Warframe has been around for a while, and with its age it’s garnered a reputation for being a little daunting for new players eager to jump into a galaxy of sci-fi action and emotional rollercoasters. There have been attempts to fix this with revamped tutorialisation and an option to leap to newer content, but a core part of the experience has remained a wall of complexity: modding.
Modding is the avenue through which players increase the power of their warframes, and for over a decade learning how to mod properly has been in the hands of the community. However, revealed at Tennocon, a new quest will soon be added to remedy one of Warframe’s oldest issues.
The Quest – titled The Teacher – is a dedicated modding tutorial weaved inside a new story-driven experience. Teshin, a fan-favourite character that has always suddenly just shown up during the game’s main narrative, will also be receiving an introduction of sorts with its addition. The funny quirk to this new quest is that it took another development studio to get it done.
“We had the perfect partner to do it” explains Warframe creative director Rebecca Ford. “It is a little funny that it took us building a partnership with a co-development studio to get it done. It’s very difficult to run a GaaS game for 12 years, and everyone thinks there’s a silver bullet for what will fix the new-player experience. Not just for us, it’s a broad thing that happens in games over time.”
A mod quest has been a much-anticipated addition to the game for years. According to Ford, community polling as well as internal tests have proven that some form of tutorial in this areas of the game has been consistently requested by the game’s community of dedicated bullet divers and fashion fanatics.
Ford stated, excitedly: “I’m just excited that we’re finally able to do it! We had the time, we had the team, and we had the commitment to plan and execute on this. So we’ll see if everyone is right, or if it’s just a one percent [improvement].
“The quest itself is amazing, and it’s going to be a good dose of lore by doing the unthinkable. It actually explains Teshin to the players in a mysterious way. You just kind of meet him right now, like good luck, there’s Teshin. So it’s about how Teshin enters the story, and how he teaches him modding.”
As for why this finally happened now, it comes down to a relatively recent increase in the use of support studios for Warframe’s ongoing update rollout. Panic Button assisted Warframe developer Digital Extremes back in 2018 with the Nintendo Switch port, Nitros came in to work on the iOS version of the game, and have returned to the fold to help build the just-announced Android version of the game. However it’s been Sumo Digital that has come in clutch for core Warframe updates. Sumo’s partnership with Digital Extremes started in January last year, and it’s that studio’s expertise and manpower that has opened the door to additions Digital Extremes otherwise wouldn’t have time for.
Sumo Digital’s assistance has also allowed Warframe to speed up development significantly, according to Ford: “There’s never been a time in Tennocon history when we’ve been reviewing a quest for the fall update during a Tennocon. It’s like, oh! When you have more people, this is possible.”
Ford confirmed that the hope is this support studio structure will continue for the future, as Warframe blasts full steam ahead into massive future updates.