10 years of FTL: The making of an enduring spaceship simulator - Ars Technica

Enlarge / WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED

Today, FTL: Faster than Light is recognized arsenic 1 of the astir influential games successful the indie sector. Alongside The Binding of Isaac and Spelunky, it was portion of a beatified trinity of games that popularized the roguelite genre successful the aboriginal '10s.

But earlier it was a hit, FTL was conscionable a humble thought shared by Matthew Davis and Justin Ma, 2 developers moving astatine 2K’s Shanghai office. The workplace wasn’t a atrocious spot to work, by their accounts, but they conscionable weren’t making the kinds of games they were funny in. So Davis and Ma departed the big-budget steadfast and started a hobby task to support them engaged portion they were looking for caller jobs.

“The archetypal intention, astatine slightest from my perspective, was that [FTL] was lone intended arsenic a hobby task oregon a prototype,” Davis tells Ars. “It was thing successful betwixt jobs to physique up a resume that we could usage to get a occupation astatine a workplace moving connected projects that we were much excited about. But we stumbled into thing that became a batch bigger than what we acceptable retired to do.”

Enlarge / Davis and Ma accidental committee games similar Red November helped animate FTL's design.

Getting inspired

In mounting retired to marque a caller benignant of indie game, Ma and Davis accidental they were inspired by the strategical committee games that filled their escaped clip erstwhile they lived successful Shanghai. “Games similar the Battlestar Galactica committee game, and determination was this submarine crippled called Red November that did a batch of unit absorption and cooperative play which we truly enjoyed,” Davis remembers.

Before starting improvement successful earnest, Davis and Ma jotted down immoderate of the mechanics they wanted to gully from those kinds of games to see successful their prototype. They besides wrote down what kinds of feelings they were hoping to impart to the player, landing connected an space that was reasonably unsocial to video games astatine the time.

“We wanted to enactment the subordinate successful the captain's shoes alternatively than the pilot's shoes connected a spaceship,” Davis explains. “Most games astatine that constituent were focused connected combatant pilots and dogfighting successful space. We wanted to springiness you much of that Picard consciousness of shifting powerfulness and protecting your shields and repairing harm and that benignant of thing.”

“We wanted them to conflict with managing the ship’s systems and consciousness the symptom of losing a unit subordinate from their atrocious decision-making,” Ma adds.

In trying to engender those kinds of subordinate feelings, Ma remembers being inspired by the randomized situations and imperishable decease of roguelike games. At the time, those kinds of plan elements were expanding from accepted turn-based adventures into different types of gameplay.

“I did play a ton of accepted roguelikes successful the erstwhile fewer years, but it was lone Spelunky Classic that made maine deliberation astir however the principles of roguelikes could use to different genres,” Ma remembers.

That being said, a batch of the decisions to incorporated akin mechanics were applicable ones. “For example, we wanted you to beryllium forced to unrecorded with the consequences of your decisions, truthful a run-based crippled with permadeath conscionable made sense,” Ma said. “We wanted you to person the feeling of exploring an chartless world, truthful randomized substance events with assorted outcomes sounded similar the easiest mode to make that. We were besides a spot masochistic and enjoyed failing astatine the game, truthful it people became rather challenging.”