Hello everyone. Maksym here, head of studio at Hologryph, to share some updates on the SAND playtest with you all.
We’ll start things off with some news regarding dates:
We've been working hard and diligently on this build since spring, but in our efforts to make sure that you all had the best possible first experience with SAND, we found ourselves going much further in scope than we had planned and creating a lot more work for ourselves than we had initially prepared for. As a result, the playtest build will be much larger in scope than anticipated but we will be slightly delaying the playtest beyond summer to early in the 4th quarter of 2024.
However, to tide you over in the meantime, we've released a Devlog giving you an exclusive first look at the new trampler editor, featuring some new gameplay footage 👇
For an additional little bit of good news: Almost everything has come together. In its current state, the game is playable, fun and a good representation of our vision and direction for the game. If it weren't for the risk of losing hours of progress due to bugs, we would already be inviting players, but we are working on that now and confident that we will have it fixed soon.
Now for some information about the playtest itself
For the Playtest, we've prepared a build that focuses primarily on PvP, removing the planned PvE elements for the time being. We need your help to ensure that player combat works properly, to find and fix all the bugs, and to take your feedback into account before we use that feedback to integrate alongside the PvE aspects of SAND.
Playtest details:
- You can team up with friends on Steam.
- Server worlds are fully procedurally generated (with pre-made POI’s randomly spawned throughout)
- We have introduced a full, robust Trampler Editor where you can completely customize the layout, equipment, storage, size, maneuverability and fortification of your vessel.
- The Trampler Editor is fully functional, allowing the captain to build and choose a Trampler for the expedition.
- You can also choose a pre-made trampler for your expeditions
- On the moon, you can gather resources and search for equipment to complete contracts (missions/tasks) for even more valuable rewards.
- Some resources are only accessible through contracts that can be found on the map.
- All of this is on a server with a dozen other teams.
- Once you feel like you've had enough, head to the extraction point and try to secure the resources you've gathered.
- Upon reaching orbit, you can modify your Trampler with use of the resources extracted and your battle experience.
- Then, embark on a new expedition.
As soon as we achieve and are confident in our client and server stability, we will announce the Playtest dates. Initially, we will invite a limited number of people, and once we’ve got the initial growing pains and prevalent issues resolved, we will open access to everyone who has applied.
Thank you for your understanding, we can’t wait to see you in the realms of Sofia!
Come and join us on our social media pages to keep yourself up to date with all the news and updates for SAND or join the discussion over on Discord now!
Discord - Facebook - Twitter - Instagram
- Hologryph & tinyBuild Games