FTL: Faster Than Light

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FTL: Faster Than Light
FTL Faster Than Light Logo.jpg
FTL logo: Faster Than Light
Studio Subset Games
Senior Developer Matthew Davis, Justin Ma
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 September 14, 2012
platform Windows , Mac OS X , Linux , iOS
genre Round strategy game , rogue-like
Subject Science fiction
Game mode Single player
control Keyboard , mouse
medium Download
language English , German , French , Italian , Brazilian Portuguese , Polish , Russian , Spanish , Simplified Chinese
Current version 1.6.8
FTL: -Faster-than-light -Developer Subset Games at the IGF 2013

FTL: Faster Than Light is a strategy game released in 2012 with role-playing and rogue-like elements. Creator was the software studio Subset Games . The game was developed across platforms for Windows , Mac OS X and Linux . The game was featured on Kickstarter after it was nearing completion . The aim was to use crowdfunding to collect the remaining funds that were necessary to be able to publish the game.

Gameplay

In FTL the player controls a spaceship whose crew has to bring a data packet to safety from the rebels. The object of the game is to reach the Federation base before the rebels and eliminate the rebel mothership before it can reach this base.

At the beginning of the game the player chooses a spaceship. This houses a crew and consists of several rooms that are equipped and arranged differently depending on the ship. The rooms are equipped with various system functions, such as weapon systems, shields, propulsion, etc. By occupying the rooms with a team member, the functions of the system can be improved (faster reloading, better chance of evasion, etc.). Systems that are not preinstalled on some spaceships can be purchased from a dealer later in the game.

After starting the game, eight sectors are randomly generated, each containing about 20 waypoints. These are interconnected; the path through the sector is freely selectable. With the FTL drive, the player-controlled spaceship can jump from one waypoint to the next. As the rebel fleet is getting closer and closer, it is impossible for the player to explore all waypoints in a sector.

A text-based event takes place at each waypoint. It is possible to receive resources and / or team members or to buy from a dealer using the resources collected. These events usually lead to a fight with an opposing spaceship.

The space battles take place in real time , but can be paused by the player to make tactical decisions. During a fight, the player must decide which systems to activate, taking into account the energy available. Furthermore, the player has to decide which enemy systems he wants to attack and with which weapons. A battle is won when either the opposing spaceship has been destroyed or the last crew member has died. As a reward for winning a battle, the player receives a random number of resources. The further the game progresses, the better equipped the enemy ships are. But the rewards also increase as you further explore the sectors.

FTL is based on the principle of permadeath , which is typical for rogue-like games. If the player dies, he cannot load an old game, but has to start all over again. Saving is only possible when exiting the game, there is no provision for intermediate storage. However, it is possible to unlock new spaceships for special events, which can then be selected during the next game round.

development

FTL was developed by Subset Games , consisting of Justin Ma and Matthew Davis. Both are former employees of the 2K Games development office in Shanghai. They left 2K Games in early 2011 to work on developing FTL .

The game idea was inspired by board games like Battlestar Galactica and space flight simulations like Star Wars: X-Wing . The goal of the developers was to make the game feel like a suicide mission. This should be achieved with a probability of only 10% of success. Super Meat Boy is a positive example for the developers of a game that is difficult but not frustrating. The game should offer incentives to start a new game immediately if the previous one has failed. In addition, the failure brings the player further, as he learns to better assess the events on the next round.

At the beginning of the development the game had only rudimentary graphics, since the focus was initially on the game balance and mechanisms. Only when the Independent Games Festival approached in time did they start designing the game graphics. They planned to introduce the game to a larger audience for the first time at this festival. The game made it to the final but didn't win an award.

FTL also reached the finals at the Game Developers Conference 2012 . This led to a greater media presence. In February 2012 , PC Gamer was one of the first English-language publications to report on the game, not least because the game was playable in an early beta version on OnLive .

The increased media coverage from participating in the competitions led to the decision to extend the development process, as it was assumed that a higher quality game would now be expected by the public. As a result, the developers ran out of savings. So they reached out to Kickstarter to raise the remaining funds needed for a release and better audio output. The target of targeting $ 10,000 was far exceeded with revenues of more than $ 200,000. This success was driven, among other things, by the favorable timing of the start of the Kickstarter campaign. Thus, Double Fine Adventure recently successfully financed and a general interest in games with retro character was present on this platform. In addition, in the first half of 2012, the games division was the financially most successful category on Kickstarter, with revenues of more than USD 50 million by the end of August.

Even before the Kickstarter campaign, the developers had engaged Ben Prunty as composer for the background music for the game. Now that the developers had much more funding, they could use that budget to get more songs produced for the game. On September 14, 2012, the game was released on Steam , GOG, and their own website. The money that was left at the time of publication will be used for other projects.

reception

FTL received mostly positive reviews from journalists. It was emphasized that the game stimulates one's own imagination and, thanks to the simple gameplay principle, quickly casts a spell over the player despite the increased level of difficulty. In addition, the retro look of the game was rated positively, although it does not correspond to the current state of the art. However, the level of difficulty is also viewed critically. The principle of permadeath can be very frustrating and not for everyone. Others, in turn, rate this element as “contributing to tension”.

Results of some game tests

Awards

FTL has performed successfully in various international competitions.

Won

Nominated

  • IGN : Game of the Year 2012

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Matthew Davis: FTL Official Translations Available! ( en ) September 28, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b FTL: Faster Than Light on Kickstarter ( English ) Retrieved on February 7, 2012.
  3. ↑ a b c CjnLion: Kickstart to Lightspeed - An FTL Interview ( English ) Destructoid. May 10, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Christopher Floyd: Sunday Sidebar: Meet Justin Ma of Subset Games ( English ) Video Game Writers. December 9th, 2012. Archived from the original on May 10th, 2016. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 7, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / videogamewriters.com
  5. ↑ a b Mike Rose: Kickstarter, contests bring FTL to life ( English ) Gamasutra . September 20, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  6. ↑ Tom Francis: Superb spaceship game FTL is now playable through OnLive, buyable through Kickstarter ( English ) In: PC Gamer . February 28, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  7. ↑ OnLive Announces Indie Showcase in Partnership With the Independent Games Festival ( English ) OnLive . February 27, 2012. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 7, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.onlive.com
  8. ↑ Brenna Hillier: FTL: Faster Than Light heralds the Kickstarter age ( English ) VG247. September 17, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  9. ↑ Yancey Strickler: The Year of the Game ( English ) Kickstarter.com . September 6, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  10. ↑ Ben Prunty: Kickstarter update - secret music! ( English ) March 1, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  11. ↑ Developer's Log, Sardate 9.14.12: FTL Released! ( English September) 14, 2012. Retrieved on February 7, 2013.
  12. ↑ a b c d Florian Scherz: With a kick start into the speed of light . Gamers.at . October 2, 2012. Retrieved on February 7, 2013.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.gamers.at  
  13. ↑ a b c d Patrick Lück: Nobody hears you curse in space . GameStar . November 23, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  14. ^ A b Benjamin Jakobs: FTL: Faster Than Light - Test . Eurogamer. October 4, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  15. ↑ a b Bodo Naser: Test: Faster Than Light . 4players . September 28, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  16. ↑ a b Wolfgang Fischer: FTL: Faster Than Light in the Test - Space Strategy for Frustration Resistant . PC Games . November 5, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  17. ↑ Mike Holmes: FTL: Faster Than Light . Gamereactor . October 16, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  18. ↑ Collected newspaper reviews on FTL: Faster Than Light on Metacritic.com (English)
  19. ↑ Collected newspaper reviews on FTL: Faster Than Light on GameRankings.com (English)
  20. ↑ Tom Senior: The Short-form Game of the Year 2012: FTL ( English ) PC Gamer. December 28, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  21. ↑ Jenna Pitcher: Cart Life wins big at the 15th annual Independent Games Festival awards ( English ) Polygon. March 27, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  22. ↑ Hartmut Gieselmann: GDC: Journey clears video game Oscars . Heise online . March 28, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  23. ^ Judgment Day ( English ) IGN . December 5, 2012. Retrieved February 7, 2013.