With Grounded 2 launching into Early Access and Game Preview this week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Miles Winzeler (Producer) and Aarik Dorobiala (Senior Community Manager) from Obsidian Entertainment to chat about the development process.
One of the biggest and most anticipated features of Grounded 2 is the Buggies. Ridable bug mounts, which can aid you in combat, help you gather materials, and just be a fun buggy companion. But buggies were the most asked for feature all the way back in 2020, when the first game was still in its preview period. Why wait for an entire sequel to add it? I asked Miles and Aarik just that, and their reasons made a lot of sense.
Miles: “When it came to mounts specifically, there’s so much potential there, and people have so many ideas of how they would work. We have the backyard of Grounded. Its level design—it’s pretty tight. It’s all about space and scale and little hidden areas and everything. It’s so designed around being on foot, and you know, certain elements that come with that, the sort of survival parts of running away from a giant enemy. So introducing a mount that can have your back in combat and kind of tear across the map at full sprint really changes up that dynamic quite a bit. And we feel like those elements, those characteristics of a mount, are also super important. So that was one of the kind of big pieces that brought us to Grounded 2. It affects everything from our map choice to how our encounters are designed and will influence how we progress through Early Access development as well.“
Aarik: “Probably one of the biggest reasons we didn’t add buggies to Grounded 1 is it’s such a game changing feature that we would have to redesign how movement in the backyard works, compared to the park where we have much more open space, because we already had zip lines that people set up, like these networks of webs to get around. And then again, on the combat aspect of like, the backyard was not equipped to have buggies without doing like a major overhaul on combat balance, making it make sense for movement and traversing through the backyard. And while the backyard is very big, with buggies, it would seem really small. So that’s why we decided to move that for Grounded 2.”
Now, of course, any game with pets or mounts, regardless of the number of legs, should always have the option for players to pet their animals. We all agree. I wanted to know, what sort of relationship will players be able to forge with their buggies?
Aarik: “We had the small tiny pets with the gnat, the aphid and the Weevil. It only makes sense. Like if you have a bug, you absolutely should be able to pet your buggy.”
Miles: “The dynamic of what your relationship with your buggy is, is also something we’ve kind of played with. Is it creature collecting, is it more like a standard mount? And we kind of ended up on our own path. And having that relationship, getting to name your buggy, that’s a big part of it. I‘ve got so many different goofy names for my ants.”
My time playing Grounded 2 was a lot of fun, but I did run into a few major hurdles. One being venturing into the ant hill to get my first buggy, and then dying in one hit to the O.R.C. Weaver, who was just waiting for a snack. How do games like Grounded 2, a survival-based game, strike a balance between being challenging and still being fun and enjoyable?
Miles: “I think for Grounded, that’s always a tricky balance. Part of being in the survival genre is needing to have that kind of underlying scary tone to it, that sort of intimidating element. Because so much of that genre is about wanting to figure out all these mysteries and investigate. And, you know, that sort of tension between ‘I don’t wanna go there, but I’m so curious.’ So, of course, it’s totally a balance we have to strike for difficulty. That’s an area where community feedback is huge, too, right? Getting into specifics of why is this one area just this total show stopper for folks? Is it because of the amount of enemies, a specific attack, what kind of gear you have at this stage? Just really getting into the specifics to make sure that players still can have fun and feel rewarded when they finally overcome something, but not hit the point where they’re just kind of running through the wall over and over again.”
Aarik: “I think maybe we could do a better job of instilling in players to use all the tools at their disposal, like having the right gear and then using the smithy station to upgrade your gear. But as Miles said, we really love to hear player and community feedback on what are the pain points for them. And how do we work together to fix that? What are the good things that are working, and keep moving forward with that.”
Obviously a game like Grounded thrived on the feedback from the community. But what sort of feedback would the team be hoping for from Grounded 2, a game being built with all that knowledge of what worked for people with the first instalment?
Miles: “I think Grounded 2 having been a surprise announcement is sort of weird. It’s a different turn in that road, right? Since Grounded 1, since 2020 and early access hitting 1.0 in 2022, that sort of conversation with the community and having feedback has been such a regular part of that game’s identity and how you’ll interact with it. So having developed Grounded 2’s initial chunk in secrecy, it was definitely a different beast in terms of not having that regular conversation. It’s like, oh, I’m flying solo right now. But what that did let us do is create a handful of new features. You know, buggies being the easiest one to wrap your head around of like, hey, we want to build this to a point where players can have an opinion on it. And they can let us know what is their favourite part of it, what they want to see added to it or things that have to be tweaked.”
But what about the story? Grounded 2 is set two years ahead of the events of the first game, on the two year anniversary of the four teens disappearance. Where can we expect things to go from here? What role will ‘formerly evil’ corporation Ominent have this time?
Miles: “I think that was another effect of deciding to go full sequel, like why in the park now? What’s going on? So we’re two years after the events of Grounded 1 in a world where those events were very public. You know, this scandal from this company, these endangered, kidnapped children, this really dark kind of storyline. And the existence of the SPAC.R shrinking technology being something that’s in the public consciousness. We spent a lot of time thinking about what that setting has become in those two years, how people feel about Ominent and how people feel about the teens and sort of looked at some interesting angles of, what would Ominent do? What would a corporation do if they kind of got caught in this situation? They’d probably just try to reform themselves, put on this this whole marketing campaign of an apology tour and have a new spokesperson.”
“It was also great having our wonderful partners at Eidos Montreal. Their narrative team really, really ran with it, both in creating new characters like Sloane Beaumont, that spokesperson that we just introduced recently, as well as looking at the teens and what getting through those traumatic events did to them and where they are now, how they’ve grown and especially their relationship, which is always something that I think is pretty special with Grounded is like, they’re teens. They pick on each other, but it’s always good-natured, right? Like they genuinely have each other’s backs after what they’ve been through. We hope that comes through.”
Grounded is a game I’ve heard described by quite a few people as ‘survival horror’. But how does the Grounded team themselves feel about that description?
Miles: “There’s early stories of the game being tested and this giant spider pops out of nowhere and people would get up from their desks and run away. One, that’s the genesis of Arachnophobia mode, truly. But two, it’s also like, hey, this is an interesting tone we’re striking here because this is a game about youth and childhood and nostalgia. But it’s also got this really kind of dark wrinkle in terms of how cruel nature can be, but also the corporate angle with Ominent as the villains. I always joke it’s kind of like Earthbound where all these kids are in this bright, colourful world, but the implications of what they’re up against is terrifyingly dark. So, yeah, I think its survival horror, but with a fun coat of lots of jokes and banter on top of that, but on paper, a super dark story. So a fitting kind of weird dichotomy there for sure.”
So, let’s talk about the park. Grounded 2’s setting is the Brookhollow community park. What additions have been made to help the environment feel like a park instead of just another backyard, especially at our tiny scale?
“-having feedback has been such a regular part of that game’s identity – So having developed Grounded 2’s initial chunk in secrecy, it was definitely a different beast-“
Miles: “Yeah, I think about the backyard and Grounded and a big landmark there was the oak tree. And you have the house sort of always giving context to where you are. Where the park, by nature of how parks are designed, has these big wide open spaces as well. Grounded, we’re in Tully’s backyard, you’re seeing his story and things that are pretty private, whereas the park, anyone could have been there for any sort of reason. And the stories they left behind by way of the things that they left in the park kind of allow a bunch of different side narrative threads. So, I think more than anything, the park is a really great opportunity to have a blanker canvas to go in a lot of different directions depending on what’s really resonating with our players and early access giving us that flexibility to be like, oh, so people really like this part of the game. Let’s do something like this but with a twist, you know, I think it’s something that’s so general on paper, but then once you kind of get into it and you put this sort of Grounded coat of paint over it and the narrative the possibilities get really exciting.”
Aarik: “Yeah, I think the park allows also, because of its scale, much bigger than the backyard, more room for environmental storytelling, like the logs and the audio tapes. So it really allows us to expand more on the Grounded universe with all the fun brands that are in the game. We get to learn more about what Ominent is and learn more about the teens and what they’ve been going through for the past two years.”
Game development aside, do the team think that they’d be able to survive in the Grounded universe themselves? Are they bug lovers or are they put off by the creepy crawlies?
Miles: “That’s a good question. I don’t think we’ve been asked that one.”
Aarik: “No, that’s the first time someone asked. I would say I’m a bug person. Like, bees don’t bother me at all. You know, they’re just buzzing around. Spiders I have no issues with that at all. I’m usually the spider killer if they show up in my house. I used to collect Roly polys when I was a kid and just try to get as many in my hand as possible and have them roll around. And then, of course, for the charity streams here at the office that we raise money for the Children’s Miracle Hospital Network, we’ve eaten so many bugs. It’s just like popping M&M’s into your mouth.”
Of course, I had to know what the tastiest bug was that Aarik had eaten.
Aarik: “So there’s two different stink bugs. There’s the big stink bugs, but then there’s the small ones. The small ones are the tastiest because they taste like sunflower seeds. I’ve eaten quite a bit of ants and they just taste sour. They just have a citric flavour and there’s nothing really much more to them.”
Miles: “I’m a big softie vegetarian. I love animals and then bugs by extension, you know, they’re all in that same Kingdom. So for me, I’m the resident person that’s always like, I don’t wanna kill the ladybug in game, you know, and I will take the the glass and get a spider out of my house rather than squash it. But you know, I have no tolerance for cockroaches. That’s the one that I’m not on board with as many are.”
And surviving in the world?
Aarik: “Yeah, I’m bug food. There’s no way. I would absolutely gorge myself if I found, like, a cookie. And that’s where I’d live. I’ll build my house around that Cookie.”
Miles: “Yeah, I don’t know. I’d probably, you know, start documenting it. I would be one of those logs you’d find where you’re like, oh, what happened to this guy? And then it ends in him dying terribly.”
My final question to the team was to find out what their favourite part has been about working on Grounded 2 so far.
Miles: “I think for me, working with Eidos Montreal and having a total fresh set of eyes on the project from people that love Grounded has been super cool. Their creative director has been champion of like, hey, Grounded came out in 2020. All these years later, people that played this when they were young and identify with the characters, they’re older, so our characters should be older to reflect that and create a more shared identity. So I hope that comes across in the game, but it’s been a really fun thing to to play with, the two years later. What does that mean for everything, you know, the environments, the the world, the characters?”
Aarik: “Yeah, working with the Eidos team, they’re super jazzed about the game and they can’t wait to hear what the community has to say on the new features and everything we’ve added and expanded on the game. I’m also excited to hear from the community. I still play Grounded every day, even though I work at the company, but I still find it enjoyable and then be able to jump over to Grounded 2 and just to continue that, you know, that rush is an awesome feeling.”
It was really great to chat with Miles and Aarik to learn a little bit more about the development of Grounded 2, and it’ll be really exciting to follow the game through its life cycle. I can’t wait to jump back into it with some friends and check out what the public has to say.
About the Author
Hayley Louise
they/them
Hayley spends most of their time gaming, but when they're not doing that you can find them doing all kinds of nerd-adjacent things like playing board games, building Lego, reading books and talking nerdy to everyone who will listen.
