Takuya Sato, Product Manager at Preferred Networks — Interview Series

Preferred Networks, the developer behind the cutesy open-world survival-crafting game Omega Crafter, is just about ready to launch its brand-new fishing update on PC. To learn a bit more about the future of the game (as well as knuckle in on some tips and tricks), we decided to reach out to the folks at PFN.

Thanks for taking the time to speak with us! Before we touch base on the latest developments in Omega Crafter, please could you tell us a bit about yourself? Who are you, and what fueled your passion for gaming?

Takuya-san: My name is Takuya Sato and I am a product manager here at Preferred Networks. I’ve been a game developer my whole career and before joining Preferred Networks, I was a lead engineer for a game title with a popular franchise. I’ve been a big fan of open world survival craft games and played a lot of them, and I always had this strong passion for automating in-game tasks. That’s where I got the idea for Omega Crafter in which you can program your own sidekick called Grammi to automate all kinds of things.

Tell us a bit about Omega Crafter. What’s the story here, and how exactly do players slot into the narrative?

Takuya-san: Omega Crafter is a new type of open world survival craft game with emphasis on programming-based automation. In Omega Crafter, you take on the role of a programmer developing an open-world game. The game development is facing delays due to a “mysterious interference program” planted by hackers in the game world. To eliminate the interference program and proceed with game development, you dive into the vast multi-biome world you’ve created. There are no cities or inhabitants, only untouched nature. You build structures, craft stations, and develop the town to equip yourself for defeating monsters sent by the malicious program. By defeating boss monsters, you’ll acquire assets to progress the game’s development. Your ally in this adventure is the adorable sidekick called Grammi. With easy drag-and-drop programming that requires no coding experience, you can program Grammi to automate in-game tasks including material collection, farming, item crafting and town building.

We’d love to hear a bit more about the latest fishing update, too. What sorts of features can returning users expect to find in this upcoming patch?

Takuya-san: You can make fishing rods on your workbench and go catch fish by the waters. You can also build a simple program to make Grammi fish, too. Fishing is a very popular in-game content and we noticed Omega Crafter players have been saying “I want to see Grammi fish!” and “They must look so cute if they can fish!” – so we added the fishing content!

You can eat the fish you captured either uncooked or cooked, and that will give you some temporary stat boosts. Fish is our new natural resource in the game, and I hope the players enjoy thinking how they make it easier for you to progress through the game.

And what sorts of “unique” species of fish are we likely to find in Omega Crafter?

Takuya-san: You can capture real species like horse mackerel, flying fish and eels. All of us in the development team live in Japan and obviously we eat a lot of fish for sushi, sashimi and all other types. So we started with the team members’ favorite fish. Each biome has unique species of fish and I hope the players collect them all! And if you see a twinkly point on the water surface, you might be able to catch rare items that are not fish!

Do you have any useful tips for those who’ve yet to embark on their own adventures in the world of Omega Crafter?

Takuya-san: The best tip I’d give is to use Grammi to automate tasks as much as you can!  I would particularly recommend Omega Crafter for four types of gamers.

One is automation fans because obviously, the best part of Omega Crafter is the block-based programming for automation. Two, survival craft fans hungry for challenging battles. You can select the boss strength at the beginning, and equip yourself with gears and weapons that will make you stronger enough to defeat them. The more you automate and streamline the crafting process with Grammi, the quicker and stronger your equipment gets! Three, creative gamers who want to build in-game structures freely. The players like how complex and flexible the structure-building and city-building can get in Omega Crafter while they can rely on Grammi for material collection. You can also level the lands so you’re not bound to the default terrain. Four, families who want to enjoy crafting games with children. Omega Crafter does not require any previou coding experience or knowledge. Kids can also acquire computational thinking by starting from simple programs and customizing the adorable Grammi.

So, what’s next for Preferred Networks? Do you have any plans to further evolve the Omega Crafter ecosystem? If so, could you tell us a bit more about what’s to come?

Takuya-san: There were two player reactions that impressed me after we launched Omega Crafter’s early access edition. One is that many players proactively share their unique structures and automation schemes online. The other is that many players enjoy Omega Crafter with their kids. It always makes me happy to see Omega Crafter players communicate with each other and form their own communities. We plan to make Omega Crafter much more accessible to a wider range of players than it is now and grow the community to a much further extent.

[v0.8.0 Update Announcement]
Fishing content has been added to #OmegaCrafter🎣✨

✅ Craft a "Fishing Rod" at the workbench
✅ Cook and enjoy the fish you catch! 😋
✅ Automation by your Grammi is possible!https://t.co/coDEGpqYgS pic.twitter.com/ysMsAyyDym

— Omega Crafter (@omegacrafter_en) July 17, 2024

Is there a way for fledgling crafters to stay up to date with the game and all things Preferred Networks? Are there any social channels, live events, or streams that we should be taking note of ahead of the fourth quarter?

Takuya-san: Please join our Discord server at https://discord.com/invite/nPVeyT7FSh! The development team post updates there but more importantly, players from around the world are sharing their buildings and codes. We also post updates on X (formerly Twitter) at @omegacrafter_en.

And we also plan to attend events overseas as well as in Japan. We will of course have visitors try Omega Crafter but we’re also making some special exhibits, so stay tuned!

Any final words for our readers?

Takuya-san: Please get Omega Crafter on Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2262080/Omega_Crafter/) and try them on either Windows or Mac! I highly recommend the multiplayer feature that allows up to six players to interact in the Omega Crafter universe. This title is created with our passion for fun open world survival craft games so do give it a try!

Sounds great! Thanks for your time, Takuya-san!

For more information on Preferred Networks’ Omega Crafter, be sure to check in with the team over on their official social handle here. Alternatively, you can visit the Steam extension for additional updates here.