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In anticipation of the launch of the online party shooter, FOAMSTARS, we had the golden opportunity to head down to Square Enix Headquarters in Shinjuku, Tokyo, to talk with Producer Kosuke Okatani in an exclusive interview.
The Many Game Modes of FOAMSTARS
After trying out the preview of FOAMSTARS, it seems as though the game modes in this title model after traditional systems, such as death meath or escort, but with some changes to them.
Okatani explains that they created the game by having the concept of shooting foam, and the foam landing on the map and then building up. From there, Okatani and his team would create interesting game modes based on the concept.
“For example in Rubber Duck Party, putting foam on the map is not only advantageous, but if you put foam in front of the duck, depending on the team colour, the duck will speed up and slow down.”
One other reason as to why Okatani and his team are doing this is that they wanted to create a game where both core players and casual players would both have a fun time playing together, and that they wanted to create a game that would make it fair for even casual players to go up against these core players; while at the same time, there are also still plenty of mechanics in the game for core players to make use of.
Speaking of game modes, FOAMSTARS has a variety of them for players to try out, and one such game mode is called “Smash the Star” where players will need to keep defeating opposing players until a star player comes on the scene, and the win condition would be defeating the opposing team’s star player. We asked Okatani how the game decides which player from which team is chosen as the Star Player in the match.
“For the star player, there’s specific calculations that are done in the game. However, simply put it’s essentially the player that plays the best on your team. Although, this isn’t limited to who got the most chills and also who put down a lot of foam and other things are also put into account when choosing the star player.”
While FOAMSTAR will pit players against each other in its PvP mode such as Smash the Star, players who aren’t too keen in PvP mode can opt to play the game through its Single-Player and Co-op PvE modes. Regarding the PvE mode, Otakani talked about players being able to receive XP by playing PvE. On top of that, there’s also in-game challenges that are linked to the PvE mode, so you’re able to clear these challenges by playing.
Okatani continued saying that he and his team feel that because there will be a lot of people playing FOAMSTARS considering the title is on PS Plus, as well as a lot of Square Enix fans being used to shooting games, they thought it would be a waste if those players didn’t enjoy FOAMSTARS for not used to this kind of shooting genre.
There are two PvE modes that will be available in FOAMSTARS, the first being FOAMSTARS Missions where players can play as a solo and is essentially an extension of the tutorial, allowing them to try out different characters and learn about their backgrounds. Meanwhile the other PvE mode is called Squad Missions which lets you play up to four people and learn how to play together as a team.
However, despite its emphasis on allowing players to play together with one another, the game unfortunately does not support co-op local play according to Okatani.
The Colourful Cast of Characters
FOAMSTARS has a roster of unique characters who have their own weapons and abilities. We asked Okatani how he and his team approach the character designs and balance it out with gameplay, considering there’s always the problem of meta and balance issues when it comes to hero shooters, as they tend to end up very different from their initial concept.
In regards to the character design, Okatani and his team wanted to create characters that would be loved globally by players from all around the world, and with that, they got Gurihiru to illustrate the character designs.
They created a roster of characters while considering that different players might have preferences for different characters. So they had Gurihiru to create a large amount of options for these characters, while on the development side, Okatani and his team had discussions on which characters to choose and how to balance them.
“When we created the characters, we had the designs, but we would essentially look at them and think, maybe they could do this sort of movement, and that’s how we created them. Regarding the appearance of the characters, when Gurihiru gave us all these options, we would definitely look at the unique and charming points of each character, and then really focus on those points and have them brushed up.”
Another aspect that makes the characters stand out aside from their designs are the Bubble Beasties, which are essentially cute creatures that act as their companions.
“This is also something that we discussed heavily on the development side. Essentially, we would analyse the characters and determine which Bubble beastie would suit each character best. “
Okatani brought up several examples, such as Agito and his fondness for sharks, and it was fitting to give him a shark-themed Bubble Beastie. While with Mel T, a character who exudes a pop and cute vibe but is remarkably tough, they went with a half-spiky creature that is reminiscent of a hedgehog, which incorporates both cuteness and strength.
Given that each character in FOAMSTARS has access to different types of weapons and their own companions, some may assume that there would be a role system that exists in the game.
“In this game, there are places where certain characters may be better at certain tasks. However, there are no specific roles in this game, such as DPS or support or Tank.”
Okatani states that the reason he and his team created it this way is so that players won’t feel limited in the things they can do in game, and that they don’t want to focus on one character being made specifically for taking out a lot of enemies for example.
While FOAMSTARS at launch will already present players with eight unique characters to try out, fans would definitely want more characters to join in the roster.
“Currently, we are planning to release characters at points where users may begin to want or where users want to probably play a new character. However, we’re not necessarily saying that we’re going to follow a specific schedule.“
However, Okatani expresses that because they’re offering content updates for a year for this game, they believe it’s important to look at user reactions for when’s the best timing to release new characters.
Getting into the Key Features
Given that we were only given a limited amount of time to try out the preview of FOAMSTARS, we had only scratched the surface in terms of gameplay and didn’t manage to experience some of the more complex mechanics for the title.
Okatani explains that he and his team had thought about providing plenty of content for core players, and while FOAMSTARS is a shooter, there’s a lot of characteristics about the game that are more akin to a MOBA.
“Because it’s a shooting game, the gameplay definitely relies on your reaction speed as well as your character skills. So an actual really important point of the tactical side of FOAMSTARS is you need to be very aware of the certain environment in each battle. I think that maybe those features or elements of the game are for more core players”
When mentioning shooter games, First Person Shooters specifically often take advantage of the Adaptive Trigger for the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller. However, when we were experiencing the preview demo of the FOAMSTARS, we felt that the Adaptive Trigger wasn’t being used much.
Okatani said that when he and his team were creating FOAMSTARS, they wanted to ensure that the mechanics of the foam were replicated through the DualSense controller functions. As they were creating the settings for FOAMSTARS’ controller functions, they noticed that in many other shooters, users tend to get tight and their hands become tired from pressing too hard on the trackpad.
“On the development side, we had extensive discussions, and we finally fine-tuned the functions to maintain the smooth and sleek feeling of foam, without putting too much strain on users’ hands. One additional feature that we have included for Foamstars is the motion sensor function in the DualSense controller. This allows you to control it similar to a gyro control.”
Development of FOAMSTARS and Its Community
FOAMSTARS already makes for an interesting title that distinguishes itself with other titles in the market, which utilises foam for its main design concept. Other than the core concept, Okatani had also talked about other key features that make FOAMSTARS stand out from other similar games in the market today,
“We think a very unique point of foamstars would be the fact that the ammunition or the foam that is shot is actually visible and you’re able to avoid it. And on top of that, as the foam hits the map, it will build up where it is. And there’s not really other games on the market like that currently.”
Okatani also mentions the overall design of FOAMSTARS, especially with the UI being very visually striking and fashionable.
Prior to his involvement as the Producer of FOAMSTARS, Okatani used to work on one of the most popular multiplayer games, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. However, Okatani explained that his past experience did not aid the development of FOAMSTARS.
“First of all, when Nintendo wanted to put the Hero in Smash Brothers, I was essentially working as the main point of contact between Square Enix and Nintendo. The actual development of itself was done or completely on Nintendo’s end. Foamstars isn’t directly affected or influenced by Smash Brothers, I believe it to be a great game.”
Ending off the interview, Okatani talks about how he plans on engaging with the gaming community, and what role will player feedback play in shaping the future of FOAMSTARS.
He says that it might be difficult to engage each community as they have differing opinions. However, one thing that he and his team would like to do moving forward is having hands-on events where players are able to try out the game.
“While there will be a portion where the game is essentially live, we will be taking a look at SNS as well as the channels that we’ve opened like discord for player feedback. There’s also a system in place in game, where we’re able to look at the statistics of player data and so we’ll be referring to both that as well as the feedback that we received elsewhere when considering updates for the game.“
We would like to extend our thanks to FOAMSTARS Producer Kosuke Okatani for taking the time to answer our questions, and we would also like to thank Square Enix for inviting us to the preview event as well as setting up the interview.
FOAMSTARS is set to launch exclusively on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 sometime in 2024.
