Hey everyone,
As we approach the end of summer, we want to give you a behind the scenes preview of
AWAY's beach environment, featuring a new playable animal and a relaxing beach-themed nature soundscape (download link at the bottom).
Beware of the waves
AWAY's beaches are a far cry from its forests, with crashing waves and a view across the horizon. And those waves aren't just for show — if you don't pay attention, you'll get more than a little wet!
While these waves may look huge, it's possible to avoid a watery fate with a bit of foresight (and some good timing!). The Sugar Glider's jump is strong enough to avoid the initial crest, as long as you plan to land somewhere above-water. The waves won't recede immediately, so jumping without planning ahead may result in an unfortunate demise.
Play as a crab
As you wander across AWAY's beaches, you will no doubt encounter a few crabby friends. Mostly harmless, they won't cause you any trouble as long as you don't bother them. But beware if you do — their claws can cause some serious harm to even the strongest sugar gliders!
With a bit of luck, you might even find some blue mushrooms that let you play as a crab, so keep your eyes peeled for those... 👀
Optimizing the frame rate
A big part of designing AWAY's ocean was ensuring it doesn't use up too many resources and kill your frame rate. Since the ocean is mostly there to set the atmosphere, we wanted to make sure it looks nice while also limiting its CPU usage to save more resources for other gameplay-related elements.
The entire ocean is comprised of a texture with many layers meant to imitate the transparent, fluid look of water. Instead of simulating an entire body of water (which is very resource-intensive), we layered the appearance of the beach under materials that provide just the right amount of reflection, distortion, and light.
The effect is a blend between the sand and the water on top of it, at much less cost than fully simulating it.
To further optimize the ocean, we isolated several sections near the coastline that the Sugar Glider could explore. As you approach these areas, the water's texture becomes more detailed and complex while the rest continues to use a lower-resolution texture. This trick helps us keep our frame rate high without much of a graphical difference.
Free beach soundscape 🎁
To give you a taste of AWAY's beaches, we've prepared a relaxing nature soundscape for you that we recorded along the shoreline of AWAY.
The audio you are about to hear was generated entirely in-game. We swept a virtual microphone across the beach, capturing the gentle sounds of waves against the sand, a calming breeze, and seagulls in the distance.
So sit back, relax, and close your eyes as you transport yourself to the beachy coastline of AWAY: The Survival Series.