Arc Raiders devs reduced the speed of everything by 60% during pivot

Arc Raiders looked very different in its early stages of development, and even compared to its initial reveal trailer. While the team was flip-flopping between genres, one thing was clear: your goal was to kill a boss as fast as possible. There was a lot of mobility in those prototypes — you moved fast to reach the boss, jump pads flung you around, and the Snap Hook was unlimited.

It’s almost unrecognisable to today, where characters have a satisfying heft and limited stamina that make crossing open areas an intense prospect. In his GDC talk, Arc Raiders' production director Caio Braga said, “because we made you run so fast towards the boss, all the craft that was in the game was kind of background noise.” He added that testing felt odd because all the animations were kept at high speed while they experimented with the change.

arc raiders, caio braga, gdc, gameplay change, movement speed, snap hook, jump pads, limited stamina, boss fights, animations