The first thing Arc Raiders' devs did during its extraction pivot was to reduce the speed of everything by 60%: 'All the craft that was in the game was kind of background noise'
Arc Raiders looked very different in its early stages of development, and even compared to its initial reveal trailer. While the team was flip-flopping between genres, one thing was clear: your goal was to kill a boss as fast as possible. Naturally, there was a lot of mobility in these early prototypes. You'd move fast to reach the boss's location, there were jump pads to fling you around, and the Snap Hook was unlimited. It's almost unrecognisable to today, where your character has a satisfying heft to them and limited stamina that makes crossing vast, open areas an intense prospect.
In his GDC talk yesterday, Arc Raiders' production director, Caio Braga, remarked that "because we made you run so fast towards the boss, all the craft that was in the game was kind of background noise." This faster, more upbeat pace is immediately apparent in the gameplay section of the old reveal trailer.
Speaking to Braga afterwards, he explained to us that one of the most impactful changes they made was to slow the game down: "The very first thing we did after the reset was reducing the speed of everything" by roughly 60%. This helped the team realise how strong aspects like the sound design, tool sandbox, and maps were. In other words, the foundations of Arc Raiders' extraction shooter roots.
"It was very odd because all the animations were kept at high speed" while they were testing the change during development, Braga jokes. Again, looking back to the original reveal trailer, we raiders sure had some pace.
The fast-paced boss-killing loop wasn't working, no matter what genre spin was laid on top of its bones, so the team leveraged their experience with PvP from The Finals, and many developers' past work at EA's DICE.
This all loops back around to a statement Braga made in his GDC talk about how Embark eventually 'found the fun' and turned Arc Raiders into what it is today. Ultimately, "We stopped forcing the game [or games] we wanted, and we looked at the game we had," he explained.
That slower pace is now key to Arc Raiders, and I imagine it inspired many of the design decisions about player movement, like every action costing lots of stamina, taking valuable time, and making unique noises. All of which, of course, can be improved through the skill tree. It just goes to show that it only takes pulling one right handle to figure out how everything else fits into place.
Arc Raiders roadmap: New and improved
Arc Raiders best skills: Survive the surface
Arc Raiders best weapons: Just don't lose them
Arc Raiders Expeditions: Retire your Raider
Arc Raiders quests: All the missions and how to beat 'em
Arc Raiders Weather Monitor Project: Beat the wind
Arc Raiders Trophy Display Project: Big game hunter