What happens when an artist focusing on microbial life becomes a game developer? We had a chat with Kate Solbakk.
A few days ago, we contacted Tux Solbakk about his new strategy game Freight Manager. In the process, we learned that he wasn’t the only one in the household making games. His wife, Kate Solbakk, is working on her own project – and it looks really nice! Cellscape is based on her experiences as a research assistant and artist, and lets us explore the universe of microbial life that exists around us. We obviously needed to know more, so we got in touch with Kate to ask her about her game and her experiences as an indie game developer:
Who is Kate Solbakk, and how did you start developing games?
I’m a 35 year old Canadian living in Norway with my husband Tux Solbakk, who I met in an old MMO called Ryzom. We’re both lifelong gamers, but he was the one who got me interested in learning to make my own game. Tux is getting ready to release his game, Freight Manager, so these days our house is really a game studio! I started working on my game last winter. I installed Unity intending to help Tux with his game, but instead started making my own (sorry Tux!).
What are you currently working on?
I’m self-employed as an artist, specializing in illustrations of microbial life in soil. I also occasionally bring a microscope display and exhibition of my artwork to public events. Since my game project is connected to my usual work, I’m able to fully focus on it when I’m between clients.
From where did you get the inspiration for the game?
The inspiration for Cellscape came straight from nature. I’m fascinated by how much life is hidden from view just because it’s so small. I spent over a decade looking at water and soil samples in the microscope, and trying to tell other people how insanely cool microbes are! After a while it didn’t feel like enough just to draw still images, so I started thinking about how I can create something interactive. There are so many things in the microscope that would be absolutely terrifying to encounter at our scale, and that gives a lot of potential for a really fun game.
Tell us more about your game
Cellscape puts you in the role of a little microbe trying to survive and increase the population of your species. You start out in a tiny patch of soil that was recently disturbed, so the habitat is pretty much gone. It’s just a bunch of loose mineral particles and some bacteria. You start swimming around eating the bacteria, and each time you eat one, you grow a little bit. Once you’ve grown enough, you divide and a little copy of yourself swims off on its own while you continue eating and dividing more.
In the meantime, the environment around you is changing. Bacteria are altering the physical structure of the soil, pushing particles together to create new obstacles that can block your way or save you from predators. Bacteria populations start becoming more diverse, with different types causing different effects when you eat them (eg. extra growth or a speed boost). Other types of microbes start showing up and competing with you for food, and soon all this activity has attracted predators too. Some predators are passive and you just need to stay out of their way, while others will actively chase you. You’ll also start to see hazards like a Heliozoan that stuns you on contact, biofilms with a variety of buffs and debuffs, and viruses you can use against predators.
Right now Cellscape is set up as an arcade-style game, where you play one run and see how high you can get your score, and the game gets more complex and challenging the longer you play. When you die you have to start over from scratch, but you’ll be able to see your top scores. I’m planning to have a scoreboard with three categories where you can sort by either longest run, most divisions in a run, or your best division rate, so you can adjust your play style for the different categories. And of course there will be plenty of Steam achievements.
Since this is my first game I’m trying to keep the scope manageable, but I would eventually like to expand the game to include some form of character progression or something else that persists between runs. I love the idea of earning things like character customizations and special items you can hold on to for use in future runs. I haven’t decided on anything concrete yet, but this is definitely in mind for later. I’m also considering adding some sort of checkpoint system so you don’t always have to start completely from scratch (I personally hate when games do that), but that will likely be a future update as well.
Eventually I’d also like to add different game modes, like a chill aquarium mode or a high-pressure time challenge where you’re on a microscope slide that is drying out. So many possibilities!
When will you consider yourself done?
That’s hard to say at this stage. Right now I have a good foundation with core game mechanics in place, but there’s a lot more I want to do before even thinking about a release date. If I decide to do early access, I could potentially see that happening early next year.
What kind of tools do you use when developing?
I’m building the game in Unity. I’m a newbie at programming, so I’m using ChatGPT to learn that side of things. The artwork is of course all my own, painted in Photoshop. I’ve been getting sounds and music from Uppbeat, and using Audacity for sound editing.
What is it like developing games in Norway?
Since this is my first game, I don’t know what it would be like to make one anywhere else. It’s a solo project and I haven’t been looking for funding or partners, and I’m enough of an introvert that it doesn’t really matter where I physically am when I’m working.
Thanks to Kate Solbakk for answering our questions. Here is a link to her Steam site, and you should also visit her site Mikroliv.