Is Hellion the next star of the survival genre?

Will Hellion be the next DayZ, Rust, or ARK? It's too soon to tell, but it does offer some rather interesting twists on a genre we've grown addicted to over the last few years. Hellion is set in a distant solar system, a solar system mankind aimed to colonise. An ambitious plan was set in motion to colonise the system during the 23rd century. But clearly things didn't go to plan. You wake up from your stasis the system is in turmoil. There are signs off battle as ships lay derelict in orbit. You'll have to fend for yourself, scavenge what you can, and team up with other survivors (or kill them for loot).

As you'd expect the developers plan to spend some time in Early Access, optimising, adding features and balancing the experience. We had the opportunity to ask some questions to producer Branislav Trajkovic from Serbian outfit Zero Gravity Games about the game and the upcoming Early Access launch.

With Hellion you seem to lean towards a hard sci fi approach. Why did you choose this direction and how far do you go in terms of realism and plausible technology?

Most space games focus on distant future and "science fantasy" technology. It is generally a good setting for grand space operas. The scope of Hellion is much smaller, therefore we believe that a certain level of plausibility adds to the immersion. Realistic and plausible technology, or something that people can envision happening in a few decades can help players identify with their characters. Any hard sci-fi fan could make an educated guess on how something in Hellion works, and they would probably be right.

Is there perhaps a line where some realism must be sacrificed for the sake of good gameplay?

Yes. Gameplay always comes first. People play games because they are fun, not because they are super-realistic. 100% realistic space experience would probably be boring for even the hardest sci-fi fans. Gameplay must be smooth, not tiring. One example of this is FTL travel. Several books and TV shows have been very successful without it, The Expanse being one of them. But one thing people often forget is that books and TV shows often skip weeks and months that characters spend traveling from point A to B. We cannot imagine any gamer having fun with that.

The survival genre has exploded over the last few years, but clearly Hellion offers something we haven't seen before. What in your mind sets it apart from other survival games?

The setting and the story. Hellion takes place in the ruins of mankind's first interstellar colony. It is essentially a post-apocalyptic setting with a twist. It is also set in the most hostile environment known to man. However there is logic behind all that madness, a reason for the chaos that players wake up to. In addition it is also a way for people to experience firsthand the thrill and excitement that usually follows the iconic sci-fi movies, such as Alien, Event Horizon, Space Odyssey...

Given the setting crafting must play out differently than in other games of this sort. How do you approach crafting and is scavenging as important and viable?

This is a difficult question to answer, as exact crafting mechanics are something that we are still debating. To us it is important that all gameplay aspects remain viable, so we actively try to avoid any mechanics that make other parts of gameplay obsolete or irrelevant. In the end, we believe the community will cast a deciding voice.

It would appear that player freedom is at the core of the experience. Are you incentivising co-operation in any way other than bettering your odds of survival?
Yes and no. Survival is, of course, the most important aspect of gameplay, but it is not the only one. Co-operation makes many things easier, but also presents a bigger target for potential raiders. Certain other gameplay elements will also play differently for lone wolfs and groups.

Providing a deep backstory to explore for players is also something that's not always there in this sort of game. How do you approach this, is that what you see players striving towards? Uncovering the truth or do you think most players will simply play to survive? Is there an end state where you've discovered all there is to know?

We believe a good background story is very important for the general atmosphere of the game. It sets the tone so to speak. Every good sci-fi story, always has an underlying mystery in the background. It is what keeps people wondering from scene to scene and season to season. Space is supposed to be the final frontier, full of mysteries and surprises, taking that away and reducing it to just mechanics felt wrong. It also provides players with added incentive for exploration, instead of just gathering resources and better equipment. We also want to reward those people that take interest and try to follow the story, or more accurately, gather the bits and pieces of scattered information into a thread that can be followed. However following the story will be entirely optional and up to individual players.

What sort of scale will there be in terms of players, ships and stations on a server?

For players, 50 to 200 but we still cannot say for sure, as we are still working on optimization. Balancing the number of players across individual servers is still something that we are debating as it impacts the gameplay. As for stations and ships, aside from player owned and built ships and stations our aim is to populate the system of Hellion with derelicts and remnants that players can explore and salvage and in some cases repair and reuse. Most ships that we plan to add to the game will need to be salvaged, repaired and repurposed by the players.

You're heading towards launch on Steam Early Access - what can players expect from the build you're launching and how do you envision the road ahead?

The road ahead? Difficult. Now back to the first part of the question. We still do not have a concrete list of all features that will be available at early access, as we are constantly adding in new and reworking the old. We want to tie all basic gameplay elements such as orbital mechanics, zero-g, lore, resource gathering, salvaging and player interaction (combat and co-op elements) into an interesting gameplay experience. We do not want to promise too much and end up delivering way less, but we will release a full EA feature list before Hellion goes live.

Are there any specific areas where you're looking for player feedback to aid game design?

The feedback we are most interested in is for those aspects of the game that one could call experimental. Orbital mechanics, zero gravity movement, resource gathering, co-op and salvaging.