Serum is a first-person survival title developed by Game Island that was recently launched in early access on Steam. With the genre becoming ever more popular in the last couple of years, especially in the indie sphere, fans have been treated to a wealth of great entries within it. Serum sets out to distinguish itself via its unique mechanics, specifically the use of the titular substance to sustain and empower the player character, as well as its world exploration, crafting, and building systems.
Serum game director and Game Island CEO Michal Ojrzynski recently spoke with Game ZXC about his team's initial vision for their survival crafting title, early iterations on some of its designs, and various ideas considered as they perfected Serum's tone and style. Ojrzynski also emphasized how Game Island is keeping in touch with fans, plans for Serum down the line, as well as the general versatility of the survival genre that allows for a breadth of creativity and options. The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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Serum Game Director Discusses its Origins, Early Access, and Staying in Touch with Fans
Q: What are some of Serum’s biggest influences?
Michal Ojrzynski: We haven’t directly modeled it after any specific title. Of course, players compared Serum with classic survival games like The Forest, probably because of the location. We have a couple of biomes in Serum, and one of them is similar to that. If I were to name some that we took inspiration from, I would point to Fallout, that post-apocalyptic atmosphere and vision of the world. The second one I also have to mention is the BioShock series. If you watch the trailers and play a bit, there are some similar mechanics related to injecting a substance, the serum itself, which in part gives players the special abilities to help them survive in the world. Those are the main ones.
Q: Where did Serum’s core premise originate beyond those you mentioned?
Ojrzynski: It was an idea we had in our minds for a while–the idea of this mysterious substance that keeps you alive and the time pressure that comes with it, positively and negatively affecting our protagonist, seemed rather interesting to us and like an original approach to the survival genre. Due to the timer that the protagonist has on their arm in Serum–if it goes to zero, that results in death–many players connected it with a popular Justin Timberlake movie, In Time. There’s something to it, I suppose, but believe it or not, the movie didn’t directly influence the main idea.
When people played Serum though, they noted the similarities between them. While there might be something there, it’s not like I watched that film beforehand. I already had the idea. [Laughs]
Really though, that was our original approach to the survival genre, we tried to focus on making it happen, and we recently did. Players can try it and hopefully they will like it. We like it! And we hope everyone will check it out on Steam.
Q: Related, were there any other ideas, mechanics, or gameplay loops that you considered or discarded as you designed and iterated on Serum?
Ojrzynski: Oh, yeah. Firstly, Serum has a lot of mechanics, right? The unifying factor between the brewing systems, the crafting, enemies, and combat, as well as world exploration, is the serum itself. Everything is connected to it. There were many ideas, especially related to the skills that the serum is supposed to give to the players. We had many “crazy” ideas for skills like fireballs, freezing effects, and such. We also had some ideas for throwing weapons attached with chains, something like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat.
As with any project, you have plenty of ideas in the beginning. At the outset, we did a lot of brainstorming. Later though, you have to pass on some and just choose the ones that fit best to the concept and climate of the game. We also did design some firearms and serum-driven guns but ended up rejecting them. Maybe we’ll add them later, but for now, we have limited them to mainly melee weapons and a bow for ranged. There were lots of ideas, but eventually, we chose the right ones we thought worked and fit the most.
Q: This is Game Island’s debut game. What was it like going through that process and getting it listed on Steam?
Ojrzynski: It is our first game, but I think the overall process of creating it was not all that different from other projects and studios. It’s fairly similar for every game generally. Everything starts, as I mentioned, with the idea, and then it’s transferred to a general design document, which is standard. Then, of course, the team is the most important thing. I met up with them and started planning production. In the beginning, we had a smaller team of about 8 or 9 people, who were doing the demo version of Serum. They prepared the demo, and we showed it to publishers. Toplitz Productions liked it, so we signed with them.
If you already have the materials, then you can share them easily with the players and through various channels. We put it on a Steam card, and that worked great because at the early stages of the project and during its creation, we could already get our target audience interested in Serum. We can then build a community around it, which is the most crucial thing for us and for the game. The community there and the wish listing process make it convenient to get the word out, and we can connect with them via Discord or Steam and go from there.
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Serum Game Director on the Bloom of the Survival Genre
Q: What are your thoughts on the current sort of “renaissance” of indie survival games? Do you feel that to be true or have seen the sentiment when talking with the community, that there’s something intrinsically appealing at this time for titles in the vein of Serum?
Ojrzynski: Yes, renaissance is a nice way to describe it. I think every survival title has something to offer. Some have elaborate building systems, Valheim for example. Others focus on showing and providing as realistic an experience as possible, like The Long Dark. Games within the genre can be quite different from each other and offer a unique experience for everyone, and I think that’s interesting for the players.
That’s why we chose this genre as well. We rely on the original mechanics of the serum, the time pressure, the interesting storyline, and the original world to set our title apart. That’s what I think is great about the genre, because everyone can find something different that they like within it, and why it’s popular right now and will continue to be.
Q: Did you consider any other possible genres, or was Serum always envisioned and built with survival design and philosophy in mind?
Ojrzynski: At Game Island, we are focusing specifically on the survival genre. Privately, I do have a few ideas for games in completely different genres, but of course, they’re not fully realized yet. Will we consider other genres in the future? I think it’s still too early to say. I’m not saying no, but as Serum is in early access right now, currently we’re putting all our efforts into that and the survival genre, which is sort of our “piece of the pie” in the business. We’re fully focused on delivering the game into its 1.0 version for the immediate time.
Serum's Early Access Reception and Content Roadmap
Q: Speaking of Serum’s early access, how has it been so far? What’s the feedback been like?
Ojrzynski: As you know, we entered early access in late May and have been listening to all the player feedback since then. We’ve had at least four patches to improve Serum and added several features requested by fans. We’re constantly trying to improve it, listen to their feedback, and make it into a game for them, because the players are the most important part.
We’ve been adding in solutions and other things we’ve been sent through the community channels, just trying to make the game better and better as we move along. We’ve heard from some gamers who think Serum’s a little bit too hard, and others who like more hardcore titles. Every gamer is different, of course, and we’re trying our best to find the sweet spot that works for everyone.
Q: It is still early, but any thoughts on plans for later DLCs or console ports for Serum?
Ojrzynski: It’s kind of too far out, at least right now, to focus much on. We’re still working hard on polishing Serum’s early access version as much as possible. There will be time for later planning, but it’s step-by-step for now. But we do have some DLCs in mind for later. For future stages, we’re planning co-op. We’ll have more content drops to add some mechanics related to combat traps, for example, new ones, so that the fighting system will be much more interesting for players, we think. We’re adding achievements as well, but the biggest next step is the co-op version. On porting, we also do have it in mind, though for now, we’re focusing on the PC version. But in the future, yes.
Q: Last question, maybe more of a fun one. What are some of your or the team’s favorite games they’ve been playing, survival or otherwise?
Ojrzynski: I don’t have a lot of free time right now, but I did recently play Hellblade and it’s really good. I like to play Nintendo games with my kids, so I’ve been going through the Ori games with them. As for what the team has been playing, I know it hasn’t been only survival stuff. One of my Technical Artist teammates is playing Factorio a lot. Others were playing Dave the Diver, Baldur’s Gate 3, Manor Lords (which just released a few weeks ago), and Diablo–all great games.
Obviously, mostly Serum. [laughs]
And I’d just like to encourage everyone out there to support indie games and studios. You can play Serum’s early access version now on Steam and follow Game Island on our community channels. Finally, just enjoy because we’re putting a lot of work into making it a fun game, and that’s what life is all about–playing games and having fun!
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Serum
Created in Unreal Engine 5, Game Island's Serum is a survival game that is in early access. Played from a first-person angle, the game features a brewing system to create different serums and also combines melee and ranged combat.
