Akatsuki Games will release the “extreme” action RPG TRIBE NINE on February 20 for the PC (Steam), iOS and Android. Pre-registrations for the mobile version are currently open on the App Store and Google Play. Ahead of the release, AUTOMATON interviewed Tribe Nine’s director Yasutaka Soejima, who explained how the game’s live-service model values players’ precious time.
With an original concept created by Too Kyoo Games (home to the creators of Danganronpa), Tribe Nine will emphasize story and avoid overwhelming players with an enormous number of in-game activities. Director Soejima explains that “we want to provide Tribe Nine’s players with something to do every day. However, while Tribe Nine has a base that can be enjoyed daily, I think it’s inevitable that once you’ve played through the currently available chapters, you’ll leave the game and switch to something else. Then, when a new chapter is added, you’ll come back to Tribe Nine. Our goal is to affirm this way of playing and encourage players to interact with Tribe Nine in this way as much as possible.”
Soejima acknowledges that live-service games are destined to have “ups and downs” – an inevitable result of people having limited free time and no shortage of entertainment at their disposal. As such, he wants Tribe Nine to become an exciting, but non-imposing addition to players’ lifestyles.
“We’ve made it so that one episode (chapter) can be cleared in about two to three days at the fastest. Anything beyond that is a kind of additional play time. We call it ‘farming time’ within the development team, and it’s basically time to build up the characters,” the director explains. Moreover, as Tribe Nine gets new, more challenging chapters through future updates, Akatsuki Games will implement balancing measures to mellow out differences in players’ level, making it easier for people who start the game later to catch up, as well as giving players room to take a break from the game without experiencing FOMO.
Furthermore, Soejima explains that Tribe Nine’s daily missions will require a short time for completion, and that the team made a deliberate decision not to implement a stamina system for them. This means that you won’t have to wait for your stamina to be replenished before you can play. “At one point, we considered making it so that stamina is consumed by doing daily missions, but with how little free time people have, we wanted to avoid a system that would force players to wait before they can play or make them stress about what timing is the most efficient.”
In conclusion, Soejima comments that Tribe Nine was designed around the idea of “not letting the player lose out even if they don’t devote a lot of time to the game every day,” which anyone playing two or more gacha games at the same time is sure to be thankful for.
TRIBE NINE releases on February 20 for the PC (Steam), iOS and Android. Pre-registrations for the mobile version are currently open on the App Store and Google Play.
