Null Sequence (Interview)

 

1. WHAT WAS THE FIRST GAME THAT YOU PLAYED THAT MADE YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH GAMING?

Well, the first time entering the gaming world of UO, it's like opening the door to a new world to

me. The most common thing I do in the game is mining to make armor. Also, I can build a house

and invite friends to a party in this free digital world. I think that’s when I fell in love with gaming.

2. HOW DID YOU GET INTO GAME DEVELOPMENT?

Any developer is naturally the first and foremost game player. As a game player with a passion

for games, all developers have only one dream, which is to hope that their work can be played

and loved by most other players.

3. WHO AND WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO GET INTO GAME DEVELOPMENT?

Actually, there isn’t one specific person that inspired me to get into game development. It’s

more about the wonderful and excellent game works I’ve played. As I mentioned above, UO is a

special game that made me fall in with gaming. And the open world in it and its style really

attracted me and made me wonder if someday I could create a work like that. I think that’s my

biggest inspiration.

4. WHAT GAMES DID YOU WORK ON BEFORE NULL SEQUENCE?

We have been working in the gaming industry for over ten years and have participated in various

types of projects. Mainly ARPG type, I personally have also made lightweight survival mobile

game games before.

5. ARE YOU A CURRENT SOLO DEV OR DO YOU HAVE ATEAM AND IF SO HOW DID YOU PUT YOUR

TEAM TOGETHER?

The core members in our studio worked together from an early time, and we’re also friends who

would played games together. Gradually, we found ways of developing the conceptual

framework of Null Sequence. I was fortunate enough to find some partners with common

interests and goals to move forward. We also look forward to being fortunate enough to meet

more talents to participate in the future.

6. WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE NAME NULL SEQUENCE?

We are inspired by the computer language. First of all, “null” does not equal zero nor empty

string. It’s a word with infinite meaning to us. It could be nothing, meanwhile, it could be

anything. In our worldview, S.A.I.C., the AI enemies, marked mankind as a meaningless spices

that should be wiped out. However, the meaning of human nature is that everything is possible.

That’s where the story begins.

7. WHAT ENGINE ARE YOU USING FOR NULL SEQUENCE AND WHY?

We’re currently developing Null Sequence using the UE engine, and now it has been upgraded to

UE5. Many of our gameplay is supported by its powerful performance, and it help us better

create a larger world environment.

8. WHERE DOES NULL SEQUENCE TAKE PLACE?

Null Sequence’s story took place on earth in the 22nd century. In the future, AI rapidly developed

and integrated into life. Disaster struck when AI gained internet access, creating a humanoid

army and launching a human extinction plan, [Null Sequence]. Earth was devastated, Moon was

blown to dust, and the human population decreased by 99%. But a spaceship returned to Earth,

carrying last hope of human. The story starts from here.

9. WHO IS THE MAIN PROTAGONIST IN NULL SEQUENCE?

In Null Sequence, the flourishing AI brought disasters as well as the risk of ethical misconduct.

The arrogance of technological were eventually be cocooned, like the rainstorm in the dream,

gilded metal raindrops flooded the earth, and the sky rained down the seven plagues that once

thought as seven virtues that bring destruction.

That metallic rainstorm swept the land, and the pioneering organization, which proclaimed the

prophecy, gave itself the rather alarming name: Iron Rain.

Hundreds of years later, a group of space voyagers, carrying the flame of mankind, awoke from

hibernation after an accidental ship reentered the Earth... The player (protagonist) is one of

them.

10. TELL US ABOUT SOME OF THE STORYTELLING ELEMENTS OF THIS GAME?

The story is set in future. The earth became an apocalyptic world because of the runaway of

artificial intelligence. We tried to focus on the truth and the struggling parts of human nature. If

we rely too much on technology, what kind of future will the mankind march forward? We hope

to provoke some in-depth thinking by depicting the relationship between the mankind and

artificial intelligence.

In the early stage of the confrontation between S.A.I.C. and the human race, it is true that the

intelligent devices with absolute advantages reduced the number of human beings sharply, but

there were still a lot of resistance forces that were still holding out, and S.A.I.C. were unable to

exterminate these opponents. Even after S.A.I.C. were unified with the idea that human, the

backward species, should be eliminated, S.A.I.C. still had to admit that human beings did possess

natural advantages in certain aspects that could never be achieved by themselves, such as the

autonomy and adaptability of the body structure. Therefore, S.A.I.C. began to think of a

completely new way, attempting to reconstruct the human species other than

extermination….More will be waiting for you in the actual game.

11. NOW I SEE THAT THERE IS SOME CRAFTING IN THE GAME SO TELL US ABOUT SOME OF THE

THINGS YOU CAN CRAFT?

As with other SOC games, there is also gathering of supplies, production facilities, and the

building of dwellings.

As previously announced, one of the features of our game is that players can freely build their

home on the giant Titanwalker, and the rest of the manufacturing and building gameplay is also

centered around Titanwalkers. The overview of crafting is categorized as defense and attack.

Players can have power supplies, traps, booby traps, crossbow turrets and so on. All of these

"technologies" have to be "learned" by hunting and killing S.A.I.C.

The framework of our combat design is to take what we have in the post-apocalyptic world and

use it to fight against the enemy. Through the wisdom of mankind, skill combinations, players

can cause physical damage to the target, so as to enhance the fun and efficiency of the battle.

And that’s another core feature of our game: weapon skill modification.

12. WHAT TYPE OF ENEMIES CAN YOU BATTLE AGAINST IN THE GAME?

As the story background we have mentioned above, our players will fight against the A.I.

enemies whose are called S.A.I.C., standing for Supreme Artificial Intelligence Center.

S.A.I.C. was very powerful, hence human research organizations decided to limit its power with

[The Seven Virtues] and gathered scientists from all over the world to program it with virtues

such as tenacity, courage, generosity, kindness, loyalty, self-discipline, and justice. Each virtue

grants S.A.I.C. with different power and limit. These are the basic 7 types of S.A.I.C.

Besides that, S.A.I.C. also comes in different forms. There will be humanoid robots, floating

robots, flying robots, ponderous walking robots… We’ll bring out more types of S.A.I.C. in the

future.

13. WHAT TYPE OF AREAS CAN YOU EXPLORE IN THE GAME?

In our worldview, the Earth is a vast and apocalyptic wasteland, where human civilization was

destroyed. In addition to the remained natural landmarks, there also will be strongholds from

the Old World, territories occupied by S.A.I.C., and areas contaminated by nanometals. Different

regions have different environmental factors, such as different temperatures, toxic gases,

radiation, and so on. Our players need to be equipped with specific plugins to resist the dangers

in the environment.

14. TELL US ABOUT KICKSTARTER AND THINGS TO EXPECT IN THE CAMPAIGN?

Our KickStarter campaign for Null Sequence was launched on August, 15. As a small game studio,

we have put countless efforts, time and money to develop the game. Still, the project requires

more to achieve a perfect final effect. We decided to launch a KickStarter to call for more

attention for our work and hopefully the project get funded.

Also, to show gratitude to our backers, we have prepared awards for them, such as digital

artbook, soundtrack, limited character as well as titanwalker skin, and even chances of creating a

S.A.I.C. boss on your own!

Hopefully we can receive more support on KickStarter, and we’ll bring out good work asap.

15. THE BILION-DOLLAR QUESTION: WHY SHOULD PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME DAY ONE?

Most members in our team are players of survival games, and this kind of game requires

accumulating resources, and in that part, being able to freely create is something important in

our opinions. Apart from scenes and basic gameplay, we think this feature can bring out more

fun to our players. So don’t miss Null Sequence on day 1!!!

16. WHEN WILL THE NULL SEQUENCE BE RELEASE AND WHAT PL ATFORMS WILL IT BE ON?

Currently, we did not set an exact release date for Null Sequence. If our KS project can be

successfully funded, we’ll release the demo in November. The official game will be released first

on Steam in PC version.

17. WHERE CAN THEY FIND YOU ON SOCIAL MEDIA?

People can find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Also, they can join our discord to have

direct discussions with us. We’d love to communicate with our players.

At the end, hope more people can get to know more about us and support us on KickStarter after

this nice interview. Thanks for We appreciate it a lot.

KickStarter: https://kickstarter.com/projects/ironrain/null-sequence

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Null_Sequence

Facebook: https://facebook.com/nullsequenceofficial

Discord: https://discord.gg/j5tbYVgCdH