INSOMNIA: The Ark - FAQ Answered

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Spaceman
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INSOMNIA: The Ark has answered some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about what to expect from the game going forward.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
If you are reading these lines it means you want to know something specific about INSOMNIA: The Ark, right? In this case you are at the right place in the right time! Below you can see our attempt at collecting the most popular questions about the game and tried to give meaningful answers to them. Didn't find what you've been looking for? Then start a new topic in Discussions and sooner or later someone will help you out :),

P.S. this collection of questions and answers is not final. So if you happen to ask something in Community Hub, got the answer that helped (to solve your problem etc), AND you believe it will be useful for everyone else to know -- leave us a tip in the comments below. Thank you!


General questions
Does this game support controllers?
You can play this game with a controller. Read this guide for more info.

What about Mac, Linux?
We will be dealing with these versions of the game as soon as we make sure that most of known critical issues are being dealt with. We will keep you posted in the news section.

Will it be out for consoles?
There's a possibility of this. Technically it can be done since Unreal Engine 4 (which powers the game) allows to make this happen.

How long it takes to complete the game?
60+ hours with side quests taken in consideration.

Is it an open world game?
Despite the fact that you can't discover locations in the game in random order or by just wandering the global map, you can do whatever you want and in any order you'd prefer.

Can you choose to play as a female character?
At this point of time you can play as a male character only. We are working on adding an opportunity to play as a female character.

What are your plans for the future? Can we expect DLCs?
We have certain plans and ideas. We will let you know about those as soon as we can.

Are there factions in the game and can you join them?
There are quite a few factions in the game. You can do quests for them and become a member. However your background is quite specific in terms that you start out as a member of a specific faction and can interact with other factions mostly to achieve the goals of your own organization.

Is this game non-linear?
There are certain quests that are mutually exclusive. Also most of the time there are different ways to complete tasks you are given. Other than that you can expect to get unique quests and dialogue lines that will be available depending on what background you will pick for your character (you can do this while creating one).

Can you craft items?
Yes, you can craft ammo, grenades, explosives, medicine and a certain amount of other unique items. You will need specific schematics and benches / labs to do so.

These game has been developed 8 years. What took you so long?
This is our first game. Before INSOMNIA nobody in the studio had any experience with game development, so basically this was a completely new thing for everyone. First 4 years were spent on pre-production: creating design documents, writing lore, and learning everything else necessary for future work.

Next 2 years were spent on developing the game using the Ogre 3D engine (this is when the game has been created as isometric). At some point we realized that more time is spent on creating custom tools for the engine instead of developing the game itself. So to increase the chances of the game being released in this century we have decided to switch to Unreal Engine 4. So next 2 years were spent on this transition and further development of INSOMNIA. Therefore the actual development of the game you know today took around 2 years.

How many people work at your studio?
12 people.

Do you plan to add Cloud Save support?
As soon as we will take care of existing issues with the game, we can focus on adding more features.

And what about adding mod support / map editor?
Please see the answer above.

When we can expect Spanish, Polish, German, Chinese ... localizations?
We will be able to make this happen after we feel that existing localizations (Russian and English) are good enough.

I've supported the game through Kickstarter but never got my key. Can you help?
Sure, just drop us a line at support@insomnia-project.com

I had an access to beta version of the game but it has been revoked. What happened?
We've discontinued the beta testing just before the full version of the game got released. If you are one of our Kickstarter backers, please see the answer above for more details. If you happen to get the beta key as a prize for participating in contests or in any other way, you will have to buy the full version of the game or you can wait till our next contests / live broadcast for a new giveaway.

Can we expect character animation to be improved? Voice acting added?
The resources of our team are somewhat limited and we need think twice before taking decisions. Currently we are focused on improving the existing mechanics and content. After this is done we might consider doing other things as well.

Any ETA on v1.5?
Next patch (v1.5) that is expected to include the Unreal Engine 4 update is being tested at the moment. We will keep you posted on our progress in the news section.'

[...]
Thanks Farflame!

More information.
 
Joined
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Glad to see they're still working hard on it. I was disappointed by the condition of the game at release, but I still have a lot of interest in playing this one.
 
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Glad to see they're still working hard on it. I was disappointed by the condition of the game at release, but I still have a lot of interest in playing this one.

It's been on my wishlist. How does it play? Care to share some impressions?
 
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Aye it is still high on my list as well. I think the biggest issue I have is the super restricted camera. I just wish you could rotate or go up and down a bit more. It annoys me even though I try to ignore it.

The atmosphere is top notch though and if they get it patched up should be a really good game to play.
 
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I've not picked this one up as of yet, but it does seem like they're doing a great deal of work on the game, so I'll likely pick it up in a few months.
 
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Its a solid game which still has some problems. I will play it to the end, but. . . I've had some wierd issues with XP. I'm not sure if there is a level limit at points throughout the game or what. Maps are screwed up. Its rare that you'll open a map, have your marker on it, and all the correct locations. I had one npc talk to me in Russian, have had a few item descriptions in Russian and one quest entry in Russian. Also there is one late quest area where computers level 1 is required to exit. I had no computer skill, but luckily I had a reload shortly before the exit where I just gained a level, so I could put the point in. I am still almost finished with the game. It has as other have said a top notch atmosphere, and is very different (kind of post-modern is many way, it reminds me of the movie Brazil). I also like the skill system and what they've done with the items slots. Even with its issues it is a game one can finish, but if you let yourself get frustrated by unpolished products you might want to wait on it. I'm not sure how much more repairing the game will get. Despite longer early access, they had a rocky release.
 
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Good review @forgottenlor;! Seems to sum up my impressions and what I have heard, although I am still in the beginning for the most part, like first 15 hours. I stopped to wait for more patches.
 
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Still haven't played this as it looked & played like another released to early kickstater game. At least with the engine update, and a few more patches I might finally play it.
 
Joined
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I actually just started playing this last night. Got a couple hours in. No major issues so far (one NPC was flickering but I could still interact with him).

As others have said great atmosphere. Not far enough in to comment on skills yet but so far so good
 
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It's a cool RPG but I will buy it when it is available drm-free.
 
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I had given up on this since these were the guys who asked it's backers to back it a second time and sent unsolicited emails about a separate service they were setting up so trust was lost along the way but I'd certainly be happy to see it get to a reasonably playable state.
 
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