[Exclusive interview] Explore and survive in Sci-fi city-builder Fake Future
Fake Future, a pixel-style Sci-fi city-builder, will be officially launched globally on May 9 for both iOS and Android players. Featuring a unique art style, an amazing original soundtrack, and attractive gameplay, Fake Future creates a world where the human girl Hope and the Cyberoids build up their base and try to make their way back to Earth.
To know more about some behind-the-scenes stories, we've invited Johnson, the developer behind this game, to talk a bit about Fake Future, Sci-fi, and his ideas on the possible "future" of AI.
❓TapTap: Fake Future is a story-rich Sci-fi city-builder. What was the motivation or source of inspiration for creating this game?
🙋♂️Johnson: Firstly, I’ve been a huge Sci-fi lover ever since I was a kid. I love all kinds of Sci-fi works, including but not limited to novels, movies, and games.
Also, I’m pretty into simulation games, especially base-building ones. Therefore, together with my team, I created Fake Future, a game in which players can not only freely explore the Sci-fi world, but also think over their strategies and decisions while building their own base and getting ready for combat.
Lastly, we chose this specific style and theme partly because of our head artist Gustavo. A Retro-futuristic Sci-fi adventure game is a perfect fit for his artistic style.
❓TapTap: "Sci-fi" is definitely a keyword of Fake Future. Some details and references inside the game also pay tribute to several Sci-fi classics. As the chief designer of this game, do you have any Sci-fi recommendations that you wanna share with your players?
🙋♂️Johnson: There are quite a few Sci-fi classics out there and it’s really hard to only pick one or two. In terms of Sci-fi themed games specifically, I would recommend two which I’ve played recently: RimWorld and Outer Wilds.
❓TapTap: The soundtrack of Fake Future is definitely something we need to talk about. Many players, including TapTap editors ourselves, really got hooked by the soundtrack inside the game, even though the game hasn’t been officially out yet. Are there any behind-the-scenes stories you wanna share with us about the in-game music?
🙋♂️Johnson: The music of Fake Future is credited to our talented music producer TetraCalyx, so to be honest I don’t really have any interesting stories here. But recently I’ve been thinking about this a lot: there are a lot of AI art generators out there these days, right? I would secretly imagine TetraCalyx as an artist confronting AI technology, and from there, my imagination just runs wild. I even create some plot inside my brain, like… In the grand final of the 6th AI vs Human: Music Design Competition, TetraCalyx turns the tables and finally defeats AI. LOL.
❓TapTap: Speaking of music, what’s your favorite style or singer?
🙋♂️Johnson: I don’t really have a favorite style or singer for now. When I was in university, I was pretty in love with a hip-hop group named Ketsumeishi.
❓TapTap: Fake Future also discusses a lot about the relationship between AI and human beings, mainly via the dialogues among different characters. For example, throughout the discussion between the human girl Hope and a Cyberoid, a question is thrown out to the player: What’s the difference between human beings and Cyberoids?
If there’s a day when androids do dream of electric sheep, what will the world be like? What's your answer to this question?
🙋♂️Johnson: I think the word "Sci-fi" is created to illustrate our imagination of the future, and everything’s possible when tagged with Sci-fi. For me:
The possibility of "there will be androids in the future": 80%
The possibility of "androids dream of electric sheep": 50%
The possibility of "androids get along with human beings": 40%
The possibility of "human beings get replaced by androids": 30%
The possibility of "a human girl named Hope develops Cyberoids and makes it back to earth": 3%
❓TapTap: Please use three phrases to introduce Fake Future to our TapTap players.
🙋♂️Johnson: Retro-futurism, Sci-fi adventure, and Simulation
❓TapTap: Fake Future will be officially released on May 9. Do you have any small tips or suggestions for players that are gonna experience the "future"?
🙋♂️Johnson: We strongly suggest that players spend more time exploring the game. We have prepared tons of super interesting easter eggs and unexpected surprises in this future world.
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