Hey everyone! Welcome to another Tuesday devlog for Dandelion Void.
We’ve spent this week on some under-the-hood improvements to the game, including a new title screen and some low-level optimization. While less romantic than new content, infrastructure work like this is a crucial step towards making a standalone demo for streamers, partners, and beyond.
To make sure our fans still get some treats we’ve also answered a few of your frequently asked questions – see below!
Title Screen
After 2 years of development, we got around to adding a title screen! This campstove screenshot has been particularly resonant with people online, and we’re really happy with how it communicates the tone and ambiance of Dandelion Void. We’ve also included a short preview of the new soundscape our composer Catton has been working on.
This update also includes some improvements to the loading flow of the new game experience.
Optimization
The modding API for Dandelion void uses a Lua scripting layer that sits on top of a more traditional Unity engine codebase. We’re really happy with the development experience we’ve set up, and are now looking for ways to optimize the memory and CPU usage of this layer. Every frame counts!
Dandelion Void FAQs and Mailbag!
Is the game 3D, prerendered, or a mixture of both?
Dandelion Void is a fully 3D experience! We use low resolution textures and crunchy-pixel rendering to capture the feel of prerendered isometric games, but every character, creature, furniture piece, and ship component you see is a 3D model. This makes it easy for us to get powerful lighting effects, place furniture at arbitrary rotations, and opens us to more dynamic camera effects down the line.
What’s with the terminals? Is coding knowledge required to play Dandelion Void?
The Pergola runs on 70’s era computing systems, and every now and then you’ll have to use a command line interface to open doors or manipulate devices. While players with knowledge of present-day CLIs will feel at home, we are very much designing these with the blank slate player in mind. All players should be able to master the system after a small initial learning curve.
Will the game feature human NPCs?
Human NPCs are not on the roadmap for Dandelion Void, but the player is very much not alone. You see small streaks of motion skittering in your peripheral vision. You find strange tools and structures built at a tiny scale, skillfully crafted but obscure in purpose. Diligent players might be able to learn more about this presence, and even form a working relationship with it – but it will always remain somewhat elusive.
In the future, we hope to make a feature roadmap to clarify our goals for the game and answer questions like this ahead of time, while keeping plenty of surprises in our back pocket
If there’s no other humans in the game, where did the player character come from?
Your character is a descendant of the Pergola’s original crew, but you’ve found yourself in a part of the ship where you are the only living human. Where you came from and what happened to your family is clouded in mystery.
In the future, the specifics of your background might be a part of character creation. Let us know if that's something you would want to see!