Hi everyone,
Last time you heard from us, we were announcing our Kickstarter campaign for AWAY. Today we would like to update you some of the exciting stuff that has happened since!
First things first: our Kickstarter campaign was a smash hit! We reached 226% of our initial funding goal, raising $135,789 from over 2,500 backers!
One of the central themes of the campaign was adding new playable animals to AWAY, so after several months of work we're excited to share more details with you.
Uncover AWAY's Secrets
As you may already know, AWAY follows the story of the Sugar Glider and his family on their journey to safer lands. Throughout your adventures, you will also embark on a variety of side-quests that offer deeper insight into the mysterious origins of your world.
This is where the new playable animals come in!
In many of these side-quests, you will have the chance to play as some of the other animals you encounter in the wild. Whether you're wandering through the forest as a deer, roaming across the beach as a crab, or buzzing through the air as a beetle, each animal's unique traits and attributes will help you uncover secrets hidden deep within the world of AWAY.
Four Bonus Animals
Thanks to the overwhelming support from our backers on Kickstarter, we also reached several of our stretch goals, adding four more playable animals to AWAY:
- The Grasshopper
- The Stag Beetle
- The Fox
- The Bear
From tiny insects to large predators, each of these new animals brings their own unique perspective on the world, letting you experience AWAY on both the micro and macro scales.
What's Next?
We've been working hard these past few months to finalize AWAY's Alpha and review all the feedback from our Alpha testers. This feedback has helped us pinpoint the areas that need the most work and will serve as our guide as we work on fine-tuning the game's mechanics.
Optimization has also been a major focus for us lately—we want AWAY to look great on all computers, keeping the game's quality consistent even on medium-to-low end hardware. There is of course a lot of work to be done here, so keep an eye out for more details on this front!
Moving forward, we'll be updating you more regularly on AWAY's progress and going more in-depth on some of the work we're doing behind the scenes. As for us, given the current situation surrounding COVID-19 our team made the transition to remote work a couple weeks ago. Rest assured though, we're still hard at work on AWAY and are continuing development from the safety of our homes :)
Our best wishes to everyone, we hope you're all staying safe and happy indoors!
~ the AWAY Dev team