The Riftbreaker Interview – An Amalgamation of Multiple Genres

The Riftbreaker is looking like a curious beast, combining multiple different gameplay elements to deliver an action RPG adventure. Base building, tower defense, exploration, and hack and slash combat are just a few of its core elements, in the backdrop of randomly generated levels that, in theory, should promote tons of replay value. Recently, we sent across some of our most burning questions about the game to developers EXOR Studios- the following questions were answered by studio co-funder Paweł Lekki.

"There is going to be a lot of combat, but the final gameplay style will depend a lot on the player."

How extensive can we expect customization to be in The Riftbreaker? Does the game have any particularly crazy weapons or mods in store for the mech suit?

Customization is going to be one of the strongest parts of the game. However, we are still working on this aspect of the game and will let you know when we have more details.

How much of an emphasis does the game place on combat as opposed to something like resource gathering or exploration?

There is going to be a lot of combat, but the final gameplay style will depend a lot on the player. Gathering resources and exploration are going to be essential in order to progress in the game and fighting can be mostly done by a player’s buildings.

How extensive and varied can we expect the base building mechanics to be? 

The game is still going through a lot of design changes, but I’d say it’s something like 70% Factorio and 30% Starcraft in terms of complexity.

How large of an environment is Galatea 37?

The players will have to scan the planet to find places of interest. These can contain rare resources, interesting fauna, flora or unique anomalies. The areas that the player visits are going to be randomly generated, so the game is going to be different every time you play it.

"The areas that the player visits are going to be randomly generated, so the game is going to be different every time you play it."

Following on from the previous question, how much variety can we expect to see in the game’s world, in terms of things like biomes and weather patterns?

It is a very diverse planet with tropical jungles and barren deserts. There are going to be interesting weather phenomena like acid rain and crystal quakes.

How does The Riftbreaker balance its two aspects of exploration and defending/growing your base? Does it lean more in favour of one over the other?

Exploration is necessary to find new resources which are required to progress with research and to enable new building options. The player will have to defend the base as it grows in size and complexity.

The Riftbreaker seems to be banking on how it’s set in a strange and vivid environment- is that something we will see with enemies and enemy variety within the game as well?

Yes. Each biome will have new and unique creatures defending the planet’s resources.

Does the game feature any co-op or multiplayer elements?

We are planning to release it as a single player title, with the option to add multiplayer later on.

What would you say have been the biggest advantages of using the Schmetterling Engine for development?

We know the engine inside out and we know exactly what we can achieve with it. This gives us more planning freedom.

Do you have any plans to launch on the Switch?

Not at the moment. It depends on the game’s popularity on other platforms.

"We are planning to release it as a single player title, with the option to add multiplayer later on."

Will the game will feature Xbox One X specific enhancements? What can players expect if they are playing the game on Xbox One X? Is 4K/60fps on the cards?

We are too early in the development cycle to be able to define the exact differences.

And how will the PS4 Pro version turn out in terms of resolution and frame rate?

We’ll do our best to make the PS4 Pro version run a notch better than on the base console.

From a development perspective, how do you find the Xbox One X to be and how do you compare it with the PS4 Pro?

The Xbox One X is noticeably more powerful. While working on X-Morph: Defense getting the game to run in native 4K/60FPS was fairly easy on Microsoft’s console. It would be much more difficult on the PS4 Pro.

How is the game running on the original Xbox One and PS4, frame rate and resolution wise?

We are too early in development to make reasonable hardware comparisons.

Next gen is coming sooner or later. From a development perspective, what is your biggest expectation from PS5 and Xbox Scarlett?

We hope that they will be more powerful than the then-current high end PCs. This would enable a longer life cycle for the new generation. Our games are usually CPU bound and memory bound, so we’d favor more CPU power over GPU power.

"We’ll do our best to make the PS4 Pro version run a notch better than on the base console."

What is your take on Sony’s reluctant policy on cross-play with Xbox and Nintendo?

Sony has had a few harsh lessons about network security, so I can understand their cautiousness. I think that ultimately the consumers will make them more open to this feature.

Do you think cross platform will be one of the defining features of next-gen consoles?

I think that procedural generation and AI driven gameplay generation are probably going to play a more important role as new hardware is introduced. The choice of gaming platform is probably going to be less and less important.

What is your position regarding the on going platforms war between Steam and Epic Games?

I think that competition is a positive thing. One thing that consumers are missing is the fact that Epic is bringing more revenue to game developers which in term will result in higher development budgets and better games. The era of exclusive content will probably last for a year or two, but when the dust settles we’ll be left with better financial terms for game developers.

Do you have any plans to launch on Stadia?

We aren’t thinking about this at the moment.

Do you think Google’s Stadia has a future specially given the potential infrastructural issues?

Streaming probably is the future, but it will definitely take time until we get there. A lot of people don’t have access to high speed internet connections. This is the simplest limiting factor for this technology. Internet infrastructure won’t be upgraded to a sufficient level in the matter of 2 or 5 years. I think that the current game distribution models are going to remain as the main channel for quite some time.

"I think that procedural generation and AI driven gameplay generation are probably going to play a more important role as new hardware is introduced. The choice of gaming platform is probably going to be less and less important."

What are your thoughts on Stadia’s specs?

Comparing to the current generation of consoles they look really good, but we have yet to see what Sony and Microsoft will have to offer next, as those consoles will define the standard for the next generation of games.

Do you expect PS5 and next Xbox to be as powerful as Stadia in terms of specs?

I hope that they will be more powerful. It’s much easier for Google to upgrade their system specs as they keep all the hardware. When it comes to traditional consoles, we’ll be stuck with those for the next 5-8 years, so they better be good.

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