As a fan of first-person shooters, Vericidium developer Mitchell Robinson hoped to bring a more casual atmosphere to players. “We want to cater it for people who come home from work, and they’re exhausted. All they want to do is play a couple of games and just have fun,” he said. “This first-person shooter just gets it out of the way and lets the player play how they want.” Robinson spoke to Game Rant about Sector’s Edge now that the game is available in beta on Steam.

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Sector’s Edge Encourages Building While Fighting

One distinction Sector’s Edge has over much of its competition is the player’s ability to construct and fortify structures. While Robinson praises the destructible environments of games like Battlefield, he wanted to bridge a gap into the “boxel” video game art style. “When Ace of Spades got shut down, I thought it was a huge part of my life. I didn’t want to lose that genre of game that so many people love. So I started working on Sector’s Edge. The destruction is the main thing.” Structures in Sector’s Edge play a major part in the strategies executed by players throughout each campaign.

Players can build anything from stairs to bridges, which can be fortified or destroyed in real time. The building element makes each run unique, as players can construct various obstacles for their opponents or bases to protect their own team. Using a custom ray tracing audio program developed for Sector’s Edge, Robinson said there’s an element of realism to the experience. “[We thought it] would be fun to experiment with just having more realistic audio in a game that we haven’t heard before like in other games.” He said an explosion right next to a character will sound much louder than if it happened behind a thick, fortified wall, as just one example.

Weapon Customization in Sector’s Edge

When players load into a game, they are given access to an arsenal with limited options, but potentially endless possibilities. Combinations of armaments for any campaign include utilities, armor modifications, and weapons with customizable skins and crosshairs. “Tying that back to playing how you want,” Robinson said of weapon customization, “It’s like players are still navigating [and thinking], ‘When can I grab an assault rifle and start killing people?’” Fifteen weapons total are available to players in the game’s current build, ranging from explosives to shotguns.

Each weapon can be further customized with different kinds of ammo types, payloads, barrels, cores, triggers, magazines, grips, and stocks. Robinson said players can explore countless styles for each gun, and modify the weapons accordingly. For example, a short-range SMG with light ammo can be altered into a long-range SMG with heavy ammo and an extended barrel, with some tradeoffs in terms of stats. Yet all possible customizations can be viable, and the possibilities for what players might want changes with each run.

Sector’s Edge began development late in 2017. Robinson and his team at Vericidium have been reviewing player feedback extensively to determine their next move. “The feedback has been ‘Play the game to its full potential.’ And I guess that’s on us because we haven’t shown everything you can do. There are so many other aspects to the game.” Further developments and updates are expected, though as of now there isn’t a sense of when the “full release” will be available. Fans can still enjoy their ride through deep space in the meantime.

The Sector’s Edge Beta is free-to-play on Steam.

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