INSOMNIA: The Ark - FAQ Answered

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!