Are you ready to start your own space journey? 🚀
Base One just launched on Steam for PC & Mac, GOG, and the Mac App Store!
We hosted an interview with Mark from the PixFroze team, so he could answer all of your questions about the game and its development!
What provided the inspiration for Base One?
In fact, our project is a rethinking of the famous Planetbase. We took it as a basis and added many new elements. The plot was inspired by stories from the Star Trek universe. This is pure fantasy, a flight of thought without any serious scientific implications.
To go where no man has gone before: Base One is inspired by the Planetbase game and the Star Trek universe.
What’s your favorite map to play?
My favorites are “El dorado” (Episode 2 Mission 3) and “DLC: Consequences” bonus mission. They are really interesting in terms of the balance of difficulty / interesting gaming experience.
What was the biggest challenge in bringing Base One to life?
The biggest challenge for us was programming the characters' artificial intelligence. This was our first experience in such tasks. Despite the apparent simplicity of the cycle of behavior of the inhabitants of the station, we faced a lot of difficulties.
Programming the characters' AI is more complicated than it might look.
What has it been like trying to release a game during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic?
For our small team, everything was quite simple - we all work remotely, periodically hold online working meetings. As far as I know, development teams working in the offices have faced some problems. The sudden transition to remote work inevitably creates difficulties for already established work processes.
What’s been your favorite memory from your time spent working on Base One?
The most interesting process was creating a working prototype of the game. It wasn't easy. We rewrote the design document several times because a lot of the things that were written on paper just didn't work. In the end, what we got was very different from the original idea.
What do you think fans will love the most about Base One?
We ended up with a kind of hybrid genre, an interesting mix of small mechanics from different games. All this does not overcomplicate the gameplay, and at the same time makes it somewhat unusual, non-standard. Combined with a set of interesting story missions, this creates an interesting gaming experience. The apparent simplicity and even primitivism at the very beginning is compensated for by a serious challenge to the player in the later stages.
The game is a combination of small mechanics of different games and interesting story missions.
What are some of your favourite games to play?
My personal preferences are very diverse and they are not related only to strategies and simulations. I really like the classics: Mass Effect, Bioshock, the entire Fallout series, I really love Sim City, the very old Transport Tycoon Deluxe and its modern counterparts. Of the recent projects, I would like to mention Satisfactory and Dyson Sphere Program - very interesting projects.
Any ideas for future additions to the game?
In principle, this game can be developed in several directions: station functionality, economics, strategy. We have a number of ideas that can seriously expand the scope of the gameplay and increase the complexity of the game. Imagine a station that can build its own warships, exchange resources with other stations, etc.
The devs have a lot of ideas to expand Base One, including warships, exchanging resources with other stations, etc.
Do you have any advice for any aspiring developers?
Never stop. The path of an indie developer is difficult, but at the same time very exciting. Start small, keep moving forward, and always follow through on what you started.