Iterative Games

Using perks is one of the most important and fun ways you can customize your character in UETF. Perks are a familiar game mechanic dating back to the original Fallout and recently used to great effect COD4: MW. The mechanic is also comparable to the character 'Feats' found in tabletop DND. We modeled our feat system in a similar way to give players the option to really personalize and diversify their characters.

As game designers, the mechanics and rules we create direct the way players behave. Sometimes we see unanticipated emergent behavior (Tribes skiing, grenade climbing in Deus Ex) but by in large, we can direct the way people will play. Consider it our responsiblity to create mechanics that support the game-play that we envision. There is a lot of science as well as trial and error involved but it be the core of the games we design. To demonstrate how we are driving behavior through mechanics at Iterative Games, I'm going to cover two mechanics we are adding in our next release: bonus damage for flanking attacks and headshots.

Creating the tools for player customization.

Adding personality to the programs pulling the strings.