Thousand Miles Out – RETRO GAMESMASTER

Interview with Raimund Wiczniewski

Overview

The battle for survival on a desert-island – In “Thousand Miles Out” you take on the task to guide the last four survivors from a ship lost in a storm through their daily struggles to survive.

You have to select the 4 characters that you will guide. Possible choices are for example a biologist, a mechanic and a deck-hand. Each character has different skills that you should make good use of.

Other than in most survival games, the goal is not simply to survive as long as possible, but to find a rescue and leave the island.

Ensure their survival. Fullfil the needs of the four characters; they get hungry and thirsty, have to sleep and watch out for overheating. Make sure that they stay healthy and well taken care of or you risk their death.

Find a rescue. The overall goal of the game is to find a rescue. Throughout the game you will face many different tasks that bring you closer to a possible rescue. It might help to climb to the top of the mountain at the center of the island and build a fire there. But maybe it is better to try to repair the broken radio system?

Explore the island. Use the islands resources to keep your characters alive. But careful: Not every plant is edible, not every path is save to pass, and not every cute looking animal is harmless…
Craft items. Produce useful items with the resources that your characters collect. For example you can use a sharpened wood stake and some bamboo to build an animal trap that helps you with your hunting efforts.

Expand your camp. With natural resources and produced items you can build up your camp and with that make life easier for your characters. With a few palm leaves and sturdy wood posts you can build a shelter that stays dry in the rain.

Put your characters’ skills to their best use. Use your characters’ skills to achieve your goals. For example: don’t use your doctor to build your camp, let the ship mechanic take on that task…

In “Thousand Miles Out” we want to simulate the fight for survival as realistic as possible without losing the fun in the gameplay. If something would not work in a real survival situation, it will also not work in the game. We call it: true wilderness survival.

A situation that is merely uncomfortable in the safety of civilization, can be life threatening in the wild. Nature does not show pity and does not forgive mistakes. The battle for survival in Thousand Miles Out feels just like that. Example: If one of the characters gets sick, then he really is sick. It will not only be noticeable by a changed status bar, the character will actually have to rest and recover in bed. And if it is a serious disease, he will have to be looked after by someone.

Your tasks in the game:

What was your first gaming experience?

My first experience with computer games was on an old Alphatronic P10. I always played

Yahtzee against the computer and after a while I figured out that the computer was cheating. After that I lost

interest in the game.

What got you into programming games?

My father was a developer and as a child I used to sit by his side and watch him work. When he

wasn’t working on the computer, I spend my time playing computer games. I think this has started my

path into my career in the computer game industry from early on in my childhood.

What development tools or coding did you use?

We use Unity 3d and C#. As we have developed many multi-player games as well, we use PHP and

Mysql on the server side.

What hurdles did you have making your current game?

During the development of computer games there are always a range of hurdles to pass. Can we do it

from the technical side? Is the game design good?

Is the game fun? In “Thousand Miles Out” it wasn’t

so much about those topics though.

With this game we are, for the first time, using Kickstarter. It is

not easy to describe a game idea in just a few words so that others understand it and get excited. The

biggest hurdle right now is to create excitement for a game that can’t be played yet.

After the completion of the game what game will you make?

Honestly, I have no idea. I have many ideas, but no concrete plans at the moment.

What other games have you made?

We are a small studio and have spent the last few years developing browser games. Sports

management games to be exact. The most successful one with the football manager “goalunited”.

My favourite computer was my Amiga and console the Megadrive do you have a favourite?

C64. I didn’t use to own consoles.

What is your favourite retro game?

Pirates, on C64, without a doubt. I spend months of my life with this game.

Do you still game on the current consoles if so what’s your favourite game?

Of course. We have a PS4 at home and I play on the PC as well. On the PC it have spent a lot (and I

mean A LOT) of time with World of Warcraft and still do. On the console I have lately played “The Last

of Us” and “Fallout 4”.

What’s the worst game you have ever played?

I really can’t give an answer to that. I forget about my experiences with bad games pretty quickly.

Finally what game or feature would you like to see on Retrogamesmaster in the future?

Pirates, of course