Dune-Inspired Ridge: Arousing – Survival MMO Game

First Section:

“In the immersive world of Ridge: Arousing, you’re thrust into a harsh desert landscape where survival is a daily challenge. Creative Director Joel Bylos reveals the blend of survival and MMO gameplay elements that create an alternate history version of the iconic science fiction universe.

Arrakis, the setting for the game Ridge: Arousing, is presented as the universe’s most treacherous planet. It’s an expansive desert, mercilessly scorched by the sun, making dehydration a swift and fatal risk. Even more perilous are the giant sandworms, predators that burrow through the desert sands, able to detect the slightest vibrations above.

To accurately portray the dangers of Arrakis, Funcom, inspired by their success with Conan Exiles, has developed Ridge: Arousing as a survival game enriched with an intricate plot involving fierce political rivalries. At a recent demonstration, Joel Bylos explained how the integration of survival mechanics ensures that your primary concern is to survive the harsh conditions, while MMO features promote interactions on large multiplayer platforms, emphasizing PvP conflicts. However, Joel mentioned the challenge in merging survival with MMO elements, acknowledging the steep initial learning curve for players.

As you begin in Ridge: Arousing, you find yourself stranded on the unforgiving Arrakis without any supplies. Essential survival tactics include locating water, finding shelter, and evading the deadly sandworms. Early on, you’ll fashion a makeshift blade and might have to resort to stealing water to ensure survival.

The gameplay core revolves around collecting resources like stones and minerals for crafting, constructing bases, and advancing through a technological tree to access better equipment and weapons. A key narrative element, the ‘spice dream,’ soon draws you deeper into the game’s storyline, reflecting an alternate history where events from the familiar Dune saga unfold differently, with certain characters surviving against the odds.

Joel Bylos has crafted character creation to involve a ‘pain box’ scene, reflecting critical choices about your character’s past during a Bene Gesserit interrogation. This innovative approach ties directly to the game’s title, Ridge: Arousing, suggesting both personal and narrative awakening.

In this alternate storyline, the battle for control over Arrakis involves the noble Atreides and the cunning Harkonnens, exploring themes of identity, freedom, and decay, emphasized by Arrakis’ harsh environment. The game, described as a sandbox RPG, allows for flexible interaction with various factions and characters through dialogue options, providing a layered, player-driven exploration of Arrakis.

As players progress to later stages, forming guilds and engaging in resource-driven PvP combat in the deep desert becomes central. The Coriolis storm, a dynamic environmental event, reshapes the landscape weekly, offering new opportunities and risks, including encounters with sandworms and the chance to discover unique artifacts, adding layers of strategy and conflict to the survival experience.”

Second Section:

“Bylos elaborates on how the Coriolis storm reshapes the deep desert through deliberate design choices by the developers, rather than through random generation. This method allows for a controlled dynamic environment that responds to player activities throughout the week.

“Creating this dynamic was part of my goal as a game designer, observing how players engage with games across different days and peak times,” Bylos detailed. “For instance, if the storm reshapes the terrain on a Tuesday, by the next days, guilds will have deployed scouts to survey the new landscape. This introduces what I call the ‘Coriolis race,’ where guilds actively compete to understand and adapt to the changes, with scouts playing a pivotal role by creating and distributing maps based on their findings.”

With a fresh map in hand, guilds can strategize and plan their ventures into the reformed desert landscape. Ridge: Arousing’s gameplay also simulates the political dynamics among Arrakis’s influential factions, offering players diverse missions that adapt to the evolving game world each week.

“Thinking about how gamers interact and what drives them, I’ve aimed to construct a game environment that feels rewarding and engaging week after week,” Bylos added. “I anticipate the most intense conflicts on weekends when player activity peaks, leading up to a strategic buildup and a subsequent cooldown period as we approach a new cycle of the Coriolis event.”

Moreover, by having developer-controlled events, Funcom can steer the game narrative, introducing new subplots or tailored encounters to encourage specific player interactions.

Navigating Complex Politics

The intricate political landscape in Ridge: Arousing is another survival layer that Funcom has woven into the gameplay, inspired by the intricate political intrigue found in the Dune series. Although Bylos was sparse on details, he compared the game’s strategic political engagements to the Bingo Brawlers event in Elden Ring, emphasizing strategic competition without direct conflict.

“Looking at Bingo Brawlers, you can get a glimpse of what influences our approach,” Bylos commented. “They’ve successfully transformed a PvE scenario into an engaging PvP experience without the constant need for direct combat, which is fascinating as it aligns with the competitive nature of players but avoids the frustrations of frequent player deaths.”

Besides combat, Ridge: Arousing offers players various non-combative roles, like crafting or logistical support. For example, players might be tasked with assembling a fleet of ornithopters, which aren’t necessarily focused on combat but are crucial for different strategic objectives within the game.

“Setting objectives like assembling numerous ornithopters provides players with clear goals within our sandbox environment, allowing them to devise their own strategies for achieving these goals,” Bylos explained. “This sandbox approach is what really drives engagement in these types of games.”

Ridge: Arousing is expected to launch on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. While there is no confirmed release date yet, players can register for the upcoming closed beta via the game’s official website.”

This combined version provides a comprehensive look at the game, maintaining a flow that integrates both sections into a cohesive narrative.