“Let me take a selfie!”
Just because WASD Live 2024 is now over and the doors are closed until the next event, the fun is far from over. With many games played and lots of developers and publishers to speak to, in today’s interview, we’re joined by Rudolf Kremers, the creative director behind the upcoming Bioframe Outpost. With an impressive photography-focused mechanic that brings the game to life, here is our complete WASD Live 2024 interview:
Rudolf Kremers | Creating the Perfect Picture with Bioframe Outpost:
Miketendo64: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role with Omni Systems?
Rudolf Kremers: Greetings! My name is Rudolf Kremers, I am CEO and creative director at Omni Systems Ltd. I am also in charge of intergalactic affairs, and sub-space gardening.
Miketendo64: In what capacity are you involved with Bioframe Outpost?
Rudolf Kremers: Bioframe Outpost was made by a small indie team, with help from various people over time. As such I have had to wear many hats. To name a few: I designed the game, did all the level design, the narrative design, and I also try and do a decent job as creative director and producer. So many hats!
Miketendo64: When did development of Bioframe Outpost first begin and what inspired its creation?
Rudolf Kremers: Bioframe has seen a few iterations, the first one many years ago. The first concept was about a desire to work on an exploration game that didn’t punish players for experimenting, going off the beaten path, and exploring their environment. The photography element was important from the start, as was the idea of a rich ecosystem. Some of the inspirations came from odd places. Karls Sims work on evolving digital creatures, monster infighting in Doom and Quake, photography in games like Fatal Frame and Beyond Good and Evil. I also liked the Oddworld games with their strangely fun and lateral-thinking possession mechanics…
Crucially, I wanted to make a game that is not about guns* and hardcore platforming, but instead provide a context that is more like a science expedition.
*There are no guns. The closest thing you get is a fire extinguisher
Miketendo64: Can you provide us with a brief overview of what Bioframne Outpost is about?
Rudolf Kremers: In Bioframe Outpost you start the game with nothing but a camera, and find yourself in a terraforming outpost, overrun by a mysterious alien life form which has infected creatures and systems throughout the station. It is your job to free the station from infection, learn about its nature and the affected creatures around you, and use that knowledge to take back control of the outpost.
You will learn how to manipulate creatures and the ecosystem in absolutely unexpected and powerful ways, gain equipment upgrades, and frequently find yourself in pretty exciting gameplay puzzles and action pieces with many different ways to approach them.
Miketendo64: Who is the main protagonist of Bioframe Outpost and what motivates them?
Rudolf Kremers: Freeman! (Not from Half Life, but more like Freeman Dyson, the famous theoretical physicist.). A friendly chap, no memory, but a very capable researcher with an adventurous spirit.
Miketendo64: If you had to compare Bioframe Outpost to another game, what would be its closest match in terms of gameplay or theme?
Rudolf Kremers: That is genuinely hard to answer. Some games come to mind: Spelunky – because there are always cascading outcomes based on your own decision making. Bioframe is EXTREMELY emergent, and frankly I still discover new approaches to the game. Breath of the Wild also expects you to play with game systems in interesting ways. Obv. These are games that I hardly dare to mention because they are so iconic, but there are useful comparisons there. Waking Mars had a comparable spirit and theme as well.
Miketendo64: Can you tell us more about Bioframe Outpost’s photography mechanic and its many uses?
Rudolf Kremers: Photography is absolutely key to the game, and deeply integrated with the other core game systems.
In Bioframe Outpost, creatures have a multitude of behaviours. To name a few: they can be hungry, or scared, or angry, or they are just idling. (just chilling)
Taking a photo of a creature while in a specific state, will do a few things:
1) Knowledge – The camera scanner will analyse the shot, and unlock data in your Compendium (your book of knowledge) about that specific state, highlighting aspects that are good to know. So take a photo of a Gonka Beast (very dangerous) eating, and you might learn what it likes to eat, if it prefers eating over fighting, and so on. So now, you can go and collect some of the food it likes, throw it in its path where it was blocking you, wait until it sees the food and chomps down, and give you a window of time to sneak past it.
2) Control – Photos stun creatures for a little while. But that stun duration increases when you photograph additional behaviours, thus encouraging players to photograph creatures in as many different behaviours as they can.
Not just so you can sneak past, but to create interesting outcomes. For example, you can stun a creature so it remains in a specific spot, then unleash a different creature nearby, and see how they interact.
3) Feedback – The Camera is also a tool that reports on the world around it. If you go into photo mode, and move the photo frame around, it will tell you many things about your environment simply through what is reported in the frame. A locked door, or save point, an important upgrade… it is all communicated through the camera frame.
Miketendo64: What are one of your favourite creatures in game that you can interact with and/or manipulate in Bioframe Outpost?
Rudolf Kremers: It is often the small creatures that are most fun. Because many of them can be frozen with your fire extinguisher, and picked up as a resource to be released elsewhere!
There is a little jumping mite you can freeze and put in your pocket. However, when you release it later it can attack other creatures, sometimes much bigger ones, jumping on them and weighing them down, slowing them down. It’s quite a sneaky thing to do, but so much fun.
Miketendo64: How many hours would you say is required to complete Bioframe Outpost’s in-game Compendium?
Rudolf Kremers: 15-30 hours hours depending on the approach. I need to test this actually, it has been a while since I tried!
Miketendo64: Lastly, would you be so kind as to list all platforms Bioframe Outpost is coming to?
Rudolf Kremers: Of course. We will release on PC, Switch, PS4 and Ps5, Xbox One and Xbox Series. It’s rather exciting!
For more WASD Live 2024 content, be sure to click on this link here:
About Bioframe Outpost:
Bioframe Outpost is a 2d sci-fi action adventure game, dedicated to exploration, experimentation, emergent gameplay, and narrative. Its photography-based approach to non-linear exploration and action gameplay offers a fresh take on Metroidvania gameplay.
“The same dream again. How many times must someone die in their sleep?” You wake up. No memory of the dreams. No identity, no idea of where you are or where you come from. You need to find out. Now.
Inspired by classic 70s and 80s sci-fi, Bioframe Outpost is a 2d sci-fi action adventure game, dedicated to exploration, experimentation, emergent gameplay and narrative. Its unique, photography-based approach to non-linear exploration and action gameplay offers a fresh take on Metroidvania gameplay.
Creatures and systems are immobilized by an alien infestation, only you can set them free. But beware; many pose a danger to yourself. Use photography to learn how they behave, and discover a hugely detailed and fascinating ecosystem. Fill your “Compendium” with vital knowledge, use it to manipulate creatures and systems in order to survive. Unlock secrets on how creatures interact, how you can pit them against each other and even how to use them as weapons or pickups.
Explore the immense universe of Nova Aurora and unleash your ingenuity and creativity to solve captivating, challenging puzzles.
Features:
- Massive narrative-driven single player campaign
- Vast interactive open world
- Complex ecosystem with a huge number of creatures
- Photography mechanic adds spice to exploration gameplay
- Non-linear puzzles
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