Devs on the upcoming Star Wars strategy game want to make a good first impression: 'We're gonna develop our own language that fits within Star Wars, but also feels unique to this game'
You need a good UI that eases in new players, and also to overcome the genre's reputation for complexity.
"I think there's definitely a perception there—I think folks have a limited view of what a strategy game could be," said McFall, who previously worked on Firaxis' XCOM reboot series. "That is one of the things we want to try to do: expand people's perception of what the experience actually is of playing a strategy game."
Syed expanded on this, homing in on how difficult it is to break into the genre as a new player: "Like any genre, there is a spectrum of complexity. Some genres might fall toward one side or the other, but there's still lots of variation in-between.
"If you look at the racing genre, you have arcade racers, you have simulation racers, and people aren't scared by that, because they've seen the spectrum. I feel like strategy games potentially have not been exposed in the same way where players haven't seen what strategy games can be."
Syed and McFall cited Mario + Rabbids and Baldur's Gate 3 as two recent examples of strategy (or strategy-adjacent) games that really overcame this perception challenge. As for how to win over and retain players, our talk focused on building the best user interface to make a great first impression and not overwhelm players.