Hacking Drone

Lore & Background

However, it establishes that FTL's gameplay involves outfitting and upgrading a ship with various systems, including drone systems. The game's development was inspired by tabletop board games and non-strategic space combat video games where players manage ship functions. The player's ship can accumulate equipment ranging from weapons to combat and support drones. In combat, the player can manage ship systems by distributing power and ordering crew to stations.

Reader's Guide

It explains that at game start, the player chooses a spacecraft with different weapons, systems (piloting, engines, weapons, oxygen, etc.), and crew. The player jumps between beacons, accumulating scrap, equipment (including drones), and crew. During battles, the game becomes a real-time space combat simulator where the player can pause for evaluation and command input. The player can manage ship systems by distributing power, order crew to stations, and fire weapons.

Did You Know?

• FTL was created by the two-person team of Subset Games, Matthew Davis and Jay Ma, who were former employees of 2K Games's Shanghai studio.
• The game was released for Windows, MacOS, and Linux in September 2012, and an updated version, FTL: Advanced Edition, was released in April 2014 as a free update for existing owners.
• The concept for FTL was based on tabletop board games like Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game and non-strategic video games such as Star Wars: X-Wing.
• The developers designed the game to have a 10% success rate of winning, looking to Super Meat Boy as an example of a tough but not discouraging game.
• FTL is recognized alongside Spelunky and The Binding of Isaac as helping to popularize the 'roguelite' genre.