Hey Prospectors,
Welcome to the first edition of our newsletter and dev blog for 2025! This time, we’re giving you a sneak peek into our upcoming playtest and sharing some updates to our schedule.
Upcoming Playtest: Launching January 27th
Mark your calendars! Our playtest is just around the corner, and we’re thrilled that nearly 2,000 players have signed up (wow, no pressure!). To ensure a smooth start, we’ll begin with a small group on the first day. Once we’re confident everything is running properly, we’ll open the floodgates so everyone can dive in. If you’ve signed up, stay tuned—you’ll receive an email notification when it’s your turn to join (you’ll also see your status regarding the playtest on Dawn Apart’s steam page).
What’s the Playtest All About?
The playtest has two main goals:
- Technical Validation: Ensuring our build works seamlessly when launched through the Steam app.
- Tutorial Feedback: Evaluating how effective our tutorial is in onboarding players and preparing you to build your mining colony on Aurora.
We’re fine-tuning the tutorial prompts and quests to strike a balance between guiding you through the basics and letting you discover things on your own. Here’s a quick rundown of what to expect:
- The tutorial kicks off immediately after planetfall.
- You’ll guide your initial three colonists to place drills, smelters, and stockpiles.
- Finally, you’ll construct a spaceport to accept and fulfill trade quests with escalating Lucrum quotas.
- The playtest offers 1-2 hours of guided content, but you’re welcome to stay longer to explore advanced production lines and craft higher-tier machines.
What Happens After the Playtest?
We’ll analyze the data gathered from in-game bug reports, a questionnaire, and feedback shared on the playtest’s Steam hub. This information will help us refine the game and deliver a high-quality demo to the wider Steam audience. Again, if you have wishlisted the game, you’ll receive an email notification to check out the demo.
The demo will launch alongside our Kickstarter campaign, which begins on February 18th (pushed back two weeks for extra polish based on playtest feedback). The campaign will allow supporters to pre-order the game and snag some cool digital and physical rewards, all while enjoying a slice of what’s to come in Early Access this summer.
TL;DR
- Playtest: Launches January 27th. If you haven’t signed up, there’s still a few days to do so and be among the first to set foot on Aurora.
- Demo & Kickstarter: Launches February 18th. Experience a polished slice of the game and support our journey.
Whether you join the playtest or wait for the demo, we’re excited for you to start building factories, assembly lines, and living quarters. See you soon on Aurora!