Upcoming game Cygnus Enterprises combines ARPG and management simulation elements to create an incredibly unique experience. The sci-fi game aims to be a lighter title than many of the post apocalyptic space-set titles of recent years, set on a lush alien planet called Mytilus where players will build up a base. The game comes from Team Miaozi, a team consisting of many industry veterans who have worked on titles like the Far Cry series, Total War, and Sea of Thieves.
Cygnus Enterprises is a game that's largely inspired by Stardew Valley and Helldivers, the former for its idyllic environments and the latter for its shooting mechanics. Players are charged with repairing a Cygnus Enterprises outpost, making it inhabitable while also driving up its profits. Players will need to go on combat missions to gather resources, which they'll in turn bring back to the base to create better buildings and gear for future missions, creating a satisfying gameplay loop that will be interwoven with a narrative about the corporation.
Screen Rant sat down with Cygnus Enterprises' Tech Director and Lead Programmer Brian Cox and Producer and Project Manager Oscar Lopez to discuss combining the two genres into a cohesive experience, the future of the game, and what players can look forward to in coming months.
Screen Rant: First, I want to talk about the overarching concept of Cygnus Enterprises, because a combination of management sim and ARPG is one that I don't think I've ever seen before, and I'm very curious how that first came about. Was that the vision you had for the game from the very beginning?
Brian Cox: So our creative director, Eva [Jobse], she had very ambitious goals for the game. And she wanted to create a positive sci-fi world where the player has a lot of control and impact on this world. And in order to maximize the impact of the player on this alien planet, it makes sense for the player to have an active role in building and managing their own city. So the player can really have a sense of progression by seeing everything evolve and build up.
How would you guys say that your past experience has impacted how you've approached the game? I know some of the past games that you've worked on, Brian, like Age of Wonders III and Sea of Thieves have a couple of the elements like structure placement and crafting, but it seems like for both of you this is a little bit of new territory. I'm curious how your past has influenced you.
Brian Cox: So something that I learned a lot from working on Sea of Thieves at Rare was gameplay prototyping. So starting from a designer's idea, then making a gameplay prototype, then testing if it's fun, iterating on it, and then turning it into a final game. And from working on the Far Cry series at Ubisoft, I learned how to build an engaging world, and how you can really engage the player through storytelling.
So when we joined NetEase to make this project, there were only a few of us. I believe Oscar and me were within the first five people who joined the team, and now we're approximately 55 people. And then we had to go through hundreds of resumes, we hired people from all over the world based on their skills. And we made a very diverse team with people with a wide array of skill sets.
What about you Oscar?
Oscar Lopez: So this was kind of a bit of a new territory for me. I come from mobile, so this was my first PC adventure. However, in terms of production, at the end of the day, it is just dealing with humans, with people, and we all share the same passion, right? So I had the opportunity to learn from some of the best in order to create such an amazing game.
So yes, in how my experiences influenced it, likely working at Social Point in Barcelona, who belong to Take Two, they had amazing, amazing production techniques on how to organize the teams and how to make everyone thrive to the same objective. So applying that knowledge into Cygnus Enterprises, it turned out to work pretty well.
Besides the titles that you guys have worked on, what games would you say you've drawn the most inspiration from when it comes to Cygnus Enterprises?
Oscar Lopez: That's a great question. So actually, when we started, there were a lot of games, because we were big fans of especially indie games. So, for instance, one of the games that we've drawn most inspiration from in terms of combat was Helldivers, which is a game that we still play in the lunch breaks from time to time all together.
Then also for the atmosphere, as Brian mentioned, our creative director wanted this positive atmosphere, this idyllic world where you would like to live in, right? So for the base, we were inspired a lot with Stardew Valley. When you play that game, you feel so relaxed, and you enjoy walking around and getting to know the villagers and to do your little tasks. So that's the atmosphere that we wanted to create in the base, like the kind of Stardew Valley atmosphere where you feel that you really want to live there.
But then also, we're really big fans of indie games that maybe you've never heard of, but there are bits and pieces that we kind of draw inspiration from, saying like "All these mechanics look fantastic" or "This could work really well here." And some of them would be Littewood, Forager, and Regions of Ruin. But there are plenty more that we keep on exploring and playing around with basically all day, discovering new games and thinking, "Oh, this could work really nice." Because at the end of the day, it's like kind of a big puzzle that you're working on, putting original ideas with different ideas from everywhere.
Just in general, the environment is this really interesting, lush, alien planet, and I know when you're going into designing an alien world, it's a blank slate - you can make it whatever you want it to be. How did you guys settle on the aesthetic that the game ended up with?
Brian Cox: So as I said earlier, Eva really wanted to create a positive sci-fi world, and in order to achieve that, the world has vibrant colors. And she didn't want to have to scary creatures in the game, so the creatures had to be cute, yet hostile towards the players. So how did we solve that? Well, we made cute animals, and then we said, "Okay, well, they've got these crystal shards that are growing from their back because they've been infected with something that you will discover when playing the game."
Originally, we tried with insects, but it was very difficult to make insects look cute and fit a positive sci-fi theme. So for that reason, the art team proposed to make it look like a mammal instead.
Oscar Lopez: Actually, there is another point to add to this, which is: why this positive sci-fi? Well, Eva, and all of us, we grew up with Star Trek, right? So we wanted to go back to those roots of positive sci-fi. Meaning, if you think about it, nowadays a lot of the sci-fi worlds that we get to know in video games and also in films are much more post-apocalyptic ruin, or kind of decadent, so it doesn't look like the future is too bright. So considering that we loved Star Trek, we went, "Okay, how we can make a future that's not so bad, that we actually want to look forward to?"
That's why we put a lot of work into creating something that looks alien enough and looks far enough away from the reality we know, but at the same time that we would like to live in. So of course, colorful plants and animals that, yeah, some people call dinosaur-like, we didn't think about it when we were making them. We were just thinking about making some mammals, four legs, but at the same time that they could have some key characteristics that the player could find even funny or cute, but at the same time that they could indeed pose some threat, not because they're violent, just because they're wild.
I will say I noted them as dinosaur-like in my notes, and also that they are very cute.
Oscar Lopez: We heard from some people that they call them dinosaurs, and indeed, now looking back, they do look a little bit like dinosaurs.
I'm curious about the sort of enterprise side of things. I know that it's about building up an outpost on this planet, and I know you can't reveal everything, but can you give me a little bit more information about the kind of goods that you're dealing with, and how that business side of things works?
Oscar Lopez: So the thing is that, indeed, there is this corporate theme to the game, right? There is this corporation, which is called Cygnus Enterprises that managed to discover some technology that allows humanity to travel faster than light and therefore conquer planets that were out of reach before. This company, they set up settlements and then visitors can go there, right? And they kind of just live in the amenities that you provide.
So, you're essentially some sort of space gas station, where people would go and enjoy the facilities that you offer and also buy and sell goods to you. But then you get into the story that develops during the game, that there are some problems here. There was some mystery problem that happened before, and basically, you start at the very bottom in the company and as you're doing your story you will progress through the corporate ladder of this company. And that will unlock some characters and some story plots that are pretty interesting, in my opinion.
Yeah, I'm curious about the characters as well. Again, I'm sure it's something you can't reveal too much of, but the trailer seemed to set up two characters, one that came off as a little cocky and overconfident. Is there anything you can tell me about those guys?
Oscar Lopez: Well, I think so. So, you see two characters, right? One is the main player, the player character, which is going to be basically the main character in the story, which is fully customizable. So in this trailer it was a girl, but you could play it however you want.
The second character that we've seen is this personal electronic assistant, or PEA we call it for short. That's a robot that follows you everywhere in order to make sure that you don't break anything that is company property. So technically, she's your boss.
And finally, you have Daniel who you’ve also seen in the trailer, he is a character that you either will love or hate. He's basically a famous merchant and a live streamer that visits your base, and his role in the game is that he's going to help you on your quest on turning that base into a profitable state. So at some point his role will aid you, will help you towards that goal a little bit, like, "Okay, well, we'll need to do this, we'll need to do that in order to start earning more."
And in terms of how the game is balanced between ARPG and management, would you say it's about 50/50? Or does one take a little precedent over the other?
Brian Cox: So the game design intention was indeed to make the balance 50/50 between combat base management, but in the early part of the game, when you reach the base, it's still in a derelict state, you have to repair it first. So at that point, there's not so many buildings that are fully operational yet, and your goal is to retrieve materials to get those buildings repaired and up and running.
So at the start of the game, it's more combat focused. But then later, the more buildings you've restored, the more buildings you've built, the more visitors and employees you have in your base, then the base management part will take more time.
Oscar Lopez: It's important to note as well, that one cannot exist without the other. So in order to thrive in the combat, you will definitely have to have a base that sustains you, in order to get the best gear you will have to use the base. And you will have to be good at the combat missions, because otherwise you won't have enough resources to build your base. So in this kind of way, even if indeed the game evolves, you will need both and you will need to be more or less be good at both, if you want to thrive throughout the game.
That sounds like it makes a really satisfying gameplay loop. Are there any features of the game, without giving too much away, that you're most excited about that you want to talk about?
Oscar Lopez: What do you think Brian?
Brian Cox: Hmm. So for me, I'm an MMO player, and I like progression in a game. So the nice thing about our game is that we have many different classes for the player to choose from. The player can spend their attribute points and skill points the way he or she likes, so you can really customize your character from the very start of the game.
You can customize how your character looks, then by spending your skill and attribute points in a certain class tree, you can choose what kind of combat style you go for. And at the same time, you can choose which buildings you build and how you manage your base. So the game gives you a lot of freedom. The player can use their creativity and play the game the way they like to play it, and that for me is the most fun part about the game.
Oscar Lopez: Actually, I have one as well. There are parts of the game that I consider hilarious. There is one mission in particular, I'm not going to reveal anything, but I will say that you're with Daniel and you're doing some stuff there. And I was playing it yesterday morning and I was crying laughing at the Daniel saying some stupid things. So I'm really looking forward to seeing people playing and seeing how they react to that and seeing if they like it as much as I do.
Is there anything you want players to know about Cygnus Enterprises?
Brian Cox: Oscar, I leave this one to you.
Oscar Lopez: There is a lot. Basically, I would like the players to look forward. This is just the beginning of our path with Cygnus Enterprises. We have big ideas on how to move forward from here, this is just early access. And there's a production plan that follows in 2023, with a lot more to come. A lot more stories, a lot more characters, a lot more enemies and story plots. So, if there is something to look forward to, it's the future.
Brian Cox: Couldn't say it any better.
Cygnus Enterprises will release for PC in early access on Steam December 16.