FTL devs on things they would change

FTL: Faster than Light has received quite a bit critical acclaim, from being one of our top games of 2012 to being a finalist for the top game at this year's Independent Games Festival. But developer Subset Games had to cut several features they had seriously talked about adding to maintain the integrity of their vision.

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FTL: Faster than Light was one of the best games of 2012. However, in a retrospective talk at GDC 2013, developer Subset Games talked about things they would change, if given the chance to start over.

Justin Ma and Matthew Davis said that they realized that some of the ship unlocks were too difficult because of the randomness involved. Given the chance to do it again, they said that they would have eased some of the requirements needed to do the unlocks, specifically mentioning the tedious three-step process to unlock the Crystal Ship.

They also mentioned that in all the focus testing, no one mentioned their jump animation. "It's still in the game now, and it's terrible," Ma said.

There were also a few things that ended up on the cutting room floor. They had seriously talked about adding gas weapons that would have spread from room to room, infecting the ship's crew. Another feature was to have the possibility of a invisible saboteur as an encounter that would run from room to room damaging systems, and the only way to discover him would have been to have a crew member in the room. Other things that got cut included alien encounters, including one energy being that went around the ship sucking power from your ship's systems. The duo agreed that, while these things were interesting, the game would go too far beyond what they had envisioned when the kicked off their massively successful Kickstarter campaign last year.

Ma and Davis said they plan to continue to support FTL, but are looking forward to getting on to their next project, although they aren't saying exactly what that project will be.

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  • reply
    March 27, 2013 9:30 AM

    John Keefer posted a new article, FTL devs on things they would change.

    FTL: Faster than Light has received quite a bit critical acclaim, from being one of our top games of 2012 to being a finalist for the top game at this year's Independent Games Festival. But developer Subset Games had to cut several features they had seriously talked about adding to maintain the integrity of their vision.

    • reply
      March 27, 2013 9:51 AM

      I've played this game a ton, and still haven't beaten it.

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        March 27, 2013 9:54 AM

        Just haven't gotten lucky enough yet. Fun game but the RNG can be a bitch sometimes

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        March 27, 2013 10:01 AM

        same here :(

        (and on easy mode)

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      March 27, 2013 9:53 AM

      What's wrong with the jump animation??

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      March 27, 2013 9:59 AM

      i must have spent 20 hours trying to get the crystal ship at least. outstanding game though regardless. double thumbs up as they say.

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      March 27, 2013 10:03 AM

      it better be FTL 2 or an expansion!!!!!!!!

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        March 27, 2013 10:05 AM

        I really hope they add to the game or do an expansion. If they want to do something new the open source FTL so others can expand on it. There are already some great mods but they have limited ability to add onto the game as it is now.

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        March 27, 2013 10:10 AM

        Let them do a mobile version first so they can get assloads of monies to make a good sequel.

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        March 27, 2013 2:17 PM

        FTL2 : Privateer

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      March 27, 2013 10:08 AM

      Where is a goddamn iPad version?

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      March 27, 2013 2:10 PM

      Infinite Space addon makes the game a lot more enjoyable, IMO... Removes the federation chasing you, and the boss battles. Just lets you roam the galaxy finding stuff and killing pirates.

      http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3542

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        March 27, 2013 2:11 PM

        make that rebel fleet, not federation ;)

        *No Rebel Fleet, No Rebel Boss, No hard stop end of game.
        *Redesign of Sectors, and Enemy ships.
        *Sector "mini bosses" (Player Cruisers images).
        *19 new custom weapons.
        *17 new custom drones.
        *18 new events
        *A different gaming experience than vanilla.

        Whoops... #corrections

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