Designing We Are The Caretakers, Out This Week on Xbox

Hey there — I’m Scott, Design Director at Heart Shaped Games, and I’ve been given the opportunity to share a bit about the unique design process behind our new sci-fi grand strategy RPG, We are the caretakers. A lot went into creating the game over its 4+ years in development, but I’d like to focus on how our design team discovered fun and novel new strategy gameplay mechanics from a very unlikely source: the poaching of endangered animals and real-world animal conservation work.

Inspirations and Idea

I’ve always wanted to make a grand strategy game with a large roster of characters to organize and upgrade, similar to games like Xcom, Darkest DungeonOr my all-time favourite, the classic Ogre Battle: March to the Black Queen. I was familiar with the concepts and prototyping of grand strategy games for years, and finally decided to revisit these designs when a team approached me about creating a game about tracking and managing wildlife poachers.

This seemed odd at first, but we were inspired after meeting actual rangers and researchers working in this field to save endangered species. We were inspired by their incredible work and began to learn more about human-animal conflict and conservation. Rangers operate in small groups with very limited resources and are responsible for tracking poachers as well as animals that travel in unexpected patterns over vast areas. The unique managerial challenge resulted in interesting gameplay decisions that were perfectly aligned to squad building and large roster management RPGs. Soon, we realized that something was special and unique and set about to get started.

Redefining Genres, Creating New Games

To translate this research into games, we combined several game genres that each portrayed an important aspect about protecting wildlife. The Caretaker Headquarters is where your many recruited characters are organized into teams, dealt with poachers and upgraded their technology. You can deploy your squads in real time to look for poacher activity. We also created a turn-based combat system that allows you to solve conflicts between poacher and squads. This gives you diplomatic options as well as traditional JRPG-like capabilities.

Over the 30+ missions campaign, players will have the opportunity to play as a team and to learn how to build a strong organization.

Building a World

We spent a lot time creating a world and style to match the gameplay. While it took us ages to discover the best gameplay, the process was well worth it. Art Director Anthony “robotpencil” Jones found inspiration in Afrofuturist works such as Black PantherThe environment and characters were designed by Jon Parra, a composer who infused a powerful orchestral score with rap beats inspirations. Narrative designer Xalavier Nielson Jr. heightened real-world stories through the inclusion of close encounters with aliens and a postapocalyptic planetary redeem story.

Lessons Learned

This is the most important lesson I have learned. We are the caretakersIt was clear that pushing the boundaries of established genres and tropes can lead to innovative and new ideas. Our team was able to bring in outsiders and develop a varied development team. We were able to offer a wide range of viewpoints that would allow us find the perfect solution, and produce something fresh and new for our players. Heart Shaped Games: We are the caretakers has been one of my greatest professional joys, and I hope it shows in the final game you’ll get to play.

We hope you enjoy We are the caretakersAs much as us. It’s available for pre-order today and launches on Friday, January 6th! Your purchase also supports the folks that inspired the game, with 10% of net revenue from the game being given to Wildlife Conservation Network’s Rhino Recovery Fund.

We are the caretakers

Heart Shaped Games LLC

☆☆☆☆☆
1

★★★★★

$19.99

$17.99

The squad management game We Are The Caretakers was created by an Africanfuturist. Create an arcane squad of protectors using the Squad-Building Systems inspired by Ogre Battle, Darkest Dungeon and XCOM. Strategic turn-based combat is a way to defend the world’s endangered species. Your approach to global resistance will be determined by how you balance your reputation, finances, research, animals, and alliances. You are asked to defend a planet and fight for its people, animals, and ecosystems by playing the challenging RPG Fusion game We Are The Cartakers.