With Caverns releasing later this week, we thought it would be a good idea to go over our road map. This post will provide everyone with a clearer picture of the current features in Caverns: Lost Sky, and our development strategy moving forward.
Current State
Currently, creating a new save will spawn Strato within the luminous depths of the Tellurian Sector. We have the following list of features ready to occupy you until the first dungeon update (see Phase One).
- Endless Subterranean Labyrinth We use a unique combination of procedural generation and manual hand-tuning to produce the world of Caverns. This provides us a consistent backdrop for our story while still allowing for an infinite, destructible world. As there are geographic similarities between individual machines, we encourage the community to share any cool locations they find!
- Over 120 Unique Items and Recipes There are literally hours of items to find in the Tellurian Sector, all of which can be found either as recipes or prebuilt items in treasure chests. These include Armor, Shields, Weapons, Materials, Potions and Tools such as Torches, Mining Picks, Grappling hooks and more!
- Lock-On Targeting Our targeting system is inspired by the targeting system found in combat RPGs such as the Zelda or Kingdom Hearts series. Players can click any mob within range, and the camera will keep both Strato and the active target in view.
- Powerful Weapons Every weapon has multiple stats, like damage and range, and also a unique weapon skill. Each of these powerful skills has its own custom effects, some of which can be quite devastating.
- Deadly Enemies On release three enemies will be encountered immediately - the Acari, Poneroids, and outgrowths of Cavern Weed. Each of these creatures have their own preferred habitats and personalities. Additionally - some can walk on walls, so watch out!
Launch Plan
Starting on Launch Day, we will be active on our Discord, Steam Community Boards, and our Subreddit. Note that this is an Early Access release and will also be the first time Caverns: Lost Sky is played by a larger audience. Thus there is a high probability of unforeseen issues occurring on the many different PC builds out there.
For this reason, it would help us out tremendously if everyone could report their issues on our Bug Report Forum. Centralizing the bug reports in one place allows us to address them in a prompt manner, and improve everyone's overall gaming experience.
Phase Zero
Our first update will be dedicated to addressing any issues that were reported during launch. It is very important to us that all our players have a smooth gaming experience, and are able to use any existing features before adding anything new.
Phase One
This phase will consist of completing the remaining unimplemented game mechanics in the Tellurian Sector, in the following order:
- Dungeons: Dungeons will have an entrance via the sector's Overworld (the place you currently spawn in). Unlike the Overworld the dungeon's structure cannot be modified or destroyed. These areas will be composed of multiple rooms connected in a procedurally generated jigsaw, with a final boss room to find and conquer. Upon success the player will teleport back to the Overworld near the entrance of the dungeon.
- Skill System: Currently, every weapon Strato find has two skills that appear to be eternally attached to the weapon. But this is not meant to be so! The skill updates will add an additional In-Game menu and accompanying level up mechanic to allow you to learn new skills that can be assigned to your weapons, overriding their default skills. Each skill will have it's own weapon class such as One-Handed-Blade, Blunt, etc. Leveling up will give you additional points to spend on the new screen.
- Telluria - The Main Village: Each sector will have it's own village where player will arrive when entering a sector for the first time, or starting a new game. Each village will be completely hand generated, with minor procedural differences. Villages will contain NPCs to talk to, Shops to buy things from and sell things to, and at least one Inn for the player to heal themselves in.
- Questing System and Cut-Scenes Some NPCs in the town will give quests for the player to complete and receive experience, key items, weapons or other rewards. These updates will also add our first glimpses at the plot-line for Caverns: Lost Sky.
Phase Two
Once the Tellurian sector is complete with all major game mechanics implemented, we will move on to implementing the next world sectors. Starting in Phase Two we will be focusing on completing the remaining content and story aspects of Caverns: Lost Sky rather than adding additional mechanics. Bug-fixes and tweaks to existing mechanics will still occur in this phase, however. Unlike the previous phase, updates in phase two will have at least one story component (at least one new quest).
Phase Three
The final phase of development will begin when all Sectors of the world are complete, and the game is "winnable" (you can reach the end cut-scene). This phase will consist of optimization, polishing, and fixing any remaining bugs. Caverns will exit Early Access once this phase is complete.
If you have any ideas for improvement, or suggestions for a cool feature, please submit it on the Suggestions Fourm! We believe that collaboration with the community is key to allowing Caverns: Lost Sky to reach its true potential. Please note that depending on the community's feedback, the above road map may be modified.