BioSynth has been in the making for quite a while (it started the 20th of August 2020, it’s been more than 4 years) and if you’ve been following the game for a year or more, you may have noticed quite an evolution.
We developed many features, created a lof of new content and improved the game in so many ways – play the demo and take a look for yourself.
But there’s something that’s still the same: the direction where the game is heading.
I have a crystal clear vision about the final spot where I want the game to be. It’s a compass that allows us to take decisions even when it’s hard to decide.
The are 3 pillars on which we’re building BioSynth:
- Fun gameplay
- Deep world building and writing
- Visual appeal supported by the right sound
Let’s take a look at the 3 pillars so that you know what I mean.
Pillar 1: Fun gameplay
What makes an RPG fun?
There are so many answers to that question… but I think we all agree that one of the key aspects is the combat system.
For turn-based combat, it’s crucial to involve strategy and present a proper challenge.
Then it’s important to add variety – even the coolest things become boring when you get exposed to them over and over.
And there are a couple non-obvious aspects like doing cool and powerful/impactful actions, facing strong/unusual enemies.
For example, it’s more fun to shoot the target with ten homing rockets than just firing a gun at it. And facing a huge mutant with a variety of attacks is cooler than fighting an average human with no armor and basic weapons.
But there’s more, you can have fun outside of combat too. For example, growing your character, customizing their skills and tuning your build feels great if the game provides enough options and they are cool.
We’re doing a number of things to get there.
For example, we’re putting a ton of efforts into creating cool skills both for the player and for the enemies.
Not only from the skill trees but also by having items that grant additional abilities.
We want you to have all the tools to fight some tough guys in an epic combat.
One of the long term goals for the game is to bring to life a handful of high complexity bosses that will make you have an incredible time. Just to properly convey the idea… we are talking about something as complex and as cool as some of the Path of Exile 2 bosses.
Not an easy task, but we’ll do our best.
Pillar 2: Deep world building and writing
Maybe I’m biased because the first Baldur’s Gates and Fallouts were the first RPGs I played… but I think that the way in which they handle world building and storytelling is still unmatched to this day.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some really good contenders.
But when you play Baldur’s Gate 1 or 2 there’s something more.
You can’t wait to visit places and see what’s out there. You get sucked in the lore and just want to learn more.
Even items in those games are fascinating. A talking sword like Lilarcor or a weapon that you have to assemble piece by piece and could end up in different ways like the Flail of Ages… and those items have their own story.
When you talk with NPCs, they hint at places and events with the result of letting your imagination run.
That’s the type of feeling we want to recreate within BioSynth: it has to make you wonder what’s out there and craving to meet the next unexpected NPC with its fascinating story.
Or, in other words, the world and the stories you’ll find have to suck you in.
Other than investing in the writing, we built a powerful tool to create branched dialogs: the Dialog Maker.
Well, we are refining the tool to make it even easier to turn the writing into an amazing experience for you.
Not only that, we planned the making of a new tool, the Quest Designer, to help us bring complex quests into the game more easily. Below there’s an example of a quest currently in the game (yes, you can play it in the demo) that offers many different ways of progressing and completing it.
And to let you know that we take dialogs seriously, below there are the branched dialogs that take place in a side quest.
Pillar 3: Visual appeal supported by the right sound
BioSynth is an indie game and we aren’t aiming at having crazy graphics, ultra-realistic characters, etc…
… but this doesn’t mean that we can’t do well from an artistic point of view. The overall idea is to make everything as cool and as appealing as possible.
The art direction that we want to give to the game is about building a dark/grim atmosphere, which is particularly fitting for a cyberpunk/sci-fi environment and could bring an awesome contrast with the endless neons, lights and holograms.
I think this is something that I carry from the “old school RPGs”. For example, play the old Fallouts for a while and you’ll feel a sense of despair just from their art style.
Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2 were grim games too… just think about the location where you start BG2.
I think that such art direction adds a lot to an RPG.
Set the background tone, we aim at creating beautiful sceneries that are supported by the audio part to make everything more immersive and emotional.
We already have plans to improve. For example, by building tools like the Hologram Maker and the Pipe Maker that allow to create richer environments more easily and quickly. Basically tools that work like the one you can see below, where a few clicks allow powerful customizations:
We won’t make a miracle, but if we get you to stop and gaze at the environment here and there during your adventures, we’ll be happy.
Of course, it isn’t all about the environment. Actually, there are visuals that are as, if not more, important than the environment to us: the characters.
But I think you could already tell that from what we already showed during the years.
In BioSynth’s lore, you’ll find so many fascinating characters and it’d be great to have quite a few of those in-game. Other than creating the terrific bosses I talked about previously in this post.
Obviously, we also want your character to look amazing.
There’s still a lot that we have to accomplish for this and that we haven’t been working on yet. For example, the armours. But we’ll get there.
Conclusion
As you notice, we have been moving in the direction described for quite a while. It takes a little of time to see the bigger picture, but I think you can already have a glance of it 🙂
Having a working demo where you can already experience the foundation of what will be, is also great.
And after hearing some feedbacks, it seems that we are on the right track.
We’re working towards the Kickstarter for the game that will help us get everything to the next level. If you like the direction that we are giving to the game, follow the Kickstarter and help us share it, it’s of big help.
See you in the next update!