GDC 2013: Lost Orbit and Finding All Audiences

ne of the greatest challenges in game design involves designing titles that successfully cater to everyone. If a game seems too simplistic, veteran gamers may dismiss it entirely. If it’s too difficult, you lose another potential audience of would-be players, therefore robbing more individuals of an experience they could have had otherwise.

The Canada-based studio PixelNAUTS aspires to conquer this challenge while designing Lost Orbit, their newly announced title which they’ve been developing in the past two months.

“The hardest challenge is getting something that feels good,” designer Alex Golebiowski told me. “Above all else, that’s what you have to get right first.”

And from the looks of it, the studio’s newest addition truly does feature something for everyone: Time challenges for veterans, low maintenance controls for new players, and the most hilarious jaw-dropping death scenes in such an assumed-to-be timid game.

Best described by designer Chris Iacobucci as a “top-down vertical space platformer,” Lost Orbit features the story of a lone astronaut who’s simply trying to find home again. Players assist the astronaut by flying him across a rather dangerous solar system of challenges and uncertainty.

With time being another key element of Lost Orbit, players utilize gas planets to ignite their rocket and pick up speed as fast as they can, and water planets in order to slow down when needed for safety reasons. There also exist regular Earth-like planets with analog gravity wells around them, which function to redirect players so they can approach target zones at the proper trajectory. You want to keep the pace up while racing against other players, but beware -- too much speed in Lost Orbit easily evolves into a death sentence.

In one instance during my session with PixelNAUTS, the poor astronaut sideswiped an asteroid while moving too fast, just like a fly hitting a windshield. Though depressing in its own way (he just wanted to go home), we couldn’t help but find the situation humorous since the game seems so cheerfully calm and colorful at. One moment, you’re maneuvering the cute little dude across the screen. And then, splat -- almost worse than falling off a high building in a popular FPS game.

“We love the reactions we get from people,” Golebiowski said as we witnessed astronaut bits floating off the screen.

As production continues, entire elements of each system -- objects such as asteroids and planets -- will function as puzzle-like obstacles. Iacobucci stated how players will have to learn and master multiple tools in order to improve their skills in the game, which adds to more hardcore aspects of the team’s desired gameplay model.

Aside from lush, smooth graphics in a clean top-down environment, Lost Orbit will also host an exclusively composed soundtrack from Ontario sound engineer Giancarlo Feltrin. Both Golebiowski and Iacobucci thought Feltrin was perfect for the job after initially requesting an exclusive track from the artist, and they agree that the game wouldn’t be the same without Feltrin’s unique tracks.

“It’s one of those pieces where I can’t play the game without it,” Golebiowski said as he described the original track.

There’s no exact release date for Lost Orbit yet, but Golebiowski and Iacobucci remain confident planning for a Fall 2013 launch. Both designers at PixelNAUTS say they’re aiming to devote plenty of time and effort into making Lost Orbit the best possible experience it can be.

Comments

[PNAUT_Chris]

Hey Sean, Chris here,

Thanks for taking the time to meet with us, and putting together such a great write up. We're really excited to show you guys more in the coming months.

If any of your readers are looking for updates on the game they can check out PixelNAUTS.ca or LostOrbitGame.com

Cheers,