Not quite gone are the days of the zombie survival simulator. Although there are still titles coming out, the releases seem staggered more and more among the wider breadth of multiplayer titles. NetEase Games is looking to change that dynamic with Once Human, a free-to-play online multiplayer title in the same vein as titles such as Tom Clancy’s The Division. We recently went hands-on with the game on PC thanks to two NetEase reps (Derek Qiu, Head of Overseas Operation, and Peng Sun/Victoria, World and Content Designer), who sat down to talk with us for a brief interview at GDC 2024.
In the interest of time, we skipped over the character creation and introductory missions, instead letting me hit the open road on a motorcycle and explore throughout the early game segments. My first trek ended in disaster as I explored an abandoned farm teeming with antagonistic life in the hopes of securing my first loot cache. Instead, I quickly met a quick end at the hands of a fierce Deviant despite my best attempts to kite it around an abandoned truck to keep some distance between myself and its area of effect attacks. My second adventure let me chase down an oversized Deviant that took the form of a dilapidated bus walking around on grotesque limbs. Climbing aboard rewarded me with a small loot cache, but I didn’t come close to having the power to take it out. While some of the action and performance felt undercooked, the core concepts of Once Human are already fairly solid and I’m curious to see how Starry Studio and NetEase Games expand on the project ahead of its full launch in the (hopefully) near future.
How long has Once Human been in development?
Derek Qiu: Over three years, with over 300 people.
You talked about using your own engine. Is that something you have developed specifically for this game, or have you worked on other projects with it before?
Derek Qiu: No, that's specifically for Once Human.
What are your release plans? Do you have an early access window or beta tests going into a launch?
Derek Qiu: Well, actually, we had two beta tests already. Our upcoming beta test will happen in April and then the full release is really based on the beta test phase. If everything goes well, we will probably go into early access in Q3. But if there's something we need to change, it might take more time.
Which platforms is Once Human launching on?
Derek Qiu: Firstly, we will only have a PC and mobile version, but in the long term, we want to launch it on the consoles as well. But that's part of the long-term plan because we want to stabilize the PC version and the mobile version first.
When you say mobile, do you mean both iOS and Android?
Derek Qiu: Yeah, that's right.
Will there be cross-play support between the platforms?
Derek Qiu: Indeed.
What's your monetization looking like for Once Human?
Derek Qiu: That's a very good question. I would say it's free to play. The only monetization point is for aesthetic customization, like decorations of your home, your appearance and clothes, and things like that. So, cosmetics.
Will there be any sort of daily login bonuses?
Derek Qiu: We're working on it, though we don't want to make this game boring by requiring users to log in every day to get something. On the other hand, we want to create seasonal events like during Halloween, when there will be some very specific gameplay events.
Is the Deviant system related to these events?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Deviant is actually an in-game system. It's not seasonal, but there will be seasonal events related to the Deviant system. Maybe you can get special Halloween Deviants in a Halloween seasonal event or in a Christmas event and you can get Christmas-themed Deviants. That is how that works.
I saw a reference to starchrom in the game. Is that going to be the premium currency for buying cosmetics?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Nope. You can just get it during your exploration; it's not a paid currency.
Is it one character per account or can you have multiple different characters on the same account if you want to try a different class?
Derek Qiu: Well, there's only one class, to be honest, so we only support one character per account, but you'll be able to use that same character on PC and mobile.
When you create your account, are you locked to that specific server, or can you play on different servers?
Derek Qiu: Well, I think it's locked to the server.
Can you customize your character later on?
Derek Qiu: Yes.
How many different types of weapons are there in Once Human?
Peng Sun (Victoria): We have firearms and also a lot of melee weapons, including a freezing codfish, a wrench, the torch, and all this kind of stuff. We also have crossbows and regular bows. Of course, there's a whole family of firearms.
Do they have different effects?
Peng Sun (Victoria): We do have elemental damage to some of these weapons, like fire, freezing.
Can you assign them to a specific weapon? Is it a mod you can apply to various weapons?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Actually, it's the weapon itself.
How do people acquire weapons in Once Human?
Peng Sun (Victoria): You have to craft them or you loot them, but the looted ones are not as good as the ones you craft. When you craft, you have specific precious materials that you can add to your crafting, which can boost the average characteristic of this weapon.
If you want to upgrade it, do you have to craft a new one or can you upgrade the blueprint that you've already made?
Peng Sun (Victoria): You can actually upgrade the blueprint. You can collect blueprint fragments and if you have enough, you can combine them into a whole blueprint, or you can use it to upgrade others.
How do you get the blueprint fragments?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Somewhere in the open world. You may loot them, but it's a very low chance. We have an in-game wish machine, which is totally free because it consumes starchrom which you get during this exploration. While playing the wish machine mini-game, you can get blueprints and fragments.
If you're only level three, do you craft a level three gun?
Peng Sun (Victoria): We actually have tiers.
Derek Qiu: The upgrading materials will be spread out throughout the areas. If you are only tier one, then you cannot craft tier three weapons because you need tier three materials.
What's to stop a player from joining a friend in a tier three game and getting those crafting materials when they're only a level one or two character?
Peng Sun (Victoria): You can get the materials, but you have to upgrade your own Matic system to get the crafting table. You can always use your friend's higher-tier crafting table, but you can only unlock those blueprints or recipes at your own tier.
If you have enough fragments and you're holding on to them at that specific tier, if you level up to level 20 and craft that weapon, does it scale?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Yeah, you can always use it for the same as long as they're for the same weapon.
Wouldn't you be making a weapon that's essentially level five effectiveness if you've been holding on to those blueprints until level 20?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Actually, you are upgrading your blueprint, like the tier of it, as well. So, it follows. Don't worry about that.
You mentioned the wish machine. I know a lot of games that have similar gacha mechanics typically offer an introductory rate of either reduced cost (in this instance would be starchrom) or a higher chance for, like, your first ten rolls or so. Do you foresee having a similar introductory system to incentivize players to use the wish system early on?
Derek Qiu: So far, we don't have such a plan for Once Human.
Do you foresee having limited timetables for a Halloween event, where you might have specific blueprints that you can roll for during that specific event?
Derek Qiu: Yeah, that's possible.
When you're creating your gear and like the fashion system, how much customization do you have? When you get a specific hat, can you change the colors to customize it?
Derek Qiu: We have a color-changing system, but it depends on the tier. For example, if the item tier is gray or blue, you don't have it. It's only for sophisticated items.
How do you unlock those items for fashion?
Derek Qiu: Well, some of them you can loot in the open world, but most of the fashion items you will need to pay for. Sometimes, we might have events where you can get fashion items for free.
Okay. Can you trade fashion items between characters?
Derek Qiu: No, but you can send items to your friends like in a gift system.
If you defeat a boss and it drops a hat you might already have, but your friend doesn't, can you send it to your friend?
Peng Sun (Victoria): No, it's only for the purchased items.
For those kinds of items, do you choose when you buy them, or if you hold on to the item in your inventory, can you choose to use it on yourself or give it to a friend later?
Derek Qiu: No, we don't have such a plan so far. We don't have a trading system right now.
Is it the same thing with blueprint fragments? Can those be traded?
Peng Sun (Victoria): No.
When you defeat a boss in Once Human and you see the loot on the ground, is that specific to you?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Yeah. If you're in a team and your team actually defeats the boss, the loot is for everyone and you don't share it. You get your own loot.
When you invade one of those PvP areas and try to take control, do the other players lose resources or buildings if you take over that area?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Yes, because when you take over this area, when you actually occupy that area, you have to build your own base using the building system. So it's basically a huge castle or something of your own warband, and when others attack that place, they would definitely destroy that. If the other warband took that place, now all the resources would be theirs.
If the warband takes over an area without destroying the buildings, can they keep and use those buildings still?
Peng Sun (Victoria): They can, and they can rebuild them or build their own. It's your choice.
When you destroy a building or rebuild it, do you get resources back?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Yes, I would say at least partially.
What sort of mods would you be able to use for a weapon?
Peng Sun (Victoria): There are many. Mods also have tiers and come in different colors. You get them from fighting bosses and exploring around the world. Many come from some of the supernatural exploration spots where you have to solve a little riddle or something. If you have multiple of the same mods, you can always use them to upgrade it or enhance it and then you can put the mods on your equipment. Each weapon, depending on their tier and their level, will have different slots for the mods.
When you're getting a scope or a sight for a pistol, does it change the cosmetics so that when you're aiming over the shoulder or zooming in, you see a different scope design?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Yes.
When you install mods on a weapon, are they permanent to that weapon, or can you remove them and put them on another?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Yes.
What sort of armor mods will people see in Once Human? What sort of stats or benefits?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Some of them are related to your weapons, increasing your fire rate and stuff like that. Others are related to survival stats, increasing your health points, or your resistance to stardust pollution, et cetera.
Will the mods increase the effectiveness of any weapon, or can you get mods for a specific weapon class?
Peng Sun (Victoria): We have both.
Will you find gear, whether it's weapons or armor, that may have unique mods that you can't remove?
Peng Sun (Victoria): You cannot remove most armor mods, but for the weapons you can remove everything.
Would there be weapons with unique mods?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Maybe in the future. Not right now.
Do you have plans to space out the housing? In the previous Once Human beta, the first zone felt cramped, with too many player-made buildings.
Peng Sun (Victoria): Yeah, that's right. Yes, definitely. First of all, we want our players to spread out a little bit more, especially when they've just finished the introduction part and just arrived in the open world.
In the future, and currently we're working on that, we will have multiple birthplaces for players to enter the open world. You will have more choices about where to start, so you can definitely scatter out your bases.
We will also release a feature this year where everyone's gonna have his or her own space, which is out of the open world. It will be your own unique space for building and it'll be free of physical laws, so you can build a lot of things.
Would you be able to invite other players in your warband to that space?
Peng Sun (Victoria): Yes. Even your friends outside your warband, like someone you met in the open world. If you give him or her your invitation code, they can always come to your own space.
What are you changing in the next Once Human beta?
Derek Qiu: Quite a lot. Feature-wise, we added the Deviant system that we shared with you and then Victoria just to share that you will have your own space. Those are the two major features we added.
Also, we listened to our players' suggestions and feedback, so we fixed some designs based on that. On top of it, we were doing the previous betas very cautiously. The participants were only around 20K. For the next upcoming beta, because we see a lot of enthusiasm, we will scale up to 150K and also add European servers.
Peng Sun (Victoria): Moreover, there will be new bosses, new monsters, and new points of interest.
Derek Qiu: Lastly, we'll have the mobile version available as well in the next test.
How many betas are you anticipating before the full release of Once Human?
Derek Qiu: That's the last one.
Will that be another closed beta where players will have to sign up to attend?
Derek Qiu: All the participants who joined our previous betas will get full access to the next one.
For players who want to get into the next one, if they haven't played the game before, how can they sign up for that beta?
Derek Qiu: We will have open window times. During that time, if the new players download our launchers, they can gain access to the game.
What sort of server capacity do you have per server?
Derek Qiu: Per server is around 4000 to 5000 players. It really depends on the population of the server, but it's not decided yet.
How do you plan to combat overcrowding? If there's too many players in one starting region fighting for resources, trying to get the same nodes and such?
Peng Sun (Victoria): In one server, there will be around 4000 players. We also have different worlds in one server and you can switch the world when you reach a teleportation tower. You and your friends are still together, but you're in different worlds. You can always switch back and forth between these worlds.
When you're doing a quest and fighting a boss, do you have a private instance where it's just you against the boss, or will other players both see you and maybe join in without being a part of your party?
Peng Sun (Victoria): In the open world, 99% of all encounters are open to everyone, but in the boss arena, which is a separate world, then it will be you and your teammates. Bosses and dungeons are like that.
Will you have any bonuses for people who took part in the Once Human beta?
Derek Qiu: Yes, we do have events specifically for the beta, so people can carry the rewards to the full release version.
Are you planning to sell founder's packs or anything like that?
Derek Qiu: Yes, there will be some of that stuff.
Will you also be doing Mac and Linux versions?
Peng Sun (Victoria): In the future.
Thank you for your time.
