Our interview with Chaos Systematic: a two-man Hungarian development team working on their first project.
Nebula is the first major project developed by Chaos Systematic. A two-man indie game development team by Hungary who shared a passion for playing and creating video games since high school.
After years of arduous work, passion and ongoing field experimentation, Balázs and Márton are prepared to present us their first ambitious video game.
A single-player Starship colony simulator game with RPG elements, set in a vast galaxy waiting to be explored!
We are therefore pleased to present our interview with the development team, in the hopes of learning more about the project and intriguing you as well.
We also remind you that the Nebula Kickstarter Campaign is finally open. So, if you want to help this project grow and achieve all its goals, don’t hesitate to consult it!
Indie Games Devel:
Hello everyone! Today we’d like to extend a warm welcome to the Nebula‘s developers.
Hello guys, welcome.
Chaos Systematic:
Hi, thank you for having us!
Indie Games Devel:
First, we would like to know how the project get started and learn more about your team.
Chaos Systematic:
All right! So, my name is Márton and my coworker is Balázs. We are two friends from Hungary and we’ve been friends since high school.
We shared the passion for game development, so we began working on Nebula as a hobby project in our spare time towards the end of last year. Nebula’s development has so far been entirely self-funded.
It’s actually intriguing because, although we wanted to create a game, the project’s main goal was to take them over. We wanted to create this procedurally generated Galaxy to test its limits, and when it came to fruition, we thought: “Oh, wow! This could be a really interesting game opportunity”.
So, I believe this is the game’s starting point.
So we did that, which was an interesting experiment to see how far we could push the Unreal Engine and our ideas to generate procedural universes.
We wanted to have many stars so that when you choose one, you can see the planets that orbit the stars and then scan that planet to see the topology, what kind of resources you can find. Then you can land anywhere on the planet and have a new map generated for you, with high level properties for the universe, the star system, and how that influences everything down the line.
So, basically, how far alternatives are from the parent star influences the temperature there, as do the types of animals that leave different kinds of resources.
Then we realized that this could be found in a colony management game in which you have a colony traveling around and trying to make their groups happy, meet their needs and so on…
Indie Games Devel:
How many people make up your team? Is it just you two at the moment?
Chaos Systematic:
Two of us are currently. Two friends that are working in their free time doing a regular work stuff. We wanted to try this Kickstarter to see if you can turn it into a full-time, and the board and potentially then hire definition artists to have the graphics freehold and have a more unique, appealing and listening style sound design.
That is currently lacking due to the fact that we are not musicians, and we would like to potentially hire musicians to create unique soundtracks.
So it’s just the two of us, and we’ll stay that way, but if we see that it’s necessary or makes sense to hire traditional help, we’ll be open to it.
Indie Games Devel:
We are very curious to find out what role the narrative will play in Nebula.
So, our question is, what is Nebula talking about, and is there a strong narrative component, or is gameplay more important to you?
Chaos Systematic:
This is a really good question, and I believe the driving world or driving face in this case is emergent gameplay.
We truly want the player to drive the story, and while there are narrative elements through adventures or missions where you must complete a specific task or adventure that you’re sent on, that can be a more strictly speaking narrative element.
However, the player and how the player interacts with the world has an impact on everything, including how the story unfolds over time as you progress and build your colony.
So, basically, you have to guide your cruise through space and these adventures or missions that I already mentioned in order to discover new planets or similar locations in space.
You can, as previously stated, land anywhere in this galaxy. So, each decision you make or are presented with will drive this story in a different direction, eventually leading to consequences, which is, I believe, the second part of what we would consider the emerging narrative from Nebula.
This is divided into three categories: natural consequences, social consequences, and faction-driven consequences.
Interacting with the environment would have natural consequences. This could be when you land in a deep space location and there is an asteroid strike, solar wind, or some sort of radiation that you have to deal with, in which case you should get a protective suit.
You can obviously go out and suffocate with your pawns as well. That’s completely fine, your decision how much you value those people on your trip or crew. When you land on a planet there can be a toxic atmosphere or something similar that you have to deal with or make sure that you counteract these things.
As an example, suppose you are sent on a mission to collect a specific plant that is toxic and could potentially lead to the spread of disease on your crew. You collect this plant, bring it back to your ship with no protective equipment, and your colonists begin to fall ill.
Because we are also simulating the health system, it is possible that a specific organ will be targeted, resulting in the loss of your colonists or the need to replace their body parts or organs with bionic ones.
Instead, the interactions between your characters and how they are feeling would have social consequences.
Their characteristics, how they interact with the world and with one another, and how you actually delegate them to live in harmony or total chaos. It’s also possible that some colonists fall in love or become best friends.
The last categories would be these faction consequences because, as you travel through the Galaxy and explore, you meet these factions, which can range from small tribes to more intergalactic factions to rule, for example a chunk or a part of the Galaxy or trading routes, depending on how you interact with these factions.
If you kill their leader, they may hire mercenaries to attack your ship when you least expect it, which is not a good consequence.
As a result, there is no overarching story or narrative to which you must contribute as a player.
It’s the small gameplay elements; you have a goal that we want to keep secret for the time being, much like your overall goal for the game. But you have that, and you work toward it, and by working toward it, you will have different interactions in the environment factions, as we previously stated.
That will cause the story to emerge, for example, when you have your colonist policy, you might accept that mission that gives you a reward that can treat a sickness, but you have to attack a different faction for that, which they will not like later on.
So you’ll always have these imperfect solutions, and you’ll have to decide how much you’re willing to invest in this big experience that will make for some interesting stories in the colonists’ lives.
There is drama and all that kind of stuff, which is really good!
Indie Games Devel:
This question is related to the previous one in that we are very interested in the gameplay mechanics.
Since we enjoyed Rimworld and noticed some differences between it and your new project, how much of Rimworld do you think is in Nebula and vice versa?
Chaos Systematic:
It was undoubtedly an inspiration, not only for Rimworld but also for Prison Architect and Dwarf Fortress, the original colonizing, one of the original games.
I believe we have more in common with those games than with Rimworld.
We have those colony-like gameplay mechanics that you’re familiar with, and you have to fulfill them and set a schedule for them, but we implemented them in a unique way!
So it’s mostly the graphics, because neither of us are artists (unfortunately), and even creating these graphics is a challenge for us, but we wanted to have something to convey the idea.
We intend to hire a professional artist to create a new style, as previously stated. So we looked to Rimworld for inspiration. It was primarily a graphical inspiration, and while similar gameplay systems exist, ours is sufficiently distinct to provide a new and unique experience.
The context is very different, focusing on exploration and movement, as well as dealing with the consequences of your actions.
Indie Games Devel:
So you can travel to other planets. Rimworld is very static, so you won’t be able to travel very far.
You can do it, but it’s limited, so I think what you’re doing here is a really cool idea, and you can feel the difference in the choices you make.
Chaos Systematic:
Yes, but one of my favorite aspects of video games is when I feel like I can influence the game world and that what I do has consequences and matters, and we really try to do that here, as you mentioned, to not have anything against randoms.
Your actions will have advantages and disadvantages. And we’re doing everything we can to make this part of the game as realistic and believable as possible.
Indie Games Devel:
It makes perfect sense because the problem in Rimworld is that you went there and they just attacked you because you were there. Without any reason.
Chaos Systematic:
Yes, you can make friends with other colonies by defecting, but there is always one faction that attacks you for no apparent reason. But you can choose what to do here, and okay, I want this, so I’m going to join the mother faction, and they’re going to attack me.
It makes more sense, so I really like this idea. I think the whole driving factor behind why we are so passionate about making this game a reality is just the amount of possibilities that can emerge from it, and because it’s so decision driven. You can really measure the pros and cons of what you’re doing. It gives you a really nice immersive experience, and you never feel like, “Oh, that’s not fair to me,” because it is.
And perhaps you decide to go full diplomatic and only make friends, but you know that one sneaky move might bite you back. And we try to do the same with the environment to have the same kind of like consequences of natural events and all that kind of stuff.
There are many planets, but what makes them unique and interesting to land on was a significant challenge, which we attempted to solve by developing plans that differed according to the seasons and resources. There are no fixed biomes such as the desert biome; there are plants that like sunlight but dislike radiation, for example.
They’re not going to appear on a hot planet with high radiation, so when you choose your next destination, hopefully it won’t just be a random location, but you’ll be able to make sense of: ah okay, so there’s a high radiation area, maybe that plant field grows there and I can harvest it and make a useful medicine or whatever.
We are trying to incorporate this philosophy of consequences into every aspect of game design.
Indie Games Devel:
What are the next steps of the project? Will there be an Early Access? Could you tell us more about the Kickstarter?
Chaos Systematic:
So, basically, the Kickstarter is to allow people to get Early Access, so there will be an Early Access.
Everyone who backs us on Kickstarter will receive it, but the next step is to define a lot of gameplay systems and continue development, as we hope this crowdfunding project will allow us to finally do this full time and devote all of our energies to it.
Because, based on how much we manage to do outside of work, I believe that if we really double down on this in full time, there are really good chances that this can be an awesome game experience, but we have to do gameplay system balances and find a good sound designer.
The UI elements are definitely something that we have to double down on. So, there’s still a lot to do, but I’m hoping for a quick configuration.
Indie Games Devel:
Sound design is extremely important in these types of games because you will be listening to the same sound design for hours on end, and it must be excellent in order to keep the player focused on the game.
Chaos Systematic:
It must be good because, yes, we believe it is very important.
We’re aiming for Early Access, and hopefully with the Kickstarter, we’ll be able to speed up the process, because it’ll take years if you can’t do it full time. Then there’s the amount of work we have to do, because if the Kickstarter Campaign is successful, we intend to release Early Access at the end of.
We want to ramp up our efforts on this project as soon as possible!
Looking forward to Early Access
Although the wait for Nebula is still long, the interview with the development team has already clarified some things and provided us with a slew of intriguing ideas that have only added to our excitement for this new production.
We thank Márton and Balázs for their availability and remind you that the Kickstarter Campaign is still open if you want to support or contribute to their project.
We just have to wait for news and updates from Chaos Systematic to immerse ourselves as soon as possible in the wonderful world of Nebula to face monstrous creatures, cultivate new loves, and explore vast galaxies.
Useful links:
Nebula (official website)
