Hot on the heels ofWarframe, one of the most successful free-to-play shooters to apply the model, Digital Extremes has been working on a bold experiment in its upcoming open-world fantasy title,Soulframe. More than merely “fantasyWarframewith swords,“Soulframeemploys a slower, more methodical approach to combat and encourages contemplative and thoughtful exploration of its ever-expanding repertoire of environments. Though still quite early in its development process,Soulframehas opened its doors to players in a pseudo-beta phase called Preludes, which provides an opportunity to test features early and offer critical feedback. In fact,Soulframerecently opened the floodgates in the wake of TennoCon, allowing anyone who signed up entry into Preludes during that weekend.
In an interview with Game Rant,SoulframeCommunity Director Megan Everett and Senior Community Manager Sarah Asselin spoke in detail about the crucial role the community has had inSoulframe’s development. As developers tasked with managing the game’s community side, there is perhaps nobody more familiar with the community’s involvement than this duo. They discussed the importance of feedback from Preludes in shaping the game, and they offered specific examples of recent changes that were heavily influenced by input from playtesters.
Soulframe’s Preludes Connects Players With Developers
Crucially, Preludes provides an open dialogue between Digital Extremes and theSoulframecommunity as features are implemented, tested, and refined. Having players on the ground floor of the early development process ensures that the game takes shape in accordance with player feedback—something many recent games could have surely benefited from. Asselin notes thatfeedback from Preludes playersis often very thoughtful and in-depth:
“Every single update we put out, we get so much feedback—gifted to us, really—from all of these playtesters. And it’s very in-depth, very well thought out. It just goes to show how much passion these people have for trying our game, which again, we view as such a privilege to have.
There have been lots of design choices—like when we added our factions and our enclaves this year and tied that into the mission Sparrow-type tales. Immediately, we received lots of feedback about the XP, about the different levels.
That’s just one example of how we receive so much hot-off-the-press feedback. It makes its way immediately to the developers, and that’s one of the greatest things about having the game in this prelude state. We feel safe to experiment and to have that transparent communication with the players.”
Since Preludes is accessed by a lottery system rather than an Early Access buy-in, as is abundantlycommon among Steam games, each player may have waited quite some time for their chance to participate. As such, it’s more likely for those players to be invested enough in the game’s success to offer meaningful feedback before the game opens up to a wider, less communicative audience.
Soulframe Reworked a Major System Thanks to Player Feedback
Having an open line of feedback with players is useful in theory, but it’s important to see that this feedback is being put into practice. When asked about changes that were a direct result of player feedback, Asselin pointed to a recent rework of Soulframe’s Sparrow’s Tales system—itsprocedurally-generated queststhat have become a much-needed source of faction XP:
“There’s been a lot of feedback about the faction XP. That’s something we’ve been working on in conjunction with our Sparrow Tale system. There was some balancing that needed to be done to make it feel rewarding and satisfying.
Initially, the XP was really low and didn’t adapt well to the length or variety of the tale. So the faction Sparrow Tales themselves have been completely reworked in terms of length and structure. They’re now broken into different types: single-task Sparrow Tales, multi-task ones, and then longer ones—so you’re able to adapt your experience based on how much time you’re willing to commit.
That’s definitely something that was completely reworked based on feedback from Preludes players—and it’s for the better.”
Sparrow’s Tales now come in a variety of lengths, each with appropriate rewards. This allows players to decide how much time they’d like to commit to the Tale, all while knowing their time will be proportionally rewarded. This certainly isn’t the first timeSoulframemade changesbased on player feedback, and thanks to the Preludes format, it won’t be the last.
