Evolution: The Battle for Utopia: From Idea to Release
In January, we launched a new project - a game for iOS devices Evolution: Battle for Utopia. This is ITT's second mobile game after Juggernaut: Revenge of Sovering. This time we left fantasy and made a project with a setting in the genre of post-apocalyptic sci-fi.
“Evolution” has already appeared in the App Store (so far only for players in Russia and the CIS), and I want to share with the community the story of the creation of this unusual game.
How it all began
First thoughts about the new game began to appear in September 2012. After the launch of Juggernaut: Revenge of Sovering, we wondered what to do next? The most logical solution in this situation would be to start work on the continuation: on the wave of the success of the first part, it would go very well.
')
We studied the specifics of creating sequels in games. It turned out that, on the one hand, work on them is much simpler, since you have mechanics in your hands, ready-made interface solutions and a visual part of the game. On the other hand, the sequel should surprise and meet the expectations of those who liked the first part. And it is very difficult to do without destroying what they loved her for. Therefore, we decided to take a break and pave the way for ideas, technologies and inspiration to create a truly breakthrough sequel, as was the case with Warcraft 2, Mortal Combat 3, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, etc. While the sequel to the “Juggernaut” (Six Masks) was waiting in the wings, we set about developing a new game.
Postapocalypse without dust
When creating a game, it is important to have a good idea of ​​why and for whom you are doing it. To come up with a concept that you like and try to make the game of your dreams is, of course, good, but you still have to look at this occupation from an economic point of view. At the same time be sure to follow what is sold on the market. To do this, a large monitoring and analysis is made not only of the gaming market, but also of the entertainment industry as a whole. For example, we decided to make the next game after “Juggernaut” with the use of the sci-fi setting, as science fiction films are now in the trend. At the same time, we decided to leave the image of the rusty-dirty postapocalyptic world and gave players the opportunity to turn dusty-gray locations into bright and beautiful lands using terraformation. This feature, which appeared at the very first stage of development, not only formed the basis of the game, but also helped to find a great name - “Evolution”.
Game targeting also plays an important role. Everywhere there are risks, so, say, if you want to make a game that everyone will like, but only 10% of them are paying players, then it is in your interest to get the widest possible audience. “Evolution” is aimed at a specific audience and its interests. If you know who you are doing the project for and what they want from the game, then the percentage of people paying in your audience can reach 50-60%. It is enough to make a high-quality product, interesting for those who love and wait for such games. There are such people and they are becoming more and more every day: in 2013, for example, the volume of the mobile games market in Russia amounted to almost $ 130 million. For example, yesterday's casual players gradually change their interests, want more from games, demand a different quality and are interested such projects. At the same time, there is a certain shortage of products for this audience.
In the heart of the game
In the "Evolution" combined the three most popular genre: action RPG, strategy and defense. Each of them is aimed at the audience that interests us, and combining them in one project allows us to keep the maximum number of players in the game. At the same time, in Evolution, the player spends most of his time in battles. We can say that our game is 50% action RPG, 30% strategy and 20% defense.
Another distinctive feature of “Evolution” is an exciting and interesting plot. If you know the whole tangled story of the characters from the beginning to the end, in this scenario you can make a whole movie. The player immediately finds himself in the thick of events, in the middle of the plot, which unfolds as the crew studies the planet and masters it. In this case, the game has not only PvE-scenario, but also PvP, which is not tied to the plot. The user can freely fight with other players for a position in the rating and resources. At the same time, battles with other players, as well as some other functions, are opened to the user only after the building has been built at a certain stage of development; all the possibilities in the "Evolution" are determined by the plot development of the characters and the detuning of the base.
Unity unites
Architecture "Evolution" is built on Unity technology. At the same time, we chose iOS as the first platform: fewer devices work on it, the accumulated experience of the team allowed us to quickly debug the game, the platform is more stable. Of course, the choice was dictated by the fact that iOS is a more competitive market, where the paying audience is concentrated. Therefore, we decided to proceed with the novelty in the same way as with Juggernaut: release it on iOS and then port it to other platforms, first of all, Android (we plan to do this in spring-summer 2014).
Due to the fact that we used Unity, in the "Evolution" was originally laid cross-platform. The technology makes it easy to port the game to any platform, even the console. When developing the game, we did not put any restrictions in this regard. Although now “Evolution” was not released as a cross-platform project, we intend to subsequently realize this potential. Of course, in the version for social networks we have to think a lot about, for example, how to transform the combat system for convenient mouse control and so on.
After the creation of “Juggernaut” we had a great experience with Unity, therefore, taking into account that no other technologies were used in “Evolution”, we did not experience any special problems in the development of the game. The main difficulty that we encountered was how to bring the concept into reality into a beautiful and understandable player.
Cyberpes and all-all-all
In the "Evolution" a lot of characters, but only six main ones. All of them are members of the expedition, which arrived in Utopia in order to find out the reasons for the disappearance of the previous group of earthlings. The expedition is led by the commander for whom the user plays. The rest of the team members are actively helping him.
With the other characters, the player gets acquainted in the process of passing the "Evolution". With some of them, the hero will be able to establish friendships and recruit to his team. One of these characters is Jaafar, a wandering merchant who, if recruited, will give the player an extra discount from all other merchants. If desired, you can include in the squad even such notorious scoundrels like Frisky, a former gang leader, who for some time preys on the player and prevents him from playing. Recruited characters help the player; In addition, each of them has unique information about the events occurring on Utopia, which will not work out any other way.
A player can develop both his character and allies. For the main character, the user chooses not only the usual equipment, but also the combat specialization. This means that if you wish, you can focus on a certain type of weapons or combat tactics. To do this, you need to properly distribute skill points, use appropriate technology and upgrade weapons. As for the allies, for their development it is necessary to go through special missions, earn medals and pump them into the right character, having previously built a special building, Polygon, at their base.
The art of war on the touchscreen
We have devoted a lot of time to thinking through the combat system. Its first version and the final version, which the players finally saw, differ radically.
After:
Creating a game is always a search for ideas, among which sometimes quite original solutions are found. In our game they became the combat system. It may resemble other games, but it is precisely such a battle like ours that is not found in any other project. Our goal was to make bouts intuitive and simple, so as not to create unnecessary barriers for users and give them the opportunity to enjoy the game. We took into account that mobile devices come in different sizes, that people play with both hands and one, that they are touch devices and many other important aspects. Now we can safely say that the combat system of the Evolution is simple and understandable for most people.
During the battle, the player sees the characters in an isometric view, while the enemy is located on the far line, in the depths of the image. In the future, we plan to add a strategic element - the ability to place our soldiers on the battlefield. Fights with other players are implemented in the "Evolution" in the same way as usual, only in PvP-battle on the site of monsters on the far line is the enemy commander, surrounded by his allies.
A new player cannot take part in PvP battles as soon as they install the game. As he discovers the world and moves along the plot, he gradually opens up new technologies and buildings. It is impossible to come, invest in the game of money and immediately buy everything. We'll have to learn technology, pre-built on the basis of a special building; what knowledge is available to you depends on the level of the character and success in battles. At some point, the player can build a building that opens access to the aircraft - only then the player will be able to fly to the neighboring islands and attack other players.
Initially, you can only get to those targets that are located in an accessible radius. Roughly speaking, up to the 10th level, the player is only available to a certain circle of opponents - for example, from the 9th to the 15th level. Depending on the money, level and character development, the player buys more and more sophisticated flying vehicles and travels long distances, to higher level rivals. Before you choose a place where you can fly and fight, the player sees what he will get in case of victory. These are usually the resources needed to build a base and buy weapons and technology. Basically, PvP battles are fought for position in the global ranking. The player has his own log of fights for the last day; in it you can see who attacked you, how many lines in the ranking you rose or fell and what resources you got.
Sounds from space
All elements of "Evolution" are executed at the highest level - we initially focused on AAA in everything. This applies not only to graphics, but also, for example, sound. So, all the heroes of the game are fully voiced. We were not limited to just writing the text for the characters, but tried to give each of them our own character, which is also expressed through their manner of speaking. For voice acting, we attracted special actors who are native speakers. Record is made in two languages: Russian and English. Although there is one character on Utopia who speaks Ukrainian.
As for the musical accompaniment, here we very closely collaborated with the studio Strategic Music. They recorded music and worked with actors. In our work on music, we focused on tracks from the Transformers series films and Gears of War games.
Planetary communications
In the release version of "Evolution" there are social functions that are available to the player after the construction of the Embassy. The player can choose his social network, log in and invite friends into the game. If they enter Evolution, the player who invited them will be able to observe their progress and even receive some bonuses depending on their achievements and victories.
In the future, the number of friends, their level and other achievements will affect the success of the player, including his battles. We will also introduce the opportunity to attract friends to our own development in the game - for example, ask to transfer resources. So far these are only plans, but we will definitely introduce this functionality.
Evolve!
So far, "Evolution: The Battle for Utopia" is available only for residents of Russia and the CIS countries. Already in March, we plan to launch it on the rest of the market with the exception of Asian countries. The fact is that the sci-fi settings like the one used in “Evolution” do not enjoy great popularity there and the game will be harder to “shoot”. So while we are not betting on Asia. Now we focus on the rest of the world with a focus on the countries of North America and Europe.
Plan additions for the "Evolution" is already painted for the next year. In addition to porting to other platforms, which I mentioned, and adding functionality, we will release updates for the game itself. Conventionally, they can be divided into two types. These are small updates, in which we will correct minor errors and add small functions, and large content updates, when a new piece of the global storyline with fresh tasks, territories, and levels appears in the game. It will be similar to the release of another book in the ongoing series. That is, for example, the player has passed the entire release version, after which he receives a message that he is waiting for him in the upcoming update - which characters, enemies, tasks will appear there. When the add-on is released, the promised location will simply appear in the game, and the user will continue their adventures.
“Evolution” has already appeared in the App Store (so far only for players in Russia and the CIS), and I want to share with the community the story of the creation of this unusual game.
How it all began
First thoughts about the new game began to appear in September 2012. After the launch of Juggernaut: Revenge of Sovering, we wondered what to do next? The most logical solution in this situation would be to start work on the continuation: on the wave of the success of the first part, it would go very well.
')
We studied the specifics of creating sequels in games. It turned out that, on the one hand, work on them is much simpler, since you have mechanics in your hands, ready-made interface solutions and a visual part of the game. On the other hand, the sequel should surprise and meet the expectations of those who liked the first part. And it is very difficult to do without destroying what they loved her for. Therefore, we decided to take a break and pave the way for ideas, technologies and inspiration to create a truly breakthrough sequel, as was the case with Warcraft 2, Mortal Combat 3, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, etc. While the sequel to the “Juggernaut” (Six Masks) was waiting in the wings, we set about developing a new game.
Postapocalypse without dust
When creating a game, it is important to have a good idea of ​​why and for whom you are doing it. To come up with a concept that you like and try to make the game of your dreams is, of course, good, but you still have to look at this occupation from an economic point of view. At the same time be sure to follow what is sold on the market. To do this, a large monitoring and analysis is made not only of the gaming market, but also of the entertainment industry as a whole. For example, we decided to make the next game after “Juggernaut” with the use of the sci-fi setting, as science fiction films are now in the trend. At the same time, we decided to leave the image of the rusty-dirty postapocalyptic world and gave players the opportunity to turn dusty-gray locations into bright and beautiful lands using terraformation. This feature, which appeared at the very first stage of development, not only formed the basis of the game, but also helped to find a great name - “Evolution”.
Game targeting also plays an important role. Everywhere there are risks, so, say, if you want to make a game that everyone will like, but only 10% of them are paying players, then it is in your interest to get the widest possible audience. “Evolution” is aimed at a specific audience and its interests. If you know who you are doing the project for and what they want from the game, then the percentage of people paying in your audience can reach 50-60%. It is enough to make a high-quality product, interesting for those who love and wait for such games. There are such people and they are becoming more and more every day: in 2013, for example, the volume of the mobile games market in Russia amounted to almost $ 130 million. For example, yesterday's casual players gradually change their interests, want more from games, demand a different quality and are interested such projects. At the same time, there is a certain shortage of products for this audience.
In the heart of the game
In the "Evolution" combined the three most popular genre: action RPG, strategy and defense. Each of them is aimed at the audience that interests us, and combining them in one project allows us to keep the maximum number of players in the game. At the same time, in Evolution, the player spends most of his time in battles. We can say that our game is 50% action RPG, 30% strategy and 20% defense.
Another distinctive feature of “Evolution” is an exciting and interesting plot. If you know the whole tangled story of the characters from the beginning to the end, in this scenario you can make a whole movie. The player immediately finds himself in the thick of events, in the middle of the plot, which unfolds as the crew studies the planet and masters it. In this case, the game has not only PvE-scenario, but also PvP, which is not tied to the plot. The user can freely fight with other players for a position in the rating and resources. At the same time, battles with other players, as well as some other functions, are opened to the user only after the building has been built at a certain stage of development; all the possibilities in the "Evolution" are determined by the plot development of the characters and the detuning of the base.
Unity unites
Architecture "Evolution" is built on Unity technology. At the same time, we chose iOS as the first platform: fewer devices work on it, the accumulated experience of the team allowed us to quickly debug the game, the platform is more stable. Of course, the choice was dictated by the fact that iOS is a more competitive market, where the paying audience is concentrated. Therefore, we decided to proceed with the novelty in the same way as with Juggernaut: release it on iOS and then port it to other platforms, first of all, Android (we plan to do this in spring-summer 2014).
Due to the fact that we used Unity, in the "Evolution" was originally laid cross-platform. The technology makes it easy to port the game to any platform, even the console. When developing the game, we did not put any restrictions in this regard. Although now “Evolution” was not released as a cross-platform project, we intend to subsequently realize this potential. Of course, in the version for social networks we have to think a lot about, for example, how to transform the combat system for convenient mouse control and so on.
After the creation of “Juggernaut” we had a great experience with Unity, therefore, taking into account that no other technologies were used in “Evolution”, we did not experience any special problems in the development of the game. The main difficulty that we encountered was how to bring the concept into reality into a beautiful and understandable player.
Cyberpes and all-all-all
In the "Evolution" a lot of characters, but only six main ones. All of them are members of the expedition, which arrived in Utopia in order to find out the reasons for the disappearance of the previous group of earthlings. The expedition is led by the commander for whom the user plays. The rest of the team members are actively helping him.
- Fido is a cybernated puppy who has accompanied a commander since childhood and helps him in everything.
- Schröder is a scout and tracker. Supervises all the missions and quests in the game.
- Margaret is an instructor and colonization specialist. Is the right hand commander.
- Elizabeth is a scientist and researcher. Responsible for the study of new technologies and scientific discoveries.
- Andersen is an engineer and builder. Responsible for base development, terraformation and field development.
With the other characters, the player gets acquainted in the process of passing the "Evolution". With some of them, the hero will be able to establish friendships and recruit to his team. One of these characters is Jaafar, a wandering merchant who, if recruited, will give the player an extra discount from all other merchants. If desired, you can include in the squad even such notorious scoundrels like Frisky, a former gang leader, who for some time preys on the player and prevents him from playing. Recruited characters help the player; In addition, each of them has unique information about the events occurring on Utopia, which will not work out any other way.
A player can develop both his character and allies. For the main character, the user chooses not only the usual equipment, but also the combat specialization. This means that if you wish, you can focus on a certain type of weapons or combat tactics. To do this, you need to properly distribute skill points, use appropriate technology and upgrade weapons. As for the allies, for their development it is necessary to go through special missions, earn medals and pump them into the right character, having previously built a special building, Polygon, at their base.
The art of war on the touchscreen
We have devoted a lot of time to thinking through the combat system. Its first version and the final version, which the players finally saw, differ radically.
After:
Creating a game is always a search for ideas, among which sometimes quite original solutions are found. In our game they became the combat system. It may resemble other games, but it is precisely such a battle like ours that is not found in any other project. Our goal was to make bouts intuitive and simple, so as not to create unnecessary barriers for users and give them the opportunity to enjoy the game. We took into account that mobile devices come in different sizes, that people play with both hands and one, that they are touch devices and many other important aspects. Now we can safely say that the combat system of the Evolution is simple and understandable for most people.
During the battle, the player sees the characters in an isometric view, while the enemy is located on the far line, in the depths of the image. In the future, we plan to add a strategic element - the ability to place our soldiers on the battlefield. Fights with other players are implemented in the "Evolution" in the same way as usual, only in PvP-battle on the site of monsters on the far line is the enemy commander, surrounded by his allies.
A new player cannot take part in PvP battles as soon as they install the game. As he discovers the world and moves along the plot, he gradually opens up new technologies and buildings. It is impossible to come, invest in the game of money and immediately buy everything. We'll have to learn technology, pre-built on the basis of a special building; what knowledge is available to you depends on the level of the character and success in battles. At some point, the player can build a building that opens access to the aircraft - only then the player will be able to fly to the neighboring islands and attack other players.
Initially, you can only get to those targets that are located in an accessible radius. Roughly speaking, up to the 10th level, the player is only available to a certain circle of opponents - for example, from the 9th to the 15th level. Depending on the money, level and character development, the player buys more and more sophisticated flying vehicles and travels long distances, to higher level rivals. Before you choose a place where you can fly and fight, the player sees what he will get in case of victory. These are usually the resources needed to build a base and buy weapons and technology. Basically, PvP battles are fought for position in the global ranking. The player has his own log of fights for the last day; in it you can see who attacked you, how many lines in the ranking you rose or fell and what resources you got.
Sounds from space
All elements of "Evolution" are executed at the highest level - we initially focused on AAA in everything. This applies not only to graphics, but also, for example, sound. So, all the heroes of the game are fully voiced. We were not limited to just writing the text for the characters, but tried to give each of them our own character, which is also expressed through their manner of speaking. For voice acting, we attracted special actors who are native speakers. Record is made in two languages: Russian and English. Although there is one character on Utopia who speaks Ukrainian.
As for the musical accompaniment, here we very closely collaborated with the studio Strategic Music. They recorded music and worked with actors. In our work on music, we focused on tracks from the Transformers series films and Gears of War games.
Planetary communications
In the release version of "Evolution" there are social functions that are available to the player after the construction of the Embassy. The player can choose his social network, log in and invite friends into the game. If they enter Evolution, the player who invited them will be able to observe their progress and even receive some bonuses depending on their achievements and victories.
In the future, the number of friends, their level and other achievements will affect the success of the player, including his battles. We will also introduce the opportunity to attract friends to our own development in the game - for example, ask to transfer resources. So far these are only plans, but we will definitely introduce this functionality.
Evolve!
So far, "Evolution: The Battle for Utopia" is available only for residents of Russia and the CIS countries. Already in March, we plan to launch it on the rest of the market with the exception of Asian countries. The fact is that the sci-fi settings like the one used in “Evolution” do not enjoy great popularity there and the game will be harder to “shoot”. So while we are not betting on Asia. Now we focus on the rest of the world with a focus on the countries of North America and Europe.
Plan additions for the "Evolution" is already painted for the next year. In addition to porting to other platforms, which I mentioned, and adding functionality, we will release updates for the game itself. Conventionally, they can be divided into two types. These are small updates, in which we will correct minor errors and add small functions, and large content updates, when a new piece of the global storyline with fresh tasks, territories, and levels appears in the game. It will be similar to the release of another book in the ongoing series. That is, for example, the player has passed the entire release version, after which he receives a message that he is waiting for him in the upcoming update - which characters, enemies, tasks will appear there. When the add-on is released, the promised location will simply appear in the game, and the user will continue their adventures.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/210876/
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