Grounded 2 is releasing in early access today, giving players a slice of a brave new tiny world, filled to the brim with new mechanics, items, and abilities, alongside rideable Insects known as Buggies that'll surely give fans of the genre something fun to experiment with.
After playing the game for a bit, Destructoid had the opportunity to speak with two members of the Obsidian team about the game's direction and gain insight into what to expect from the future as the game launches in early access.
Note: Portions of the interview have been edited to remove repetition and enhance the reading experience.
The first thing that I wanted to discuss is, obviously, that this is a sequel. It's obvious, it's in the name, and obviously, the community had a large part in defining what made the first game so popular and endearing. I was wondering how you took in community feedback for a sequel and used that for the development process of Grounded 2.
Aarik Dorobiala (Senior Community Manager for Grounded 2): So working so closely with the community for Grounded one was a very special experience, just like being able to be very transparent and open with the community. And not only that, but Obsidian is not just making this game. There are people behind this game. So the community also got to learn about the people who are making the game, that is, we're gamers too. I think opening up that communication pathway helped us bond with the community. And yes, there was so much feedback and suggestions that we couldn't fit into Grounded one; it only made sense to take it into Grounded 2, like having the cold biome that they always asked for. But, there was just not enough space in the backyard because we filled it with so many things, and bringing the snail to life in Grounded 2 because they asked about the snail constantly, because there's this tiny little snail shell in the backyard. They're like, what? A snail shell? That means there's got to be something, right? So, bringing that into it and, of course, probably the biggest thing, Buggies, the players in the community want to know, one way to either tame or ride insects. And that's probably one of the big features we're showcasing with Grounded 2.
Mike Winzler (Producer for Grounded 2): Grounded 2 is comprised of a lot of kinds of features and items from the community that kind of have these long roots that sort of affect a lot of different systems and levels and related pieces, and so required a little extra time to sort of cook... it was strange, kind of going dark on Grounded 2, right? It was a surprise announcement. After all these years and direct conversations with the community, it seems we need a little time to prepare something for you guys.
You both have touched on Buggies, so I have to ask. How does the team determine which bugs are rideable and which ones need to remain a threat? And another question, did the Ant-Man movies impact any decisions when coming up with new game mechanics?
Winzler: Yeah, I'll hop on the first question about sort of which ones we pick, and why. I think getting the idea of what Buggies were and how they're going to affect the game, and sort of how they would be with you throughout the experience. It took a long time, just in terms of, there are a lot of different ideas there, you want to try a few different ones out and kind of see what felt the most natural and felt like it also had a sort of wide open future that we could kind of carve out accordingly with what the community likes and provides feedback on.
So I think kind of like, hey, which Buggies? Which insects can be Buggies? I think our, sort of our mindset going into that was always, well, which ones have sort of compelling, multiple-use skill set? So, which ones can be interesting to be involved in building, as well as level design and traversal, and which ones would add a new wrinkle to combat? There's never really any that we would outright not consider for a Buggie... However, I think we also want to start slowly, with a smaller Buggie count.
Dorobiala: And then, to answer your second question, I don't know whether the inspiration came from Ant Man. I think it's because of the time era of the game where Grounded 2 takes place; it takes two years after the first game. So we're in 1992, and I think maybe it's more that the inspiration came from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, where those kids were shrunk down, and they rode an ant. However, I will say that the Red Ant soldier Buggie does have a recruit ability, allowing it to recruit one nearby worker ant. So maybe there might be a little inspiration there, too.
The game starts in early access. When you look at Grounded one and the amount of features it has, in terms of the Zipwire mechanic (and I know the team has touched on why its not in Grounded 2 yet to make Buggies feel more useful at the start) but in the future, as you add more updates, how are you going to balance Buggies and items to make them all have their uses so once isn't more overpowered than the other.
Winzler: Yeah, that's a great question, and something that we're kind of always grappling with. But it's the fun part of the challenge, too, if you have a staple of Buggies, can they all have their own kind of character? And can they all bring something new and useful to you, even as you kind of go through different biomes and different phases of the core game there? So I think looking at the Red Ant and the Orb Weaver to start, they're very different animals in the sense that the Red Ant is the sort of all-arounder. But they also have a nice kind of intrinsic connection to building and hauling materials around, whereas the Orb Weaver is more like this, a kind of walking weapon, and in terms of what it can do in combat, and shoot webs.
But I think the more we played with just ourselves internally, the more we realized, 'No, they still need to feel different.' They all need to have different kinds of use cases.... So, suppose you have a particular taste for this one Buggie, and we can still keep them in the mix and with you throughout the experience. We're still waiting for community feedback to make some bigger decisions and refine the ones we already have in place. But I know both myself and Chris Parker, the Game Director, feel very strongly of 'now I want, I want to make it possible for you to take the first red ant you get as a Buggie and have that, that red ant with you by your side through the full game.' That should be a viable route... Ensuring that the relationship with your Buggie is something that can be sustained and still retain value mechanically is a significant focus for us as well.
I'd like to discuss some examples of new features and updates. In Grounded One, you start in the suitcase, and you come out into the open world. You're kind of a bit clueless about what you're doing. You have to learn as you go in. Whereas in Grounded 2, you started in a more tutorial-based mode, which introduces people to the main concepts and gets them accustomed to crafting.
However, when you go out, you also gain the Omni tool in Grounded 2, which replaces the need to craft individual axes and similar items. This has made the game a lot more user-friendly, as it eliminates the need to hoard items at all times. Can you walk us through the process of making that decision to optimize resourcing?
Winzler: Omni tool side. That was an interesting discussion early on. I think it was one that Edios Montreal did with a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective on the project, which they had a really strong feeling about, and we're very passionate about it. And so that was a fun, kind of early on partnership moment where we were kind of all right, this is outside of our initial understanding or reflex on some of the stuff, and then we really kind of shaped it together...
[As for the new tutorial], it was this kind of community add-on, but it was also, hey, you know, we're new on this project, and we want to be a surrogate for new players and returning players both. And so, having a little more streamlined approach at the beginning, 'Hey, if you're brand new to Grounded, here's all the things you should be up to speed on.' But if you've played Grounded before, you can just kind of whiz through this and then start getting to the new stuff.
Dorobiala: I think when in regards to the Omni tool, we're very excited to hear feedback from the community, because there's one side of the community who wants to have all the tools, and they're the collectors, and there's even a sub community that uses these tools as a form of, like pvp arena combat, like in Grounded one. However, the reception of the Omni tool so far has been positive. We're very curious and excited to hear more.
It's always a big feature that the Grounded community consistently requests. Are there any plans at all to add official mod support to the PC game in the future, or is it too early to tell at the moment?
Dorobiala: It was the former. We're going to be releasing an early access version, so there will be a lot of changes and iterations to the game. So, it's something to consider later down the road and maybe further along in the development.
Did the team have the Grounded story fully planned out from the get-go of early access, or had you started to expand it in each update until it came to a resolution? How does the story, especially an early access game, come into fruition?
Winzler: I don't want to steal Aarik's line. That's so good. It's a full credit, Aaric. He said, hey, the narrative in Early Access is like a tabletop RPG campaign where you've got these sort of big beats that you're interested in the sort of general direction that things are going, but you still want to, you still want there to be plenty of room for improvisation and things to things to go differently based on how people are feeling about it.
Community feedback even amounts to 'Hey, we love this character. Let's give them more, more screen time, more lines. Let's get them in the mix more.' It's that feeling of having a coherent idea of the setting and some of the big pieces that blend more seamlessly into gameplay. But, I think there's nothing set in stone, as far as the finer details there in between.
It was interesting to see how the narrative unfolded along that road (in Grounded one). I wasn't involved in the narrative on that. So it's kind of looking at it with the perspective of evaluating how we wanted that for Grounded 2. A lot of the story was told in the past tense: "Here's what Tully was doing before the game started." And you're almost like a Crime Scene Investigation, figuring out what, putting all the pieces together... as a summary, I'd say, we have, we have big pieces in place, but I think we actively try to stay fluid with it and not over-commit to things. So there's still that element of like... Spontaneity and room for community feedback to be incorporated.
The post The big Grounded 2 interview – Community, Buggies, story, and improvements appeared first on Destructoid.
