Ever wondered what’d happen if you take Theme Hospital and throw it into space? Well, with about 20 years of the genre moving forward thrown into the mix, the answer is Galacticare. For anyone that loves sims, you’re not going to regret checking out the space-hospital game, and we were lucky enough to chat with Josh Bishop, the Creative Director at Brightrock Games and visionary behind the wacky idea.
[Note]: Some answers have been edited for clarity and length.
For the FandomWire readers who may not be aware of who you are, would you mind explaining that, and also what you doing?
We are Brightrock Games, an indie developer based in Brighton, UK. We’re a self-made studio, with our team hailing from all over Europe. We came together over a love of dungeon management titles and launched War for the Overworld back in 2015. We’ve continued to support the title and are now launching our newest venture: Galacticare, a hospital management sim that takes place in the stars.
And a brief overview of Galacticare?
Galacticare is a sci-fi hospital management title where the player is at the helm of a hospital franchise that desperately needs guidance to thrive. From curing patients with unique interstellar diseases to keeping up with all the best space technology healthcare has to offer, it’s up to the player to heal patients, design the most efficient (and beautiful) hospitals they can, and, of course, do all of this while making profits.
Many of those interested, myself included, grew up playing Theme Hospital, Theme Park and so on. I’m sure both were an inspiration, but how do you ensure you’re different from what came before and create your own path?
At Brightrock, we’re always trying to level up and add to the genres that we are creating within. For Galacticare, we knew from the beginning that we wanted to make a hospital simulator that explores the world it’s within narratively – something that is quite rare within the management genre.
Nobody ever asks about vomit, but I’m convinced that we have the best vomit in video games.
We wanted to create a game where each level felt like an episode of a cartoon show, with recurring characters, zany storylines, and for the player an element of emotional investment in the outcome to some degree.
How did the wacky and unique idea of Galacticare’s setting come to be? It reminds me of the Rick and Morty episode ‘Interdimensional Cable 2’, but even more ‘out there’.
When we were discussing the setting for the game, we wanted to set it somewhere that gave us flexibility and agency to be wacky and weird, and still suit the tone of the game. Space is the perfect backdrop for a game like this.
We can explore the wide galaxy and create all sorts of quirky ailments and even more quirky treatments, we can create technology that wouldn’t seem plausible on a game set on Earth but would for a floating hospital in the stars.
To be frank, many of us are big sci-fi fans and have consumed pretty much everything that’s out there, from the mega-classics to contemporaries. Being able to spend the last few years making our own interpretation of the genre, and all the wild things that come with it, has been a dream come true.
Sims are famously easier/more suited on mouse and keyboard. How did you combat this with the console ports?
In recent years, there’ve been a lot of quality management games released on console, so we had quite a lot of strong influences to draw from. Unlike, say, an RTS game, it’s fine for you to take your time, which is why I think these games work surprisingly well on console – some of the team actually prefer playing Galacticare with a controller!
Galacticare is a game that we designed with both PC and console in mind, so all versions of the game were developed according to the capabilities and qualities of the platform that they run on.
Following on, were there any features you had to cut on console that you couldn’t get to work/weren’t suited?
A few areas were certainly quite challenging to get right (such as room construction), and some actions may take one or two additional button presses when playing with a controller, but the whole game is there. We’re really happy with how it turned out, especially as this is our first foray into console development!
We’ll be supporting Galacticare for the foreseeable future, then after that… who knows?
All of this also has the side benefit of Steam Deck compatibility. We’re big fans of the Deck, and Galacticare runs great on it.
‘Baz’, the 4,000-year-old space creature was a particular hit for our critic when he was previewing the game nearly a year ago. How does Baz feature in the game, and is he a force for good, or bad?
Baz is certainly a force for good. He starts off as a friendly merchant, but as you progress through the game he becomes much more involved with the overarching story. I don’t want to spoil too much about his journey, but it’s definitely out of this world.
Talking of our critic, they thought Dorian Salazar may be either based on or voiced by Matt Berry. Is this correct?
That’s Ben Kearns, a relative newcomer to the industry, but he’s incredibly talented. I can’t wait to listen to more episodes of Dorian Salazar’s podcast, Serenity with Salazon (yes, this is actually in the game).
Unlike most sims, including the ones I’ve already mentioned here, Galacticare seems to put a heavy emphasis on the story, which is rare in the genre full stop. Was there a creative reason behind this?
This is an aspect of the game which evolved significantly throughout development. I’ve spoken on this above, but we really wanted to prioritize this aspect of the experience. It was vital for us that the players felt like they were part of a show that had a story that revealed itself through each level they progressed through. It’s part of what makes the game unique.
The humor in the game seems to be a subtle jibe at the private Healthcare system, subtle but effective. Was it intended or did just happen naturally?
Both. We knew we didn’t exactly need to try hard to get into that mindset. With our team being mostly from the UK and Europe, poking fun at private healthcare comes naturally to us! Also, there are also subtle hints at the current state of the world, for example, Ohdes, an in-game species resorting to traditional gender roles, etc. What was your inspiration for this?
We wanted each of our species to feel truly alien. They each approach a myriad of things you may take for granted in our society in wildly different ways – their approach to family, relationships, religion, gender, government, etc.
We hope so! We’re very happy with how it’s running on Deck right now.
With one exception – the Ohde. They are… fans of Humanity, and have adopted various things (for better or worse) from Earth culture.
Is there anything that Galacticare does in the hospital sim genre that has never been seen before?
Quite a few things. A big thing is the presence of a proper narrative, as we’ve already discussed. Another is Consultants. These are “hero” tier staff members which you gather throughout your journey. The Consultants act as a recurring character throughout the management experience each with their own unique abilities to help you wrangle the chaos of running a hospital.
We don’t want to spoil the fun by saying it all here, but each Consultant comes with their own narrative and the completion of their story arc will help you unlock them for future levels!
With regard to the various illnesses involved, hospital sims have always been relatively loose with their medical interpretations, and just looking at Galacticare we know this is the case again. What is the most unique illness in the game?
You’ll get vastly different answers depending on who you ask on the team, but Retrograde is my personal favorite due to its unique and visually distinct aesthetic. We actually created an entire level focused on this condition and it ended up playing a key part in our narrative. Players can learn more by encountering and researching the condition in-game.
We’re such big fans of the visuals that we created a bunch of character skins and decorative props based on it as well – what’s not to love about Retrograde Medi!
I can imagine the writing table for the injuries, illnesses, and maladies was an incredibly fun time – how did that look? Was it a set time to come up with all of them, or were ideas being thrown throughout development?
Making the ailments of the galaxy was an ongoing process throughout development. Some of them were design-led, while others were created for the narrative, and some were led by art style. Every ailment is unique and bizarre, and we had to make sure that every aspect of the malady, from the animations to the narrative, suited the sci-fi setting we’d created!
Some of the levels ended up being heavily influenced by a few of the conditions. Narratively, other levels required us to create specific ailments so we could design the level itself around them.
We actually locked all of the ailments in around a year ago, it’s fun to create all the ways aliens can get ill (and how to treat it!).
Should we expect that bright green ‘Steam Deck Verified’ tick on release?
We hope so! We’re very happy with how it’s running on Deck right now, but we’re still waiting on the verification process.
When we were designing the levels, we wanted to keep the player on their toes.
Are there any elements you had to cut? Either for time, inappropriateness, or just not being possible?
We wanted to have even more death animations, but we had to draw the line somewhere. Each death has several “ingredients” – the room, the patient species, and the condition – and there are around 1,000 of those combinations in the game!
What’s YOUR personal favorite level, disease, and remedy? And why?
Hard to pick just one! Generally, I think Chapter 7, “Mother” is my favorite. The hospital treats a planet-sized, god-like entity that has fallen victim to a chemical spill from a careless corporation. This entity is the parent/creator of one of our species, the Dyonai.
The Dyonai are born from the planet and never procreate on their own, so this entity dying would mean an entire species would go extinct.
So how do you treat a planet-sized being? With repurposed military cannons, of course! The player effectively commences an orbital bombardment of medicine that is prepared inside the hospital.
When we were designing the levels, we wanted to keep the player on their toes by changing it up so there was never a formula that they could adopt to succeed every time.
Should Galacticare fans expect DLC/future support for the game?
Yep, we’ve got a lot planned – can’t talk about it just yet though!
And after Galacticare has dropped, what’s next for Brightrock Games? New IP, sequel, return to old roots?
We’ll be supporting Galacticare for the foreseeable future, then after that… who knows? You’ll have to wait and see!
Lastly, is there anything you never seem to be asked in these interviews, or something you just desperately want to let our readers know about Galacticare/the studio’s future?
Nobody ever asks about vomit, but I’m convinced that we have the best vomit in video games. It’s just amazing, honestly. Go take a look, you won’t be disappointed.
