Bit Reactor, the studio developing an upcoming Star Wars strategy game, has shared details about its approach to development. In an interview with PC Gamer, the studio’s art director, Daanish Syed, and technical director, Ryan McFall, discussed the challenges within the strategy genre, user interface design, and the significance of visual style.
Bit Reactor is striving to broaden the public’s view of strategy games. Many perceive strategy titles as daunting for new players, but Bit Reactor is working on a design that is instantly captivating and easy to approach. Their goal is to develop a user-friendly interface that emphasizes easy navigation and gradually introduces complexity. This strategy aims to prevent overwhelming new players and highlight the core gameplay’s attractiveness.
“When a player is brought into the game, they’re learning all the systems and so we want it to be immediately fun, and give the player maximum output for their minimum input and find the fun in the core game itself. Then we can start layering on more features and more systems, but we’re ready to grab the player with that initial core of what makes this game fun.”
Daanish Syed
To improve accessibility, the developers want to support various input devices. They aim to accommodate players who prefer gamepads, touchscreens, or traditional mouse and keyboard setups.
McFall and Syed, who have experience with action titles like FEAR and Jedi: Survivor, are bringing a fresh perspective to the Star Wars project due to their backgrounds outside the strategy genre. McFall highlighted the importance of the user interface in strategy games compared to action titles, where the UI has less impact on the overall experience.
While details about the game are still limited, Syed has mentioned a plan to create a unique visual style for the title. This is similar to their previous work on Jedi: Survivor, which also had a distinctive visual look. The developers emphasize gameplay that is easy to control and has made references to turn-based games like Mario + Rabbids and Baldur’s Gate 3. This has led to speculation about a potential shift away from the traditional real-time strategy (RTS) format. While it’s all speculation for now, this direction would align with making the game accessible to all players.
Currently, there is no set date for the game’s release or an official title disclosed. Despite the limited information available, Bit Reactor is focusing on creating a Star Wars strategy game that will appeal to experienced fans and new players.
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