Velocity 2X is a platformer and shooter available on PlayStation 4, as well as the PlayStation Vita, and it’s launching on PC and Xbox One next week via Activision’s recently revived Sierra label. To celebrate, developer FuturLab has released a behind-the-scenes video detailing the game’s development.
Although fast-paced action games aren’t known for particularly deep narratives, there still has to be enough motivation to keep you going from one level to the next. For FuturLab, finding this balance between story and direct player control meant cutting back on the original narrative substantially.
“Creating a story for an action game is really quite tricky,” says managing director James Marsden. “The player just wants keep moving, keep playing, and if you put in walls where they have to go through cutscenes, it can get frustrating.”
Character artist Jack Hamilton also emphasized that character designs were largely influenced by the planets that protagonist Kai would be visiting. A particularly tree-laden world, for instance, is filled with “amphibious creatures,” and Hamilton researched amphibian anatomy to make sure his designs were as realistic as fictional alien races can be.
“Velocity 2X is definitely our greatest achievement.” adds operations director Kirsty Rigden. “It’s the first time that we had an established team working together throughout the entire development, and I think that really reflects in the final quality of the game.”
It certainly does: The PlayStation Vita version of Velocity 2X currently sits at a 90 on Metacritic, and its inclusion as a free PlayStation Plus game gave it a large audience when it launch last year. Its predecessor on the Vita, Velocity Ultra, was also given away for free just a few months earlier.
Velocity 2X comes to Xbox One and PC on August 19, with Linux and Mac versions promised “in the coming months.” The Xbox One and PC versions will also receive 16 DLC levels.
