Among Us Fans Just Got Crushing News
In a matter of months, Among Us has gone from the game nobody heard of to the title everyone wants to play. The game launched in 2018 to zero fanfare and acknowledgement, but in 2020, gamers suddenly started playing Among Us in droves and asked for more content. Developer Innersloth canceled a planned sequel to keep up with demand, but that still wasn't enough. Among Us players turned to fan-created content, including edible, unofficial Among Us gummies, but audiences still craved more. Maybe giving players the ability to create their own Among Us levels will satiate appetites? Unfortunately, that just isn't in the cards — at least not for the foreseeable future.
Early in October, the three Among Us devs took time out of their busy schedules to sit down with Twitch's The Weekly. They discussed all the love they have received from fans, the surreal nature of their newfound fame, and the inspiration and hard work that goes into developing the game. Every so often, the interview changed gears and transformed into a viewer-fueled ask me anything (AMA). One of the first AMA questions tackled the timeline of new content such as maps and in-game tasks.
The devs stated quite clearly that development is slow — partially because they are still recovering from the influx of fans, and partially because server stability comes first. A new map is in the works, but it is in the early stages of development. This question (and answer) paved the way for the news that broke spirits, but only after viewers waded through questions such as raising player caps and the possibility of resurrecting dead crewmates.
Shortly before the devs had to say goodbye, one of the interviewers, Cassie, asked if players could ever spice up their Among Us play sessions with custom maps and characters, both of which are highly requested features. Among Us' devs admitted custom maps and characters would be cool ideas and have been considered, but they would be difficult to pull off, especially the maps. Unlike other video games, each level in Among Us is completely hand drawn, with no map tiles or assets to speak of. In other words, if Innersloth were to implement a custom map maker tool, the studio would have to completely redo how it creates maps.
Instead of drawing each game level as one continuous picture and programming the game around that, Innersloth devs would have to put a ton of work into creating individual assets, including walls, boxes, and scanners. The team would then have to implement a new system not unlike what is used in The Sims franchise to make all the elements work together.
As for custom characters, the Innsersloth team didn't discuss the probability or even possibility of creating your own crewmates — or imposters — but it's safe to assume such a system would run into the same problems as building custom maps.
While the devs didn't rule out custom maps (and characters) entirely, they stated if such features were to happen, they wouldn't be added for quite a long time. The team would have to create all the assets first, which would be quite the undertaking. Innersloth already has its hands full fixing the game's servers. In fact, one of the studio's biggest priorities is patching up Among Us' netcode, an improvement some players may not even notice.
While stability and general connectivity issues are Innersloth's main concerns right now, the company is also currently in the middle of an anti-hacker crusade. Innersloth recently implemented a series of anti-cheats to deal with problems such as impersonation, chat spam, and mass despawn. Normally, identifying cheaters and hacks on the game's servers wouldn't take time out of future content development, but you must remember that when the Innersloth devs joined The Weekly, it wasn't three members from the Innersloth team — it was all three members of the Innersloth team. The studio simply doesn't have the luxury or manpower to let someone else deal with hackers.
While the Innersloth devs admitted they might hire additional help in the future, they are still currently a three-man team. Any time spent giving players what they need (e.g., game stability and anti-cheats) takes time away from giving players what they want (i.e., custom maps and characters). Maybe once Innersloth grows some more, the studio can make big strides towards implementing assets players can mix and match to form custom maps. But until then, Among Us fans will just have to wait.