There are games that occasionally get caught in the crosshairs of the gaming community, almost garnering an overwhelming negative reception overnight.
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It doesn’t take much, but once this happens, it tends to be a snowball effect that is hard to stop, and these games tend to be written off before they even hit the digital shelves.
This is something that has happened to Build a Rocket Boy’s Mindseye. A game that has received a mountain of press in the last few days, ranging from coverage sparking confusion to statements that have hinted at unrest within the ranks of the development team.
The marketing and overall noise surrounding Mindseye has been surreal to say the least, and that’s why we sat down with Adam Whiting to learn more.
With the game coming out in a matter of days, we aimed to find out just what Mindseye is, what sets it apart from the many contemporaries it has drawn comparison with, and, we asked just what they made of the reception the game has received.
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Q: Firstly, let’s kick things off with the immediate comparisons to GTA, Cyberpunk 2077, and Watch Dogs that this new IP has received. I want you to have the definitive say. Which games served as the core inspiration for Mindseye?
A:We took a lot of our inspiration from different forms of media and culture, specifically cinema. Leslie is always looking to the real world and our culture for inspiration. So it’s equal parts cinematic and real-world inspiration that make up Mindseye.
A lot of the themes that we include in the narrative are themes that are quite relevant in society right now. Things like global warming, AI, big business, and politics intertwining. These were all the things that we saw and wanted to explore in our story.
Q: To offer a contrast, a lot of people have been so focused on what game Mindseye is like that I want to ask, what is the one key aspect of Mindseye that makes it stand out from the pack?
A: I think in terms of our raw gameplay, DC2, the companion drone helps to set us apart from anything else in terms of third-person action. The fact that you can use the abilities the drone has, and while you’re reloading, you can also be zapping or hacking or whatever you need in the moment. That’s a really standout feature.
But really, our secret weapon is the creation tool that we have been making alongside the game. Everything that you see and play through in Mindseye has been constructed in that same creation tool.
We have our team constantly creating new and exciting segments using this tool, and we give that exact tool to the players. Not a dumbed-down or watered-down version, but the exact same one, and it’s super intuitive.
It’s constructed in such a way that you’re able to simply use drag-and-drop, experiment, and delve into the logic of each system. Plus, we’ll have a bunch of helpful tools at launch that will help players get acquainted with it.
Q: The creation mode sounds incredible, but it might still be a little vague as to what players can actually do with this feature. What can the player expect to be able to do with this feature, and just how flexible is it?
A: Basically, anything in terms of gameplay that’s from a third-person perspective, you can pretty much build within this creation system. We have this logic system that allows you to place logic nodes to make different things interact with the player, the environment, different objects, and props.
Then you can combine them as you like, and there’s no upper limit to how many logic nodes you can have. Which means you can build really creative and sophisticated segments of gameplay.
I think our players are really going to blow us away with what they come up with. Obviously, we had to be a little more restrained when building the game in the same system to make sure that it’s polished and cinematic, but we want our players to get really wacky with it, and I’m really excited to see what they build.
Q: What we have seen has largely been mission-based and very curated. Can you speak about how much of a role the world plays in this game, and how much freedom the player has to enjoy this one as a sandbox and go off script?
A: It really depends from one mission to the next. As you traverse the city, you can take different paths and routes. Obviously, if you’re following a target, you need to tail them, but we’ll set up large checkpoints, so there’s still room to navigate as you see fit.
We wanted to give players a sense of freedom and exploration, as we didn’t want them to feel too guided or on-rails as they navigate the city. But once you get to a certain point in the game, you unlock a free-roam mode.
Admittedly, that is a bit of a work in progress as we are adding to the city all the time, and adding more content, gameplay, and narrative. All of which will set us up for future developments in the world of Mindseye.
Q: And just to elaborate on that ‘work in progress’ statement. I just want to ask, does Mindseye offer a fully built city? There’s no hidden unrendered textures or invisible walls? Is it a complete city that can be fully explored in this free-roam mode?
A:No missing textures, no. You’ve got the entire city and the whole surrounding desert area to explore, and there’s a bunch of stuff to do.Obviously, the interior areas are mainly those that have been tailor-made for the various parts of the story in which they take place. But we have plans to open this up even more.
But no, there are no areas you’ll go to where there are no textures. Everything is built to a very high quality, and we are going to continue to refine this as we continue building the open world experience in the coming months.
Q: Then, speaking of this use of the wider world of Mindseye, we heard the announcement of the upcoming Hitman crossover today. What was it like to work alongside that IP, and can you reveal anything about what we can expect from that crossover?
A: I think ultimately we will be sticking to our strengths when it comes to Mindseye and leaning into the things that are unique to our game. I can’t really say much more than that right now, but we will be very respectful to the Hitman IP, and we are huge fans of Agent 47.
So, effectively, we are just trying to offer the Mindseye-specific version of that experience. Plus, we have some other exciting collaborations planned for the future as well.
Q: There have also been rumblings of multiplayer for this title. What does the team envision for this? Are you thinking co-op or PVP, for example?
A: I think initially, we are looking at co-op, but we also want to facilitate some PVP features as well, such as competitive racing or deathmatches.
But primarily, we are looking at allowing players to work together to play through more structured missions and content. We intend to kind of do a little bit of everything as Mindseye develops after launch, and because the players have access to all those functions and tools, if they want to go down the path of super-competitive PVP, then let them have at it.
I’ve played PC games my entire life, and every big Esport that exists has its genesis from someone who is passionate about a game that they loved making a mod in their bedroom, and we want to bring that barrier down so that anyone who is creative to have a platform to show it and have other players enjoy what they create.
Q: Then lastly, I feel we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Mindseye’s reception has been a little negative, to say the least, ahead of launch. Some have been saying that they barely know what this game is, and a lot of people seem to have it in their crosshairs. I just want to give you the platform to speak about that. What have you made of the reception of Mindseye as launch day looms?
A: Yeah, so firstly, we have been intentionally mysterious as we have a really interesting story that we don’t want to spoil. But also, we want to make a louder noise just before launch rather than dangle the carrot of ‘in two years’ time, you’re able to play this thing.'
But, I think ultimately we have just had our heads down, focused on making this a really great game and as polished as possible. We attempt to ignore any negativity because it’s not helpful.
At the end of the day, we are a new, independent studio with an independent spirit, and we’re just trying to bring our first game to market. So when the game comes out in a few days, I invite players to dive in and make their own judgements.
