It’s not that much of a secret if you’ve been following us on social media but at Stadia Fr, we love multiplayer games and even more if they’re fun. It’d be an understatement to say we’re impatient to play Outcasters, the last game from the London studio Splash Damage, since it represents exactly what we’re looking for in these kind of games. As it becomes even more hectic as we’re getting closer to the release date, we had the incredible chance to ask a few questions to the developers and to get some new and exclusive screenshots as well !
Hello ! Can you introduce yourself and Splash Damage ?
Hi ! I’m Max, I’m the Brand Manager at Splash Damage. We’ve been around for almost 20 years and love creating multiplayer games! We’ve worked on things like Brink, Gears Tactics, Dirty Bomb, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, and now we’re here with Outcasters !
Splash Damage sure has a long history with multiplayer games. Why did you decide to create a game on Stadia and why a whole new IP ?
We’re always looking at new platforms and technologies, and Stadia is such an incredibly exciting platform. We love the idea of minimal loading times, of no downloads, of instantly jumping into games and playing with your friends ! Stadia was the perfect home for Outcasters.
As for Outcasters as a new IP well, we’re always looking at new things and new IP. From Brink to RAD Soldiers to Dirty Bomb, we love experimenting ! As for Outcasters itself, we’ve got a really cool story to tell about that very soon.
Stadia community is very excited that Outcasters is one of the first game from Stadia Games & Entertainment. How did this collaboration go ? Do you plan on having more exclusive games on Stadia in the future ?
It’s been a lot of fun ! Stadia has some of the best people in the industry working for them, and having the chance to work on this project with them has been amazing for us. As far as other exclusives go; you never know !
Stadia is a cloud gaming platform. Is the development of a game for Stadia different from developing a game for a physical console? Do you have any pros or cons coming to your mind when thinking about the development of Outcasters ?
We’re going to go into some more technical details as we get closer to launch, I wouldn’t want to make a fool of myself and fluff an answer to this one !
We’re all dealing with difficulties due to the health crisis we’re facing and it must be particularly difficult when it comes to game development. How did you cope with this situation ? What impacts did it have on the development ?
It hasn’t been easy for anyone, of course. Working from home has its pros and cons, and everyone responds differently to this kind of challenge and stress. We moved quickly to ensure that everyone could work from home and was set up with all of the equipment they needed, and we’ve been working from home for almost 6 months now. As far as development goes; it’s been smooth sailing ! It’s a testament to how talented the Outcasters team is, and our partners at Stadia, that development is going so well despite all being stuck at home !
Outcasters looks so much fun. How just did it come out of your mind? How does it fit in with all the games you have made so far?
Thank you! It’s interesting because we know people will look at Outcasters and think it doesn’t fit, but under the surface, Outcasters is fast-paced, it’s competitive, and is going to require a lot of skill to really stand out from the crowd. As for the idea, we’re really excited to talk about that soon – there’s a long story behind it !
The gameplay seems to rely heavily on the environment. Can you give us more examples of the different possibilities ? Any traps that trigger when you shoot or ways to shoot through the walls ?
You’re right, mastering the environment is going to be key to winning. You might be shooting doors to close them, or reversing the spin of a wall to lock your enemies outside the ring etc. We want to make sure that every level feels different and unique when you play, and how you use your skills, powerups and the environment itself is at the heart of Outcasters.
Speaking of that, the gameplay looks rather offensive. Is there any defensive ways of playing or evasive tricks like shields and so on ?
There are! You’ve seen a couple of examples in the recent teaser we showed on social media about abilities. If you watch extra closely you can see some defensive abilities !
We know that there are power-ups to spice everything up a little but you never really talked about it yet. Maybe you could tell us more about the system and how much it will influence the outcome ?
We’ll definitely be talking more about the power-ups soon, but we think we’ve done something really cool that will surprise folks when they see it in detail !
Thanks for taking your time to answer our questions and a big thank you from everyone in the Stadia Fr french community !
If you’re interested in Outcasters, please be sure to follow Splash Damage and Outcasters on the social media : Twitter and Instagram. You can also pay them a visit in their own Discord server !