Digital Extremes, celebrating 12 years of Warframe at TennoCon, offered a glimpse into their new IP, Soulframe. Ahead of the event, a gameplay demo, presented by Digital Extremes CEO Steve Sinclair, Creative Director Geoff Crookes, and Senior Community Manager Sarah Asselin, highlighted the game’s unique features. Narrative Designer Sydney Hills and Lead Designer Scott McGregor further elaborated on Soulframe’s skill system, Verminia, the French-speaking witch, and Bromius, the singing bear.
Soulframe is envisioned as a free-to-play, open-world multiplayer RPG, contrasting Warframe’s sci-fi setting with a fantasy world deeply connected to nature. Exploration of Midrath’s wilderness is encouraged, with bows and magic replacing guns and lasers. Those interested can sign up on the official Soulframe website for access to Soulframe Preludes during TennoCon weekend, before July 20th.
A key point of tension in the development process involved the game’s skill system. Originally, the developers experimented with a skill tree, similar to early Warframe iterations. However, they found it inadequate for Soulframe’s long-term live service model.
Here’s what Scott McGregor had to say about it:
“If you’re familiar with the early days of Warframe, we had a version of a skill tree. And we found it didn’t work. And then, we repeated the same problem again [laughs]. And in Soulframe, we were attempting to try to tie it to… a broader category of weapons… The games that we make, obviously, are thousands of hours… designing systems that can be interesting and deep enough for that amount of time is a challenge. So…we felt, again, it wasn’t going to work for us. So we’re pivoting to a system that’s more open-ended.”
The team ultimately decided to move towards a more open-ended system, allowing for flexibility and easier updates. McGregor explained that skill trees can penalize new players or those who haven’t invested extensive time, whereas an open system allows everyone to experience new content as it’s added.
The open-ended system ties progression to weapon categories. Using bows, for example, unlocks bow-specific skills that can be slotted in. Individual skills can be found throughout the world, dropped by ancestors, or obtained as rare finds.
Language plays a crucial role in Soulframe’s world-building. Verminia, the French-speaking witch, exemplifies this. Sydney Hills emphasized the importance of diverse languages and accents in shaping Soulframe’s soul.
“Yeah, definitely a big part of the soul of Soulframe is the different languages and the different accents. We’ve worked with voice actors from tons of different places already… Also, for the Bromius quest, we got Øystein Kanestrøm, who is the voice of Bromius. And he is Finnish, recording from Finland.”
Hills draws inspiration from historical languages and slang, citing an instance where Scottish voice actors corrected her interpretation of Scottish slang during recording sessions. She discoved that a phrase she thought meant “tired” actually meant “drunk.” “What happened next was crucial,” as the actors then helped her refine the script to ensure authenticity.
Finnish mythology heavily influenced the Bromius quest, with the team researching terms and concepts related to bears and forests. They even found a Finnish word that roughly translates to “tears of the deep forest spruce,” another euphemism for moonshine.
Crafting the narrative for a live service game in its early stages presents unique challenges. Hills described it as a lot of “guessing,” with some major plot points set but much of the world-building emerging organically. This approach involves planting seeds and following interesting threads, hoping they converge in the end. McGregor added that vague references in early lore can evolve into significant elements later on, a pattern observed in Warframe’s development.
Sidearms are not simply secondary weapons, they are a distinct category with unique options, like magic-casting wrist gauntlets or wrist-mounted bows. Digital Extremes aims to give each aspect of the game a distinct flavor, setting it apart from other games.
McGregor highlighted the alternate fire for bows, which unleashes a rain of arrows in an area of effect, as a particularly cool feature. Another popular mechanic is the ability to reflect magic back and forth, creating a “wizard on wizard battle” with projectiles gaining power each time they are reflected.
Looking ahead, McGregor expressed excitement about the Mote system, envisioning Motes as creatures living within swords, granting unique abilities.
The developers also addressed the role of animals in Soulframe’s world, particularly the Omen Beasts like Bromius, who can speak and embody the collective spirit of their species. While other animals will remain mostly non-verbal, the possibility of singing and dancing animals following bards was also a funny idea.
Hills shared that the team drew inspiration from various cultures’ bear myths when creating Bromius, ultimately focusing on Finnish mythology, where bears are revered and feared. In Finnish folklore, Otso, a mythological bear, is the king of the forest, embodying both respect and fear.
- Key elements of Soulframe’s development:
- Incorporating diverse languages and accents.
- Drawing inspiration from global mythologies.
- Creating an open-ended skill system.
Soulframe is still in pre-alpha and is set to launch on PC later this year.