Skip to main content

Design Bites: FTL: Faster Than Light

The "Design Bites" series is about learning or appreciating just one design element of one game. It's about applying an analytical eye, even if it doesn't touch on everything.


What's FTL: Faster Than Light?

FTL: Faster Than Light is a roguelike top-down space-sim developed and released by Subset Games in Late 2012. The player manages a small spaceship and crew, arranging them on the ship and adjusting power levels for various systems like shields, weapons and engines. You jump from area to area, where you may encounter other ships or answer distress calls. All the while, the rebel fleet advances on your position, making areas behind you dangerous.

What's Awesome?

Permadeath, an important element of the roguelike formula. When used correctly it creates a bond between the player and their character. It immerses us by making our decisions carry more weight and encourages us to care for the characters we're controlling more deeply - emotionally. FTL is great example of these things.

As a new player, FTL excels at creating a feeling of desperation - every choice carries tension. Each time you jump to a new location, you are presented with a choice. This could be the choice to avoid or engage a hostile ship, but it could also be to answer a call for help, a trade offer or any number of other things.


These, sometimes moral, choices have a large impact on your ship both immediately and for the long term future. You need resources like fuel to make the trip, and missiles to defend yourself.

You may begin the game by fighting all slave ships you encounter on moral grounds but, eventually, you might reach a point where doing business with a slave trader might be the key to your survival. You are put into positions where you may need to take advantage of someone, fight unwillingly, or give away precious scrap just to avoid dying and losing all your progress. 

Moral choices in games often amount to a choice between some absolute "good" and "evil", where the only difference is who gives you quests and what color your eyes glow. In FTL they are about doing the right thing versus doing the smart thing, and I found myself agonising over both.

Comments

  1. I read your post and got it quite informative. I couldn’t find any knowledge on this matter prior to. I would like to thanks for sharing this article here. The article you have shared here is very informative and the points you have mentioned are very helpful. Thank you so much. building material suppliers in dubai.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I got so involved in this material that I couldn’t stop reading. I admire this article for the well-researched content and excellent wording. I am impressed with your work and skill. Thank you so much. Top Energy Management Services Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great job for publishing such a nice article. Your article isn’t only useful but it is additionally really informative. Thank you because you have been willing to share information with us. website agency jakarta.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really appreciate your work which you have shared here. The article you have shared here is very informative and the points you have mentioned are very helpful. Thank you so much. Circuit Board Cloning.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The article you have shared here is very informative and the points you have mentioned are very helpful. Very well written article. It was awesome article to read. Complete rich content and fully informative. hardware store online.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You have shared a nice article here. Your article is very informative and useful. I read this article; it is really informative one. Your way of writing and making things clear is very impressive. Thanking you for such an informative article. Cartridge World Miami.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I read your post and got it quite informative. I couldn't find any knowledge on this matter prior to. I am impressed by the details that you have shared in this post and It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. I would like to thanks for sharing this article here. agency jakarta.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am impressed by the details that you have shared in this post and It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. It was awesome article to read. Complete rich content and fully informative. I would like to thanks for sharing this article here. Best Presets for Instagram.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The article you have shared here is very informative and the points you have mentioned are very helpful. Nice article, which you have shared here. Your article is very informative and I liked your way to express your views in this post. Top Executive Compensation Consultants.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I would like to thanks for sharing this article here. Very well written article. This information is meaningful and magnificent which you have shared here. I am impressed by the details that you have shared in this post and It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. Call Center Consulting Services Miami.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Very well written article. This information is meaningful and magnificent which you have shared here. I am impressed by the details that you have shared in this post and It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. I would like to thanks for sharing this article here. Cartridge World Miami.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great job for publishing such a nice article. Your article isn’t only useful but it is additionally really informative. Thank you because you have been willing to share information with us. social media agency Jakarta.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am glad that I came to see this, I really loved it. I read your post and got it quite informative. I couldn't find any knowledge on this matter prior to. I would like to thanks for sharing this article here. Professional Energy Expert Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I am impressed by the details that you have shared in this post and It reveals how nicely you understand this subject. I would like to thanks for sharing this article here. Pouch Case Packer.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I admire this article for the well-researched content and excellent wording. I got so involved in this material that I couldn’t stop reading. I really appreciate your work which you have shared here. I would like to thanks for sharing this article here. Non Chinese Smartphones under 15000.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your article is very informative and I liked your way to express your views in this post. You are sharing a piece of nice information about real estate, it helped me. Keep it up and in the future sharing more articles like this. Thank you for sharing this article here. Circuit Board Cloning.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I have been playing Subset Games for over four years now and my brother have been playing this game since 2011. According to him, before the invention of FTL, it was very difficult to control the game, due to which it was very difficult to reach the next level of the game. Coursework Writing Services

    ReplyDelete
  18. This website allows its visitors to easily ocean of games pc game list all the popular and latest elex game review from the years 2020, 2019 and more.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for sharing wonderful info, Found your post interesting, can not wait to see more from you. Good luck for upcoming post!!! You can also read more from Social media marketing agency in Winnipeg

    ReplyDelete
  20. You have mentioned every aspects of the subject through this article, can you please write about "accountants for dentists"?

    ReplyDelete
  21. nice post, keep posting posts like these and please write a blog about Bras

    ReplyDelete
  22. Choose from over 60 thrilling desk games, with friendly sellers and an atmosphere of unparalleled consolation. Try your hand at such favorites as Blackjack or Roulette, or take a shot at Mississippi Stud, EZ Pai Gow, Blazing 7’s Blackjack Progressive, Craps or Craps No More. If you are 카지노 사이트 within the temper for thrilling, high-stakes motion, our devoted high restrict desk games area is the place.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Unity: How Adapters can help you write fewer MonoBehaviours

TL;DR: You don't need to duplicate a bunch of code to do the same things to a Image and a SpriteRenderer , or RectTransform and Transform , etc. You can use a simple pattern called the Adapter Pattern. If you've never used it before, this post explains how. The Problem: Image vs SpriteRenderer Lets say you want to make a sprite fade out , maybe its a dead monster or a collectible, but in either case you want it to gracefully depart from the screen rather than blink out of existence. Kinda like this eyeball monster from  Beastly : So that's pretty easy right, one way of doing it is with a MonoBehaviour that modifies the sprites alpha value via SpriteRenderer.color . Your class might look something like this: public class AlphaFaderSprite : MonoBehaviour { public SpriteRenderer spr; public float fade_percentage; void Update() { spr.color = new Color(spr.color.r, spr.color.g, spr.color.b, fade_percentage); } } Now, anyone who's used Unit

Wacom vs N-Trig - A Modern Comparison

WARNING : This post is long. I wrote this because I could not find an unbiased comparison of the modern N-Trig and Wacom technologies online. It was written in response to the artistic outcry regarding the Surface Pro 3. If you are an artist, I believe it is worth reading. UPDATED as of 20th June 2014 to reflect N-Trig software advancements. UPDATED as of 23rd June 2014 to reflect new direct Digitizer comparison information. Those of you who may visit this site regularly will know that I am a game developer, but what you might not know is that I also do a lot of sketching. (Maybe one day I will post the stuff online) Since I am a geek, I do almost all of my sketching digitally, which means I am always looking out for new developments in digitizer technology. This brings me to this post in particular: Following the announcement of the Surface Pro 3 , many artists were shocked and disappointed by the news that the SP3 would be using N-Trig technology rather than Wacom techn

Design Bites: Minecraft - Feed The Beast

The "Design Bites" series is about learning or appreciating just one design element of one game. It's about applying an analytical eye, even if it doesn't touch on everything. What's Minecraft - Feed The Beast? Minecraft is a Sandbox developed and released by Mojang in 2011 (Kinda, it was in beta for a long time). The player roams a procedurally generated world building things and collecting resources with a variety of tools. Feed The Beast (FTB) is a collection of Mods for Minecraft, which add new items, creatures, resources and other features to the game. There are many different Feed The Beast modpacks, each with their own goals and focuses. This article is specifically about "Feed The Beast: Infinity Evolved". I would encourage anyone curious about FTB to head on over to the Feed The Beast website or Forums and check it out! What's Awesome? Deep inside all humans is the burning desire to build a nuclear reactor. No? Just me? Alr