Hello again, Pioneers!
Welcome to the December Development Diary for AETHUS!
Happy holiday season to you, but particularly I want to wish you a Merry Christmas, from my Outpost to yours!
This month has been a busy one, with a lot of exciting things going on behind the scenes that I can't talk about or show yet, but I wanted to give you a couple of updates on some small things to tide you over this festive season!
December Development
The Lost World
This is a real advance sneak-peek as I'm still working on fully defining the final(?) visual style for this biome, but here's a shot from one sub-zone within the second biome of the game - the Lost World. Maybe this one should have been in the October dev diary... Spooky! 👻
Quality of Life Continues
Whenever I get the chance, I love to add new quality of life (QOL) features to the game to make it as rewarding and friction-free as possible to play.
This was just one example of a recent one, a great suggestion from one of the playtesting crew - resources that are used in refining for a selected facility (or required for a specific interaction, like repairing a door) are now highlighted in your inventory!
Rich Presence
Just a cool little thing I added this month - Steam Rich Presence support, so now when you play the game your friends will be able to keep track of your progress through the world!
That's it for this development diary!
I just want to thank everyone - playtesters, wishlisters, followers and supporters, big and small, for all your amazing help and support during 2024. It's been incredible to see the game grow and improve every day, and I can't wait to get it into your hands in 2025.
Have a restful and joyful holiday season, stay safe! See you next year.
Until next time,
Alex (and Apollo)