In Innerspace, you are the cartographer and the lore keeper of the long-forgotten civilizations of these water-coated spheres.
While exploring the bubbles that make up Innerspace, you may come across relics that grant you insight to the history of the sphere and fill in bits of the map. Your travel companion, the archaeologist, will accept relics in exchange for upgrades to your aircraft. You may even catch a glimpse of monolithic creatures that rule over their bubbles as demigods.
Innerspace’s aerial engine wasn’t designed to simulate realistic flying; instead, the plane flies free from the effects of gravity to focus on exploration. The game even features a number of advanced flying techniques that, once mastered, should prove invaluable throughout the game.
Whether exploring the skies or diving under the waves, Innerspace promises a wealth of sights to see in a fantastically imagined world, the likes of which have never crossed my path before.
After witnessing it get Kickstarted rather successfully last month, I decided to contact PolyKnightGames for an interview to see how Innerspace is shaping up in the mind of Creative Director, Tyler Tomaseski.
For days, I dug around their pages trying to find every scrap of info that I could about the game. I have to hand it to PolyKnightGames, they know how to withhold just enough information to leave my head spinning. Definitely not the worst case scenario.
Interview with Creative Director
It took some time to come up with ten solid questions that I really wanted to ask Creative Director, Tyler Tomaseski. I’m extremely gracious for his patience and the time he spent answering my questions. I’m sure they are very busy chipping away at the fine details of the game.
Some of the answers I got back only brought a flood of new questions to mind. Innerspace is different than everything I’ve ever seen before.
Q1: When you find relics in Innerspace, it opens up the option for the archeologist to upgrade your plane. What kind of upgrades can players expect to see from the archeologist? Are upgrades dependant on what you find? In other words, can you grab obscure relics first to nab different upgrades, therefore changing the way that the game progresses?
This really opens up the door for people who want to have a unique experience, and I think it’s great that upgrades depend on the artifact instead of relying on something silly like ‘artifact points’. I’m excited to see what kinds of upgrades will make it into the game!
Q2: Will you be adding any customization options for planes? Like if I wanted to paint my plane black, give it blue feathery wings, make it shoot pink lasers, and have a kite trailing behind it, could I do that? If not, do the upgrades you acquire make an apparent impact on your plane?
Any level of customization is important, and makes each experience feel more personal than the last. Even just a few skins to start out with is a lot more than some games present to us.
Q3: You mention that picking up relics will fill in parts of your map, however, I haven’t seen any indication of a map at all. How have you designed the in-game map to work, for a game with such unique spatial features as this one?
The unlocked chunks aren’t shown in this screenshot, as we’re developing the tools for that specific feature right now.
The Innerspace bubbles definitely have interesting shape. I wonder if you will be able to rotate the map and examine it in a 3D space. Those grooves on the right side of this map look like places where land juts out of the waters.
Q4: I saw the whale companion. He’s cute as a button! Are you planning on adding any extra companions? What would your personal travel companion be?
Companions are nice to have by your side, especially in a world like Innerspace where your only other companion in sight is an old archaeologist only interested in relics.
Q5: I see that you list the special invisible pillars in this game as enemies. To me, this says that the game won’t be seeing any true combat, but rather estranged obstacles meant to boggle your progress. This is a refreshing spin-off of the average, kill-able video game enemy. What gave you the idea to add enemies like this, and what other types of enemies do you have plans for, other than the pillars?
I’m excited to see how these new enemy designs pan out. This is an extremely refreshing take away from the painfully mortal enemies that make their way into so many games.
Q6: Demigods in this game look amazing. Seeing those gifs of the Mountain was absolutely awe-inspiring, but also sent chills up my spine. That crustacean is so big it could probably get my plane stuck between its teeth. That being said, will any of the demigods pose a threat to your vehicle?
Discovering demigods like this as you make your way around the bubbles of Innerspace is one of the things that appeals to me about the gameplay, here. I would probably fly around each demigod for a time, trying to figure out how they react to different situations. Interactive gameplay experiences like that in such a passive-aggressive game are really beautiful.
Q7: Since you’re exploring the insides of some inverted bio-system, it was noted that gravity is pulling directly away from the center. How will this affect your plane as your fly, or affect some of the special flying manuvers, like Diving or Stalling?
Q8: Are there any ‘home ports’ in the game, where the player goes to sell items (if applicable) or get upgrades for their plane? Or does the archaeologist travel with you, in your plane?
When it comes to controls, first and foremost we prioritize intuitive controls. We’re making a flying game, not a flying simulator.
I’m assuming the pinging feature will make full use of the map when it’s more fleshed out. I wonder at the types of things the old archaeologist would find interesting enough to explore!
Q9: You mention the environment is moldable/destructible with the wing blades and the laser guns. How in depth does this feature go? What kinds of things can you destroy or slice into? If you could expand upon this feature, how would you do so?
I’m very interested in how this will play into unlocking hidden areas or artifacts. I see a lot of potential in finding hard-to-get-to areas through camouflaged environments.
The game isn’t so much about the chaos you’re inducing, so we want to limit the destructible environments to a few points where they are most effective. This way, the interaction you have with the environment stays significant and rewarding, instead of meaningless and destructive.
Q10: What was the fuel for the ideas that were poured into this game? What sparked the initial idea? What brought in the idea of Demi Gods and enemies-that-don’t-really-hurt-you? Why inverted interconnected spheres? I’ve never seen anything quite like this.
We spend a lot of time overthinking things. Most of our ideas come from that. I think that makes them less rash/big and more inspired.
Closing Thoughts
Innerspace, is definitely a game I’m going to look out for. The team over at PolyKnightGames is doing a stellar job designing a totally unique experience from the ground up. I can’t wait to see how this game will look by the time it is nearing completion.
If you would like to support these indie developers, be sure to check out their website to learn more.
What are your thoughts on Innerspace so far? Do you find its intuitive and unique gameplay elements appealing? I can’t say I’ve ever seen a game attempt anything quite like this.
