The iconic in-game emote in Arc Raiders sparked significant internal debate among the development team.
Caio Braga, the creator of Arc Raiders, shed light on the game’s testing methodology. He revealed that developers at Embark Studios actively challenge themselves to vary their playstyles to avoid stagnation.
To prevent testers from exclusively focusing on aggressive gameplay, Braga explained that Embark Studios implemented a randomizer to dictate the team’s playstyle for each day. This innovative approach encourages developers to explore a wider range of gameplay, including more passive or cooperative strategies alongside the usual aggressive ones.
Braga also disclosed that during an earlier phase of development, the Arc Raiders team seriously considered removing the now-famous “don’t shoot” emote.
“One interesting point revolved around our weapon designer’s strong desire to keep the ‘don’t shoot’ emote, and there was a lot of debate about it. We were adding PvP, playing aggressively — who would even use such an emote? However, the team at that time said, ‘No, no, we believe players will use it.’ And so, it stayed, and now people really like it and use it.”