PlanTechtor is an upcoming VR shooter and also the first game from FunnerSoft, the indie company of developer Lester Bloom. The game is planned for release sometime in early 2019, and can be seen on Steam. Bloom is an experienced developer who worked on some major AAA titles prior to going into indie development, and I recently got the chance to interview him about his first upcoming project; a game which has already been in development for two years.

“Design endless weapon loadouts,” says PlanTechtor’s Stream description; “Create a plan to exploit the level. Then put it to the test against an invading army of alien, robot invaders. Intense VR action meets deep strategic planning in PlanTechtor.”

In the game, players will be able to assemble a weapon loadout, consisting of any 3 weapons. The loadout also includes skills and combos; “The player will unlock skills over the course of the game to use with their weapons. The skills drastically change how the weapon behaves and how the player should use the weapon. Finally, the player can earn and use combos. Combos can be used to design synergistic reactions between the weapons and/or skills. There are endless combinations of weapon loadouts to explore and design.”

Lester Bloom on PlanTechtor and FunnerSoft

What is your background in the gaming industry, prior to starting FunnerSoft?

“I worked on AAA games for 17 years at companies like Microsoft, Nintendo, TakeTwo, and most recently ArenaNet. My primary focus has been as a gameplay programmer. I helped ship 12 games on 6 different platforms.”

What was it like to move from AAA development to an indie project like PlanTechtor?

“It’s a little crazy, a little scary, but mostly fulfilling. I have a head full of ideas that I have been wanting to make into reality. This is letting me do just that.”

Can you tell us a bit about how you got started with PlanTechtor? What made you want to go into indie development?

“PlanTechtor came about after going to the Steam Dev Days conference. I had tried VR headsets before, but they were seated experiences with a standard Xbox controller in my hands. It was cool, but it didn’t really impact me. It wasn’t until I tried the room scale setup of the HTC Vive at the Steam Dev Days conference that I really fell in love with VR. Instantly I was immersed in a whole new world. The magic was so immediate and overwhelming that it reminded me of playing my first video game. I knew my next side project had to be a VR game. I ordered a dev kit the next day.

“I’ve wanted to go full time into indie dev for as long as I can remember. The entrepreneurial spirit has always been a part of my personality. I love making games, and I have been working on various gaming side projects since high school. It wasn’t a matter of ‘if’ I go full indie; it was a matter of ‘when.'”

What would you say inspired the design and gameplay of PlanTechtor?

“CCGs and ARPGs. I love games that let me make some sort of ‘character build’ or ‘deck design’. The more tools available to me, and the freedom I have to explore new strategies, the better. The downside with these types of games though is that, typically, I end up making some ‘end game’ build or deck that then never changes or evolves. From that point on, I never get to explore or discover any new builds.

“So, that is why PlanTechtor’s weapon systems are designed to let the player create and discover endless combinations. It’s also why each level is designed to encourage the player to find a new, unique solution for that level. There is no ‘end game’ build in PlanTechtor and the player is constantly creating.”

What is your goal with PlanTechtor – what niche in the gaming market are you aiming for?

“Players that like to min-max characters in ARPGs or fine-tine decks in CCGs, and that want to play games like that all while enjoying the magic of room-scale VR.”

You describe putting in a huge amount of work at weekends on the game; indeed, every weekend for 2 years. What were the difficulties you found in balancing development of the game alongside a separate full-time job, and how did you overcome them?

“I worked an average of 65 hours a week, 7 days a week, for almost 2 years. Working 2 jobs like that is hard enough, but I am also a husband and father of 2. There was never enough time for anything, and I was constantly loosing out on time with my family. That was the hardest part; by far. There were frequent nights when I would wonder if I was doing the right thing. Are my priorities out of wack? Have I become the type of father I also hoped I wouldn’t be? Maybe I should just stop making PlanTechtor.

“It was incredibly hard to develop and live that way, but we weren’t yet ready to give up the stability of my day job. I am the sole provider for a family of four; there was too much risk to quit my day job. Also, I am stubborn, but I prefer to say “determined”. I needed to finish this project.

“When I worked on side projects before, I would only spend about 6 hours on a Saturday working on them. Making a video game takes a long time, making it by yourself takes even longer, making it by yourself in 6-hour per week increments is a way to never finish. I have a stack of un-finished projects because of this. So, when I started on PlanTechtor, I said that I was going to double down, work 25 hours a week on it, and absolutely, no doubt, see it released.

“Hard work, determination, non stop focus, and the support of my amazing wife are what got us this far. Now, PlanTechtor is nearly ready for release. It’s far enough along that we were ready to take the plunge. As of October 2018 I am working full time as an indie developer; making games that I truly love.”

PlanTechtor appears to have some tower defence elements – is that a central mechanic of the game, or just one of the options available to players?

“Before each level is the pre-game phase. During this time you get hints about the enemy makeup, and you get to see the bonus powers for the level. You will need to use this information to design loadouts for each of your 3 weapons. Design loadouts that exploit the enemy makeups and maximize the level bonus powers.

“Once you are confident with your designs, you can start the level. Be sure you made the right choices though, because you can’t change your loadouts during a fight. Fights are inspired by tower defense gameplay. The player has their 3 weapons to use, and there are waves of enemy, robot invaders trying to destroy your castle. Destroy them all before they take out your castle, and you can advance to the next level.”

What aspects of the game do you think most set PlanTechtor apart from other VR first-person shooter titles on the market?

“The depth of the weapon loadout system. The player has 3 weapons; each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

“Pistols are dual wielded and fully automatic, but, they are also the weakest of all the weapons. The Bow is a more skill based weapon, and is the medium damage weapon. Finally, the Bazooka is an area-of-effect death machine, but it only has 6 rounds per level.

“There are 9 skills that you can use on your weapons. While you take all 3 weapons into each fight, you don’t get to take all of your skills. A weapon loadout means that you have equipped 1 specific skill onto a weapon. Examples are Fire, Stun, Poison, Heal, Damage Field, etc. They each change up the way the weapon is used, and they each scale with the weapon. So Poison on your Pistols is different from Poison on your Bazooka or Bow.

“And then there are combos. Combos are equipped onto weapons like skills are, but they provide synergies between your weapons. The player ends up unlocking around 60 different combos.

“Maybe you put a combo on your Fire Pistols that causes burning damage to increase the power of your next Poison Bow hit. And, then, maybe you put a combo on your Stun Bazooka that says stunned enemies take more damage from Poison. So, when you set that huge swarm of smaller robots on fire, and they are all being dealt burning damage, it is jacking up the power of your next Poison Bow hit. And, then you use your Stun Bazooka against the massive giant boss robot that is coming your way. You then swap to your Poison Bow, which is boosted way up, and use it against the stunned boss robot, letting the Poison damage just melt it away.

“That’s just one example. There are thousands of builds for players to explore and create.

“It might all sound a bit complicated, but the game is designed and built to gradually teach the player as they advance. There are no giant wall-of-text tutorials. The level design teaches the player what they need to know as they need it.”

Do you know yet what the release date of PlanTechtor will be?

“Early 2019. I am still working to nail down a specific date.”