Part sidescrolling adventure, part retro RPG, Beyond Galaxyland is looking like a unique mashup of genres, and with its gorgeous pixel art and the promise of a narratively rich sci-fi adventure, it’s doing more than enough to catch the eye- not least because it’s a solo effort. There is, of course, plenty that we don’t know about Beyond Galaxyland yet, but curious to learn more as we were, we shot across some of our questions about its world, mechanics, and more to its developer, Sam Enright, getting a lot of insight into what will make the game tick in the process. You can read our full interview below.
“Limiting gameplay to 2.5D was both helpful from a design perspective, but also lent itself to really interesting gameplay opportunities.”
Beyond Galaxyland’s semi-retro 2.5D aesthetic is one that instantly catches the eye. How did you land on this look for the game?
The main reason it’s primarily 2.5D is because I wanted to tell a giant story and thought an entirely 3D world would be biting off more than I could chew as a solo developer. Beyond that, I felt pixel art would convey the amount of detail I was looking to target while still being manageable for such a large-scale world. Also, I love the pixel art aesthetic (and grew up with it: aka that sweet, sweet nostalgia).
How did the idea to blend a 2.5D adventure game with RPG mechanics first emerge? Is Beyond Galaxyland a case of a core idea for mechanics leading to the game’s setting, or were its setting and story the things that you arrived on first?
The main goal was always to tell a cool story. I’m a huge fan of sci-fi movies, and just movies in general. I also happen to love the JRPGs I grew up with, notably Chrono Trigger which is my all time favorite. Limiting gameplay to 2.5D was both helpful from a design perspective, but also lent itself to really interesting gameplay opportunities. I think the platforming and RPG mechanics merge nicely to form some strange, cohesive whole. The 2.5D platforming aspects fuse with the RPG battle elements in lots of interesting ways: You can jump over enemies to skip battles, or even attack enemies before battle and defeat them without entering combat (if you are strong enough, of course).
Beyond Galaxyland’s retro-futuristic sci-fi setting is one of its more eye-catching elements. What can you tell us about the role it will play in the game and its larger story, and how much the game emphasizes things such as worldbuilding?
This game has a huge emphasis on world building. I want players to feel completely immersed in the strange world of Galaxyland (and beyond). I strongly believe narrative is what keeps players coming back to games years later, so building an awesome world to tell an epic story in was a major priority. I hope players will appreciate the unique ‘brand’ of the world, funny but also serious, silly but also grand and lived in. I tried to strike a precise chord between offering something humorous but that can also be taken seriously. A quick example: Most names in the game, and some side characters are really silly and not to be taken seriously (such as many NPC robots are named OtherBot), but lots of main characters and villains are not to be messed with and treated with further layers of gravitas and precision.
“This game has a huge emphasis on world building. I want players to feel completely immersed in the strange world of Galaxyland (and beyond). I strongly believe narrative is what keeps players coming back to games years later, so building an awesome world to tell an epic story in was a major priority.”
How much variety can players expect from the locations that they will visit across the entirety of the experience?
Oh man, a huge variety! That is one of Beyond Galaxyland’s stronger suits. I’m something of a minimalist, so I try to keep each planet to mostly one theme. This refers to the graphics, stories told there, and also importantly the music. It’s key for me to make each location feel different from the last, and serve its own purpose. One of the goals with each planet was to deliver a unique biome, often referencing classic tropes, i.e.: There’s a desert planet, jungle planet, an ice planet, etc… But each one has unique twists to take advantage of the freedom of the setting of space/Galaxyland. Just a fun example of how stories differ: One planet in particular mimics a classic fantasy RPG setting, where the villagers believe in a sort of magic and fairytale… not the sort of adventure you’d typically expect to have lightyears from Earth!
What can you tell us about Beyond Galaxyland’s combat? How do you play with the game’s 2.5D perspective in the turn-based battles? How heavily is strategy emphasized?
I’m such a huge believer in combat systems not needing to be overly bloated to feel strategic, intense, and most importantly: fun. Getting back to Chrono Trigger, this is something that game did so incredibly well. Chrono Trigger has very limited combat options compared to many of its peers/modern games, but in that simplicity comes so much exciting strategy. There’s a holy grail for turn-based games as I see it: If done right, battles should feel incredibly intense, as if each matter is life or death, and the clock is ticking… but in actuality, the game is basically in a total state of pause waiting on an action. I think it’s a fastening concept that a “chess” like game can create such a sensation of immediate danger.
Beyond Galaxyland also features a mechanic for capturing enemies and using them in combat. How extensive will this aspect of the experience be? How large is the roster of capturable creatures available in the game, and how significantly can they affect the flow of combat?
There’s a total of 29 capturable enemies/bosses. The cast of creatures extends to most basic enemies throughout the game, and more bosses can be captured than cannot (I wasn’t about to add a capture mechanic and not let you capture giant, optional side quest bosses).
Once caught, you can equip and level up captured enemies in order to use their abilities, which functionally replace spells in this game. You can, for example, capture an Ice Elemental to cast Ice, or a Baby Raptor which can boost the party’s strength. Once the Ice Elemental is at level 3, you may use Ice All against all enemies at once. I always say that captured summons are functionally similar to Materia from Final Fantasy 7 (OG), for those familiar.
“I hope, like many aspects of Beyond Galaxyland, players will find the mechanics streamlined and easily accessible, while also offering a satisfying feeling of depth.”
What should players expect from Beyond Galaxyland’s progression mechanics, especially given its nature as an RPG? How much will players be focusing on things such as build diversity and party composition?
This game takes many of its progression notes directly from the classics like Chrono Trigger and FF7. In addition to leveling up in the traditional sense (EXP granted at the end of battle), Beyond Galaxyland offers a lot of build diversity and party composition options through its Artifacts and Summon systems.
Each character can equip up to four Artifacts, which will do things such as: Counterattack enemies, poison enemies, begin battle with Haste, etc… So you may have one character focused on physical attacks with a combination that allows them to counterattack and poison the enemy whenever the enemy strikes… While another character might be focused on healing with support summons equipped along with Artifacts to boost summon effectiveness.
I hope, like many aspects of Beyond Galaxyland, players will find the mechanics streamlined and easily accessible, while also offering a satisfying feeling of depth.
Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?
Players can expect the main story to take around 14 hours, 18 hours if you include all side quests, and 20 hours for completionist players (all hidden tokens found, monster arena conquered, etc… and perhaps even a hidden development museum? Who knows?) I think this is also a good place to note that this game features zero “fluff”, something I’m quite proud of. No fetch quests, no backtracking, no tedious grinding, no extremely lengthy dungeons, and lots of other deviations from the standard “formula” like that.
Also regarding side quests: Some planets are entirely optional and function like their own individual story (there’s some neat ones in there I’m so incredibly excited for players to discover). In other words, the side quests are robust and treated just as thoughtfully as the main story. I like to think Beyond Galaxyland is paced closer to a movie than a video game, and I hope that will show while playing. It has all the heart of a major 50-hour RPG but condensed into a tightly packed, blazingly fast adventure.
