Starlink: Battle for Atlas dev on the gameplay, tech being used, why it’s a fit for Switch, more
Starlink: Battle for Atlas was a notable third-party Switch announcement coming out of E3 last month. Ubisoft is trying out the toys-to-life genre with a new game that offers ship building, flying, and shooting.
Nintendo UK now has a new interview up with Ubisoft Toronto producer Matthew Rose, which goes in-depth with the project. Rose explained the gameplay, the technology being used, why it’s a fit on Switch, and much more. Read up on Rose’ comments below.
On what to expect from the game…
Matthew Rose: Starlink Battle for Atlas is an epic action-adventure game. It takes place in a massive, open, living space and it puts you in control of a team of star pilots, who are trying to save Atlas from a threat called The Forgotten Legion.
One of the really cool things about this game is that it features a completely modular star ship collectible where you can combine ships, wings and weapons however you want, to build your playstyle and take on the threat. And then when new challenges come up, you can adapt on the fly by instantly reconfiguring your star ship model.
On whether this is a toys-to-life game or something else…
MR: It shares a lot of elements with toys-to-life games but we think this is actually something pretty new that people haven’t seen before. That’s thanks to the combination of this completely modular collectible you can really mix and match, and its really deep, open world gameplay experience, where you can seamlessly travel among the planets of Atlas, exploring their ancient secrets and pushing back against the dynamic threat.
On how the ship models work in comparison to similar technology…
MR: This is a completely proprietary technology, built from the ground up by the team at Ubisoft Toronto. We assembled a team of experts from the toy industry and games industry to work hand in hand to make something that is completely instantaneous, so when you connect that part it immediately appears in-game.
It’s incredibly flexible technology; you can stack parts, you can reverse them if you want to put your weapons on backwards to shoot someone that’s chasing you, and you can combine different pilots, each of whom is going to give you a unique special ability, a skill you can upgrade and their own story.
On ship combinations…
MR: It completely depends on the situation. Different pilots each give you a really powerful super ability that’s going to have to charge over time and then can make a decisive difference in a battle. For example, Judge has the ability to slow down time. Chase is all about speed, so she can use an ability called the Doppler effect that allows her to fly super-fast. Mason, who is the new leader of the Starlink initiative is able to call down an orbital strike from the mothership.
In addition to the pilots, each weapon is going to give you different types of fire power. And each of those will be more dependent on the type of enemy you’re facing. So maybe against a bunch of smaller, fast enemies, you might want to use like the Flamethrower; a short range area effect weapon. Whereas in a dog fight, a longer ranged high rated fire weapon like the Shredder might be better.
On whether this is a game for both gamers and families…
MR: Yeah absolutely. Our team is made up from veterans from Ubisoft’s biggest franchises: Far Cry, Watch_Dogs, Assassins Creed, Splinter Cell. So for us it’s very important to create that really deep, open world experience that players can get lost in. We play-tested the game with a wider range of audiences, a wider range of ages, and we’ve been really encouraged by the extremely positive reaction we’ve had from all sorts of different groups.
On how the game will work if players prefer not to buy lots of star ship models…
MR: It was very important for us to be extremely player friendly in what we’re offering. We want people to buy the collectibles because they think the collectibles are amazing. The modular play gives you all these cool creative things to do and build. But we don’t want to force you into buying them. You can complete the entire game just with the starter pass. Even if you are a minimalist, you don’t want more stuff on your shelves, you can even get digital versions of all the parts. You can play the entire game digitally, which is something we’re really proud of.
On what attracted Ubisoft to Switch for this game…
MR: To me, Nintendo Switch is an absolutely perfect match for Starlink. The modularity of the console is a match made in heaven for the modularity of Starlink. We’re super excited about the possibility of going and connecting our custom controller mount to the Joy-Con, playing on your TV and then taking that on the go where you still have full access to a digital library of all of the parts that you owned. So you can keep going, playing on the bus, and come right back to it.
On the gameplay…
MR: Starlink follows the story of a group of pilots that have come from Earth to the galaxy in search of exploration and answers to the mysteries of the cosmos. Unfortunately, as they they arrive in the Atlas system of planets, they discover that the galaxy is not as friendly a place as they had hoped. Early on in the game, you suffer a devastating attack, stranding your crew and your mothership, the Equinox, on one of the worlds. You need to repair that ship and you need to rescue the founder of the Starlink initiative, who is captured.
On the mix between flying between planets and shooting…
MR: There’s a huge, diverse range of things you can do. We have many combat situations ranging from tiny enemies that latch on to your ship all the way up to huge legions who are tearing up these worlds and then there’s massive battle ships in space. We support a wide range of navigation as well, where you can fly from planet to planet at high speed, right down to the surface of the planets where you can skim the surface, search around and explore at your own pace to discover the secrets on each of these vastly different planets.
On multiplayer…
MR: Yeah, we’re planning split-screen multiplayer throughout the game, something we’re really excited about. It’s primarily a co-op mode. If players want, they can also turn on friendly fire, so they can fight head-to-head and really make up their own rules. But it’s primarily a co-op experience throughout the game.
