Hi there guys,

Just a quick update to show you what we’re working on. We’re also looking for some feedback on this. So feel free to comment and tell us what you like and dislike about it.

Right now we’re working on biomes, in particular we’re sinking a lot of time into the forest biome.

Each biome will be different per planet, so a forest on one planet may look entirely different from a forest on another. It’ll contain different spawns, different loot, different terrain, ores, you name it.

Here are a few work in progress shots. They show three forests, all on the same terrain type, on different planets.

As explained these are work in progress shots, the procedurally generated plants aren’t in yet (the small ones), and in the first two shots the pine trees in the background are placeholders. In the final version the background trees will match the trees in the foreground, as with the final screenshot. Also in general as we add more content everything will become more varied.

Some questions for you.

Do you like what you see? Is it pretty?

Is there enough variety from planet to planet?

Do the forests feel cohesive in design?

Give us your feedback and we’ll take it on board :)

Hopefully we’ll get a video out to you this weekend or shortly after showing some more of this stuff off.

A quick update on what each member of the team is working on at the moment!

Kyren‘s been hard at work putting the finishing touches on object integration and tweaking the netcode; it’s now at a point that online play is very very smooth and seamless. Net play has been in for a while, but it wasn’t featured in the last update because we wanted it to be more about the fantastic lighting she did.

Among making various assets, Tiy‘s actually been working more on the code side of things – defining and inputting assets, setting to work on putting as many finished things as possible into the game for testing.

Omni is specifically working on creatures; defining their AI and behaviours and recently got flying creatures working. Flying creatures were a problem because we have winged creatures, which have to move a specific way to look right. The solution we came up with for winged creatures in particular is pretty ingenious, maybe we’ll be able to show it to you in a future update!

George has gotten lots of random armors done, along with some creatures and object work to keep things varied. The random armors in particular are a very hard and lengthy process, so great job George!

Legris the Tree Master is focusing mainly on the biome side of things – parallax, plant and tree (big surprise!) production. Right now he’s concepting a system for dynamic trees, which could mean trees being much more varied.

Lastly, I (Rho) have been working mostly on creature production, inparticular on the contest winners, as well as various other things. Congratulations, by the way!

Here’s Tiy messing with a flashlight whilst I stand lookout

Click for full size

Hey guys!

The wallpapers are going to be released at the beginning of every month, rather than every week.
This schedule will work out a little better, because I’ll have more time to make sure the wallpapers are extra awesome!

So see you guys in May! In the meantime, have a SPACE BUNNY!

Happy Easter, everybody!