Update INCOMING! New ship and Steam free-weekend!
[p]Today is a good day! Today we unveil content that will be released a week after our console release (console release is on the 4th of September)! That new content being A NEW PLAYERSHIP! Hurrah![/p][p][/p][p]But first, we also wanted to give new players a chance to try out Void Crew:[/p][p][/p]![]()
[/p][p]Devs hard at work to bring you this update![/p][p][/p][p] ![]()
[/p][h2]Identifying new ship needs[/h2][p]We’ve been itching to make a new ship for a while now. Why? Because nothing says Void Crew like grabbing a couple of friends (or brave-souled strangers), blasting into the void, and watching everything go horribly wrong.[/p][p][/p][p]The Destroyer? Great for a full squad.[/p][p]The Frigate? Agile alternative for a small crew.[/p][p][/p][p]But we kept asking ourselves: What’s missing from the party?[/p][p][/p][p]We bumped up the player-cap to 6-player co-op not too long ago. That’s two full trios of chaos, one squad to man the ship and the other to make bad decisions. So naturally, we thought: “Shouldn’t we build a massive new ship to match?” The kind of ship with full sub-sections. Multiple floors. A dedicated panic room.. ?[/p][p]Instead, we found something more exciting: the missing link. A ship that fits right between the Frigate and the Destroyer. A fast, furious, beautifully compact bruiser designed specifically for that 3-4 (+/-) player chaos sweet spot.[/p][p]The answer, as it turns out, was “The Striker”. Not too big. Not too small. Enough room to plan a strategy, not enough room to avoid responsibility when it backfires. And all the learnings of the previous ships.[/p][p][/p][h2]Prototyping the Striker[/h2][p]![]()
[/p][p]Once we knew the Striker was the ship we wanted to make, we had two big questions:[/p]
A sleek, curved, slightly absurd silhouette.[/p][p]A ship that looked… like a croissant?[/p][p][/p][p]And honestly? We fell in love.. and became hungry.[/p][p]That croissant-shaped design became our starting point - a design that screamed agility, precision, and possibly breakfast. It felt different from both existing ships. Compact, broad, aggressive, elegant in its own weird way. Let's try and roll with it ...[/p][p]The underlying "gameplay concept" (which defined the overall shape) of this ship was an interior triangular movement pattern. Seen from the top view, there are two big functional wings, and a forward command/pilot area. This way, players would be able to overlap each other as the distances between each area was close to equal distance for ~3 players.[/p][p]This sideway silhouette changes everything about how you mount weapons, move through the ship, pilot the ship itself, and pick your fights in comparison with the other ships' forward oriented shape. All things giving it its own vibe.[/p][p]We also saw an opportunity to address a recurring player challenge - a learning from earlier was, that players needing to EVA to fix something outside the ship could be inconvenient.[/p][p]So with the Striker, Ectypes can now move seamlessly from inside the ship to outside to repair breaches in one smooth, satisfying loop. No detaching yourself. Just pop out, patch up, and get back to yelling at your crewmates.[/p][p]What’s next then - building a rough prototype to establish our thesis on this being the correct direction for the ship and trying it in game. Get all the basic ship game mechanics in and greybox model the rough shape and outline of the Striker.[/p][p][/p][h2]Building the Striker[/h2][p]Once the prototype passed the “this won’t crash everything” test, we knew we had something. It was scoped, approved, blessed by our lead game designer, our creative director, and our 3D artist - in a rare moment of perfect alignment, possibly caused by the alignment of the stars, caffeine, or both.[/p][p]With the greenlight in hand, we dove headfirst into the next phase: what does this thing actually look like?[/p][p]By now, we had a solid grasp of the ship’s size and purpose. We knew what systems it needed - engines, modules, rooms, and all the other delightful moving parts that make our ships tick. We’ve already got two established ships with distinct room layouts: pilot bridges, astral map zones, spawn rooms, central computers... you name it. So rather than reinvent the airlock, we cracked open Blender and got to work.[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p][/p][p]It all starts bare-bones - rough shapes, blunt tools, and a whole lot of trial and error. We bounced back and forth, adjusting and nudging rooms, placing modules, trying to make the interior layout click just right without warping the overall silhouette we were aiming for.[/p][p]The challenge? Making all the pieces fit, spatially and stylistically, without breaking the shape language that defines the Striker. Every tweak to the inside nudges the outside, and vice versa. So we began blocking in the exterior hull with broad strokes, producing the rough outline while refining the flow and physical logic of the interior.[/p][p]Think of it like building a house from the inside out, while the outer walls are still arguing with you.[/p][p]It’s not glamorous - but it’s where the ship becomes a ship.[/p][p][/p]![]()
[p][/p][p]Of course, a clean 1:1 reuse of rooms was never really in the cards. The Striker’s proportions and layout demanded a bit more… persuasion. Areas like the Bridge, Astral Map, Spawn Room, and the main wing floors all had to be tweaked, reshaped, or reimagined to fit the new flow.[/p][p]We weren’t rebuilding from scratch - but we definitely had to break out the metaphorical crowbar more than once.[/p][p]Still, after enough iterations (and a few sacrificial placeholder walls), we reached a turning point: the interior started to click. Systems lined up, traversal made sense, and best of all - everything stayed within the bounds of the exterior hull we were aiming for. A snug, functional fit - like a well-packed crate of space-chaos.[/p][p]Once the interior was locked in and behaving itself, it was finally time to turn our attention outward - to start shaping the exterior into something more than just a functional shell. This was the detail pass: where broad block-outs gave way to bold shapes, signature elements, and the visual language that would push the Striker toward its final form.[/p][p][/p]![]()
[p][/p][p]Once the model started to feel right in Blender - inside and out - it was time for the real test: dropping it into Unity to replace our first blocky prototype version. That’s where we find out if the thing we’ve lovingly cobbled together actually feels the way it’s supposed to.. or if it turns into a haunted origami puzzle.[/p][p]Some trial. A fair amount of error. A few fixes. And suddenly, things start clicking yet again.[/p][p]That’s when we knew we were close. Final detail passes began - touch-ups on both the Interior Striker and Exterior Striker - until we landed here:[/p][p][/p][h3]Interior:
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[/h3][p][/p][h3]Exterior:
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[p][/p][p]With the visuals finally in place, we could breathe for about five seconds. After we got good feedback from playtesters - then it was straight into the less glamorous, but absolutely essential work: optimization and bugfixing.[/p][p]That meant diving into LODs (Level of Detail models for the uninitiated), crafting shield visuals that actually fit the unique Striker silhouette, mutator effect shapes, and setting up colliders, inside and out, so players don’t end up phasing through the walls like confused ghosts (hint: Not ideal in space).[/p][p]It’s the part of the process where everything looks done.. but your dev brain knows you’re only just starting to polish.[/p][p][/p][h2]Final thoughts[/h2][p]We can fairly say this ship challenges pilots in a new way, and it's massive forward arsenal opens up for new strategies. And we are not gonna hide it ... this is clearly our new favorite ship! We can't wait to get it into your hands :)[/p][p]Here are some final renders of the Striker-class ship ingame.
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Don't hesitate to share with us your experience on our Discord! Until the next transmission…
//Hutlihut Games Crew
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See you in the chaos – and as always…
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Steam Free Weekend: 4-8th Sept
[p]Cancel whatever plans you already had, and get your motley crew together to play during this Steam FREE weekend (starting 19.00 cet)! Or seize the opportunity and seek out some new friends in the Void :)[/p][p][/p]Update incoming 11th Sept Soon: New player ship!
[p]Without further ado, let's have a look at that new playable ship! We took the time to scribble down the design-thoughts that went into the creation of the Striker ship![/p][h3][/h3][hr][/hr][h3]Edit: Septemper 11th:[/h3][p]The console crossplay feature update introduced an annoying authentication-token timeout bug, which meant some players were experiencing lost progress. We prioritized getting a hotfix ready for this, which has caused certification delays for the 1.2 Striker Ship update.[/p][p]On a positive note: We'll bundle a handful of fixes into 1.2 - in particular we're fixing a number of memory leaks which were causing crashes. Since we have to go through re-certification no matter what, we could fast-track these fixes into the game. The good news is that certification has gone quickly so far.[/p][p]We greatly appreciate your patience, and how welcoming the community has been to the new cross-playing Ectypes.[/p][p]Read more here.[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][p]- [p]What should it do differently?[/p]
- [p]What should it look like?[/p]
A sleek, curved, slightly absurd silhouette.[/p][p]A ship that looked… like a croissant?[/p][p][/p][p]And honestly? We fell in love.. and became hungry.[/p][p]That croissant-shaped design became our starting point - a design that screamed agility, precision, and possibly breakfast. It felt different from both existing ships. Compact, broad, aggressive, elegant in its own weird way. Let's try and roll with it ...[/p][p]The underlying "gameplay concept" (which defined the overall shape) of this ship was an interior triangular movement pattern. Seen from the top view, there are two big functional wings, and a forward command/pilot area. This way, players would be able to overlap each other as the distances between each area was close to equal distance for ~3 players.[/p][p]This sideway silhouette changes everything about how you mount weapons, move through the ship, pilot the ship itself, and pick your fights in comparison with the other ships' forward oriented shape. All things giving it its own vibe.[/p][p]We also saw an opportunity to address a recurring player challenge - a learning from earlier was, that players needing to EVA to fix something outside the ship could be inconvenient.[/p][p]So with the Striker, Ectypes can now move seamlessly from inside the ship to outside to repair breaches in one smooth, satisfying loop. No detaching yourself. Just pop out, patch up, and get back to yelling at your crewmates.[/p][p]What’s next then - building a rough prototype to establish our thesis on this being the correct direction for the ship and trying it in game. Get all the basic ship game mechanics in and greybox model the rough shape and outline of the Striker.[/p][p][/p][h2]Building the Striker[/h2][p]Once the prototype passed the “this won’t crash everything” test, we knew we had something. It was scoped, approved, blessed by our lead game designer, our creative director, and our 3D artist - in a rare moment of perfect alignment, possibly caused by the alignment of the stars, caffeine, or both.[/p][p]With the greenlight in hand, we dove headfirst into the next phase: what does this thing actually look like?[/p][p]By now, we had a solid grasp of the ship’s size and purpose. We knew what systems it needed - engines, modules, rooms, and all the other delightful moving parts that make our ships tick. We’ve already got two established ships with distinct room layouts: pilot bridges, astral map zones, spawn rooms, central computers... you name it. So rather than reinvent the airlock, we cracked open Blender and got to work.[/p][p]
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//Hutlihut Games Crew
(^ I just really like this gif... STILL... it's 'mind blowing'...)
