Since its modest mid-2022 launch on Game Pass on PC, poncle’s Vampire Survivors has been riding a wave of critical and commercial success. Most recently, the game won him not one but two awards at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards. Game design and the highest award, Best Game.
It’s the decadent core loop of Shoot, Survive, Die, and Repeat that has utterly captivated countless Vampire Survivors players, including Xbox boss and superfan Phil Spencer. Its early arrival on Xbox and PC Game Pass has allowed millions of people to instantly join this incredible hit.
But Vampire Survivors wasn’t originally built for this scale. The brainchild of the creator Luca Galante, he originally built it for his PC platform using web technologies, especially JavaScript. Poncle Tech Director Sam McGarry says his version of Vampire Survivors was “basically a browser game” when it launched.
Builds didn’t run well on non-PC platforms, and players were running into issues on a variety of devices. Addressing these issues has become a priority for the team. When it hit as big as it is now, it became clear that a new engine was needed. This is what fans have been asking for since early on. After all, the team made it happen so seamlessly that many people didn’t even know it had happened.
“The whole goal was to keep players unaware,” says McGarry. “To this day, there are still players who don’t realize that the engine already exists and has been around since launch on Xbox. So there are still differences to work out, but we’ve done a pretty good job. I think I did.”
Xbox was the first platform on which poncle launched Vampire Survivors with its engine boost. McGarry says one of the main challenges the team faced and still faces is maintaining level parity across different versions of the game in parallel. On Xbox you can use the original Javascript version of him on PC.
āHaving the ability for players to actually move between Xbox platforms and continue their game is very important to us,ā says McGarry. “We also try to maintain that quality so that he can switch between two different versions of the game without feeling like you’re playing a different copy of the game and experiencing technical or other issues. can jump.”
However, all that effort was worth it. McGarry said the addition of the game to Game Pass was crucial to the game’s viral success. “Looking at screenshots of Vampire Survivors, you might not be drawn into the game just by looking at it,” he says McGarry. “And early game players often don’t always understand the appeal until they get deep into the game. It’s like, ‘Oh, I get it, now I understand the game.’ It’s time to see it in action. Also, people often play it, bounce off it, and then come back. Your presence on Game Pass allows more players to walk through your door and experience your game.
“Another great thing is [Game Pass] It was also available via the cloud. So people can not only play at home on their consoles and PCs, but also on the go or on the toilet with their mobile phones. It was also a relatively easy process. We put out the game, ticked the box, and it was basically available in the cloud. “
The development team building two versions of the game on Xbox and PC is a far cry from Galante’s previous days of working independently on Vampire Survivors. Over the past 12 months, the development of the poncle team mirrors that of his Xenomorph, emerging rapidly and growing rapidly. But despite its rapid expansion, the actual workflow hasn’t changed much, proving the game’s solid foundation.
āAt the end of the day, it just brought more people into the process,ā explains McGarry. “So it’s still starting with Luca and filtered. Then we replicate that work with a new engine. By setting up the dual engine, we’re able to do it in a way without interrupting the creative part at the beginning of the chain. We were able to maintain the same workflow with
Poncle says that while Galante is still at the top of the creative tree, with the majority of the game’s wildest ideas coming from him, Vampire Survivors is now being created by a team that provides all input and feedback. I would like to emphasize that
āThe more people who participate, the more we can unplate Luca,ā says Adam Goodchild, Poncle Lead game developer. āThroughout the last year, everyone has tried to do everything they can to keep Luca focused on his creative side.
āThe original purpose of Lukaās creation hasnāt changed at all. Now that we have more people and everyone has a role to play, the pace at which we can do it is very different.ā
Vampire Survivors is still providing regular updates and content. His first premium DLC, Legacy of the Moonspell, was released in December, and his second, Tides of the Foscari, was released today.
These paid DLC packs are themed around worlds of their own ā Moonspell took us to the snowy mountains of the “east”, while Foscari hides a magical academy in the lush promises a vibrant forest. While this has always been the plan for Vampire Survivors, Galante and team decided that any content that would change or enhance his core gameplay loop would be included in free content his updates and delivered to all players who purchased the game. I firmly believe there is a need. is playing via Game Pass. I can’t say much, but the team has a lot in store for that department as well.
“For those who can’t or don’t want to get the DLC, they can get the other updates at the same time,” McGarry adds. “Also, we’re constantly adding little things to the base game, and more achievements…just to complete something new for Phil Spencer.”
Vampire Survivors: Tides of the Foscari is now available on Xbox and PC platforms.
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$4.99
$3.99
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Vampire Survivors is a time survival game with minimal gameplay and roguelite elements. There is nowhere to hide. All you can do is survive the cursed night and grab as much gold as possible for the next survivor before death inevitably ends your struggle.