Subnautica Postmortem
Jonas Bötel
Lead Programmer, Unknown Worlds Entertainment Subnautica First-person
Single-player
Underwater
Adventure
Subnautica First-person Open world
Single-player Exploration
Underwater Survival
Adventure Story Product Subnautica PC & Mac
Steam
January 2018
$25 USD
Subnautica PC & Mac Xbox One ARC
Steam PS4 WeGame
January 2018 Oculus Discord
$25 USD Epic
→ 2 million copies Development Plan Reality Small project Big project
Unity Unity
Casual / iPad PC & Consoles
4 developers 25 developers
6 months 5 years
→ $10 million USD cost Idea Idea Blue Ocean Strategy
Underwater Minecraft
Survival sandbox
Science fiction
No guns! Be Spiky → Klei
Prototypes
Good Bad Underwater Modular submarines
Open world Modular controls
Oxygen management
Flooding
Tech progression Good Bad Underwater Wonder & Fear Modular submarines
Open world Discovery Modular controls
Oxygen management Tension → No feelings
Flooding Tension
Tech progression Intrinsic Rewards
→ Feelings! Emotions The Design of Subnautica Charlie Cleveland
Game Director
Wednesday, March 20th, 9:00 AM
Room 3016, West Hall Meanwhile...
Feedback Beautiful look
Thalassophobia
Bathophobia
→ Feelings
⚠ No gameplay!
Minimum Viable Product Minimum Viable Product Priorities! Artists
PC platform Level designers
Crafting Editing tools
Single-player → More developers
Handcrafted world Earliest Access Some biomes
Some creatures
Some crafting
No submarines
→ “Earliest Access”
→ Telemetry & Feedback Telemetry & Feedback
Runway Money ran out
→ Early Access Early Access
Learnings Creatures terrify Underwhelming sales
Accidental horror Barely enough revenue
→ Need impactful features
→ Priorities!
Perseverance Monthly updates
More discovery
Themed updates
→ Cyclops
→ Reaper
Communication
Traction STREAMERS
250 million views
??? Runway Money ran out
→ Early Access
→ Infinite money Production Roadmap Leverage existing systems e.g. Base building = Safety
→ Trailblazing = Exploration
→ Farming = Survival
→ Moonpool = Progression
→ Map room = Discovery
→ Intrinsic rewards!
Telemetry Unity Analytics Game event ≅ website visit
Raw data Matomo
Custom processing Amazon Redshift
⚠ GDPR ⚠ Hey, listen! Fix negative feedback
Integrate positive feedback
Call out suggestions
→ e.g. Dead Cells
Iteration* Evaluation Survival sandbox
Exploration adventure ✓
But why?! ? Brian’s Epic Chart
Descend
Explore
Discover
...
Aliens! Story Main story implicit
Concurrent storylines ✓
Overlapping parts → Nonlinear !
Cut Multiplayer Ecosystems
Terraforming Emergence
Colonization Transfuser
Weather Technical Debt
Survivorship bias Result
Open Development Open Development
Feedback Streamers Revenue Features
Views Games as a Service
Revenue Features
GaaS
Retention Game Development as a Service
Revenue Features
GDaaS
Viewers Early Access is a show
Marketing Youtubers
Twitch streamers
Steam features
Social media
Press Infinite Market Fragmentation
Cluster exhaustion Summary Emotions Streamers Show Summary Build prototypes Design for emotions
Define spikes Listen to your game
Minimum viable product Listen to your players
Get user feedback Listen to your instincts
Iterate
Execution matters Summary Streamers generate traction
Open development
Community management
Early Access is a show
Ship often Thank you!
Jonas Bötel
@codelumpn We’re hiring! https://unknownworlds.com/jobs/