5th Cell details Anchors in the Drift

We reached out to 5th Cell CEO Jeremiah Slaczka with some questions regarding the project, and this is what he had to say.

Anchors in the Drift comes across as something fairly different from 5th Cell at first glance. In what ways would you say this is "a 5th Cell game"? Where do you feel the 5th Cell DNA is best manifested?

"We're mostly known for our quirky 2D games like Scribblenauts, but I feel that our DNA really lies in our love of innovation. We really enjoy trying new things that can be fun and engaging. Crafting your own unique abilities from collectible cards is definitely innovative, but there's also innovation in this universe and lore where islands in time exist across an expansive quantum ocean."

Can you detail the work that has gone into creating the universe and scenario?

"The universe and lore was something I focussed a lot of time on before we began development of the game. I wanted to create a universe that was almost like a platform itself. Something that we could build different games and genres in that would still make sense within the universe. I spent about two years on and off just fleshing out the world, the technology, the bad guys -- and from there, the team and I further fleshed out those ideas into something really spectacular. This F2P ARPG is hopefully just the first of the titles in the Anchors universe!"

Will the story play a big role in the game or is it mainly there as a backdrop to the action and mechanics?

"For this game it's mainly a backdrop for the action and game mechanics, we want to establish the base universe here, but we're also thinking of releasing some story related stuff alongside the game.  We plan to update the Fig site with more lore and backstory as the campaign progresses!"

Our first impressions of the art-style is that is has a fairly distinct feel to it. Can you elaborate a bit on the vision that drives the art direction?

"Thanks! We have an amazing team of artists and graphics programmers who work alongside a great art director. We really wanted to get a strong tone and mood that matched the lore. So we pushed for vibrant colour palettes and strong silhouettes."

How would you describe the structure of missions and progression in the game?

"We have two different modes. Warfront is a single-player campaign of designer-created missions, which has a social leaderboard attached to it, that gets more difficult as players progress. The second mode is called Recon, it's an open ended mode where players can level up their different Anchors, and collect materials to upgrade their Driftship and Break Gauntlet (the device that lets players make abilities). These upgrades will also allow players to progress further in Warfront."

The Fig is a rather new crowdfunding/investment platform - what attracted you to it?

"Fig is very new, we're only the second campaign they've done! What attracted us to it was the investment side of things. Investors can look at our studio's pedigree and the quality of the game we're making, and can decide, along with the gaming crowd, if they want to share in its potential backend."

In general free-to-play titles have struggled a bit with crowdfunding - what are your thoughts on this, what are you doing to convince backers of the value proposition?

"Yes, generally F2P titles have struggled on crowdfunding platforms. However, what we're attempting to achieve here is to create a deep, meaningful universe with their help. For us, this is the beginning of a massive universe that we are very excited to bring to life, and we want our backers to be involved in helping shape that universe. We want to add value to their backing by creating a great game with their pledges."

Other than simply funding what do you hope/plan to get out of your community of backers? Are you looking to bring them into development and help steer the direction of the game in any way?

"We absolutely want our backer community to give feedback and tell us what they like and what they don't like with early Alpha and Beta access. We want this game to be the entry point to a huge and detailed Anchors universe and we want a long term and deep relationship with this game's community."

You can learn more about Anchors in the Drift and its crowdfunding/investor campaign over on Fig.co.