Co-Optimus: What makes The Wild Eight different from other games like Don’t Starve or Rust? Did those titles influence yours at all?
Ed: We have studied a lot of them and tried to get best from them. But at the same time we are also inspired by RPG and strategy. Diablo for example.
Co-Optimus: How does the co-op work in your game? Do players always have to work together?
Ed: We are intentionally making the game challenging for a single player. There's an underlying idea in the game of "strong helps the weak" - it is the spirit. For example, you don’t die immediately in The Wild Eight; before that, you'll be lying on the ground unconscious and you can be saved by another player. Another example of that idea is that you can split into hunters and gatherers, appoint the possession of different types of resources and items to different people, or be divided into small groups of two, and so on.
But, we also included a mode that can be turned on prior to starting the game - friendly fire.:)
Co-Optimus: Why did you decide to build co-op into The Wild Eight instead of just making it a single player experience?
Ed: Our goal is to make a great co-op game combined with a strong single player mode.
Co-Optimus: What’s been the biggest challenge so far in developing the game?
Ed: The biggest challenge for us have been life situations. Life in one of the coldest places of Earth is very severe. Here, as in our game, without food and shelter you would not last an hour. For a long time we worked without wages. One of us actually lived in the office, as there was no housing. The North has broken many people, but not us.
Co-Optimus: What are some of your favorite co-op games?
Ed: We really love co-op games. Most of all: Left 4 Dead, Zombie Panic! Source, Magicka, Don’t Starve, WarCraft 3 and of course Minecraft.
We'd like to thank Ed and the rest of the team at 8 Points for taking the time to talk with us and share some of their development experiences. The Wild Eight is scheduled for a release this fall on PC and XBox One.