapping on a radiator
– A hissing sound from a real space shuttle door
– Car door-slamming
ADIOS is coming to us from Comic Picnic – you can find out more about the game at the official website through this link!
