Hey everyone!
It feels like it's been forever since we put out a development update, so here goes.
Somehow, we're already halfway through March! Time flies when you're completely overhauling the graphics and working on large features having fun.
Our studio started with an ambitious idea for taking the MMO genre to the next level. This idea is what we call Annex (a working title), a massively multiplayer game focused on exploration, manufacturing and collaboration. When we started development, we had so many cool and exciting ideas that we wanted to put in front of players as quickly as possible!
This led to the creation of our prototype, Project Existence. Making it available through Steam had us motivated to constantly implement new stuff to try out and test, and having real player engagement was just the icing on the cake.
These past few months we’ve been in phase 1 of development. By having the prototype public so early on, we’ve encountered (and fixed!) issues that we probably wouldn’t have ran into until months later had we kept everything internal, which has been extremely valuable to us as a team. It’s also been an absolute blast growing our community and getting players involved in what we’re doing, and we can’t wait to continue doing just that.
Ok Ólöf, that’s cool and all, but where are you going with this?
I’m here to let you know that phase 1 is over, and we’re moving into phase 2. We feel that it’s the perfect time to take the next step, and want to start by giving everyone a glimpse of what the grand vision is. How exciting!
Phase 1 Project Existence is very different (visually, at least) from what we have planned for Annex. We’re a small team, so things like graphical assets, 3D models and animations weren’t high on the priority list in the beginning. As much as we love the low poly stuff we’ve shown so far, it doesn’t really fit what we want Annex to be.
At first, we thought people would “get” that Project Existence was a prototype, but it turned out that the gameplay was actually interesting enough that people thought it was a real game set in a weird 50s suburban fantasyland where the main protagonist worked at a diner.
So, with phase 2, we’re going to be focusing on visual assets and start creating the atmosphere and vibe we want Annex to give off. What you’ll be seeing in the next update is an introduction to Annex, the first step in filling in the gap between the prototype and our vision.
We’ve started to work with artists to create 3D models and assets that showcase what we have in mind for the world, while the game world itself is being completely overhauled with new graphics and landscape!
An example of an in-game vehicle model
Our next update will feature a demo mission that serves as an introduction to Annex. Set in a world where humanity has had to survive underground for centuries after a catastrophic event led to the surface becoming uninhabitable, the demo is a vignette into the mysterious history and current state of the world.
The underground's leaders have put together a mission that players will take part in. It's simple - head to the surface, gather intel and resources, and try to make it back alive.
Are you excited yet???
This first glimpse of what Annex will be is a first of many, and we plan on bringing more content and features into the prototype very soon. And yes, don’t worry, manufacturing and base building will come back… someday…
On the more technical side, we've been working on GenOS (previously called Landmass) - which is our own terraforming and simulation technology. It has to do with how the game world is created and how players can interact with different elements like resources and the environment, as well as how the environment reacts to player actions which will be really fun to see in action.
The first iteration of this was implemented to Project Existence with our "Ice World" update back in December, and the next version will have a lot more depth to it. The landscape you'll see in the new update is actually created from a real place in Iceland. The technology uses DEM (Digital Elevation Model) data generated from satellite images as the basis for simulating real environments, so get ready to roam around an actual Icelandic glacier!
Here you can see a bit behind the scenes of how the new landscape was created
Finally, we're working on the first iteration of combat mechanics. This will introduce weapons, controllable units (including a dog!), automated turrets, defences and vehicles. We're currently testing these new mechanics internally in order to optimize and finetune it.
As we get the technical stuff done, the second part of this feature is the visuals. Like I've mentioned, we're implementing new graphics and models, so in order to keep a consistent look and feel of the prototype moving forward we'll have to take a bit more time before we feel that it's ready to go live for players to try out.
You might see some of the mechanics in action in the demo, but I'm not going to make any promises yet!
Alright - that's it for this dev update. Expect to see more details, teasers and information soon. Oh, and if you haven't already, be sure to join us on Discord!
Until next time,
Ólöf
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