1. Total Budget - 15 Million
2. Genre - Third-Person Survival Action/Adventure
3. Gameplay - A cross between Don't Starve, Monster Hunter, and Metroid (I guess). Like Don't Starve, it's imperative that the player character's hunger, thirst, and health be kept above zero. Food can be gathered and hunted, but farming and trapping soon become far more important. Items can be crafted from plants and stones harvested in each area, but monster parts are especially valubale (like Monster Hunter). Stones and monsters don't respawn after death, but are important for creating structures, tools, weapons, and armor. Plants and passive creatues do respawn though seeds and designated breeding grounds, which is the foundation of farming and trapping in the game. At night, more powerful nocturnal monster variants (and some unique ones) come out to prey, so building, lighting, and defending your structures is highly important until the player character has progressed enough to deal with most night creatures.
Combat employs a Zelda-esque lock-on system, but in close quarters a "tackle" prompt (read: QTE) will show up offering an opportunity to wrestle the enemy to the ground, and if the player succeds at wrestling, a finishing option is available. Wrestling gives up to four options (minimum of three, because some monsters don't have appendages): headlock, pin, throw, and retreat. It also employs a "stamina" system, in which the heath bar operates differently than usual. A failed move will drain the stamina bar, and if the entire bar is drained, it's game over. If the player backs out of the match before then, the damage will steadily regenerate. Early enemies can be brought down for a finisher with one properly chosen move (each monster is weak to a specific moves), but later ones will require two or more moves to incapacitiate. Some are difficult to get close to in the first place, for that matter. To compensate a bit, a perfectly executed combo takedown will regenerate the stamina bar (and by extension, player health) by a certain amout, depending on how many moves are required. It's a trial and error memorization process, but once learned, combat becomes easier. But wrestling is, ultimately, an optional mechanic, even for boss battles (although climbing the back of a boss in order to headlock him sems neat to me). Something that can be powerful for the knowledgeable, but dangerous to the ignorant. Either way, there's always wittling down the health of monsters through weapon-based combat.
Speaking of weapon-based combat, weapons are divided into three types: melee, ranged, and throwing. "Throwing" weapons can be used in a melee strike (like bashing with a rock or slicing with a knife), or can be thrown from the a distance. However, it is the weakest category in terms of damage dealt. Weapons can be switched on the fly, or assigned to hotkeys (or buttons). In some instances, environmental objects can be picked up as weapons (like the aforementioned rock), but they are immediately dropped when the player switches to a standard weapon. Dodging is the only means of defense, and it's handled similarly to the Zelda series, albiet the player character rolls out of the way instead of jumping.
Now, here is where the Metroid part comes in. The game isn't procedurally generated like some of its similar contemporaries. The game world is a series of interconnected corridors, though some are more expansive and rescource-laden than others. Like Metroid and any other classic action/adventure game, exploration will result in helpful treasures, which opens up more paths to explore. All of the required items are found, not crafted, since most crafting resources are finite. As such, the player needs to craft strategically, and must seek out new areas and creatures in order to keep gaining resources. Not to mention more farming area. To help with the typical issues concerning backtracking, I once again bring up farming and trapping. Revisting previous areas also means an opportunity to check traps and harvest crops. Also, players will come across previously built outposts that they had once used to shelter themselves from the night life. It gives a nice sense of progression, in addition to fininding new treasures and areas.
4. Description, world, and story - The game takes place in October of 1714, several months after Parliment announced the Longitude Prize. You are John Hatcher, a clockmaker determined to solve the problems of marine chronology and once and for all establish the longitude of the planet. The game opens up with John brushing up on his astral charts, reflecting on how mankind looks to the heavens for guidance while science is still working out concrete answers. He's not a religious man, but he's as fascinated with the human condition as he is with the intricate internals of timepieces.
A few minutes later, his poignant monologue ends with a terrible sound. The ship struck... something. What could it be? And in his last desperate moments before drowning, John holds his work-in-progress device, looks toward the heavens, and asks "Why?"
He later wakes up on an unknown shore with chonometer still clutched firmly to his chest. Uncharted regions and unearthly creatures await him. And for his own sake, along with scientific interest, he ventures forth.
5. Platform - PC (Windows/SteamOS), Mac, PS4, XO, Wii U, Vita/VitaTV
6. Marketing campaign - $5 million dollars spent on internet and TV advertising. Major push on YouTube, giving prominent channels access to early gameplay demos.
7. Metacritic - 80+
8. Sale's target - 750K+
9. Dev Cycle - 2.5 years, heavy focus on engine work. Focus on exaggerated and colorful art design not unlike Monster Hunter or Kingdoms of Alamur.
10. Game Title - Astral Apathy
1. Studio Location - Austin, Texas
2. Studio Name - Flaming Pinecone
3. Studio Mancount - 50 full-time employees
4. Studio Logo - A flaming pinecone. It's that simple.
5. Studio's End Goal - Second-party status for any of the Big 3.
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