Buildings & Grids - Developer Blog #4
Greetings Overseer!
Today's topic is buildings, their functions and efficiency, and the octagonal grid system in Surviving the Abyss.
[h2]Octagonal Building Grid[/h2]
While deciding on which system of building grids we use may seem like a mundane one at first glance, it is an important consideration during the design stages of the project. Building restrictions, levels of freedom, and catering to playstyles and building styles are all important aspects we have to consider as it is - literally - the very foundation of the game that you will be experiencing. We initially explored 3 types: Square Grid, Hex Grid, and Gridless.
Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. We knew we wanted a complex tunnel system in the game, so it was quickly decided that the ‘gridless’ option was a non-starter. The hex grid seemed like the obvious choice but during playtests and reviews of this system, we found it lacked the granularity we desired for the tunnel and building systems.
In the end, we opted for a fourth option. We utilised a square grid with the additional caveat of allowing buildings to connect at 45-degree angles, and for tunnels to be constructed at 45-degree angles. This is essentially an ‘octagon grid’, and provides quite a unique building experience.
[h2]Building Design[/h2]
There are a number of aesthetic and technical challenges involved with designing the architecture for an underwater setting in a city builder game. All of the buildings must follow strict technical guidelines, such as tunnel door placement rules, in order to be functional in the game; these limitations served as our canvas for each building design. We spent many hours balancing the various aspects of our chosen design language with the aim of exemplifying as much as possible from the Brutalist and Nautical themes of the cold-war era, whilst sprinkling in some ‘mad scientist’ design language as well.
Being in a dark underwater setting, visibility is an important factor, so buildings needed to have some way to be easily seen and recognised. To that end, we decided that the windows would be large and glowing, and many would have various other glowing elements to aid with visibility. This design decision pushed the aesthetic farther from realism and more into sci-fi, but not so far as to be a typical sci-fi design language. This, coupled with dark materials and darker lighting, helps ground the visuals in a dark sci-fi tone that we feel fits the setting.
[h2]Categories[/h2]
There are a wide variety of different buildings and structures that you can build in Surviving the Abyss, with many more to be added during the course of development. There are 8 categories in the building menu, all of which are responsible for different gameplay systems:
Resources
Structures for gathering, extracting, and stockpiling resources.
Exploration
Structures that provide you with tools to expand your base and inform you about resources and objects in the darkness.
Power
All the buildings related to power and power management for your base.
Life Support
Oxygen production, food production, and hospital structures.
Population
Buildings to house your crew and keep them entertained in the vast darkness.
Research
Research labs, and a variety of modules you can attach to them. Used to increase your ‘Research Data per Day.’
Genetics
The purpose of your mission. Genetics buildings allow you to harvest genetic material and create genome sequences to clone humans.
[h2]Building Performance and Efficiency[/h2]
The majority of buildings will need a constant supply of power, and for crewed buildings, a supply of clean oxygen. They will need to be physically connected to oxygen-producing buildings with the use of tunnels, and have a connection to power-producing buildings utilising power lines.
Many buildings require a number of crew to operate. Crew slots in a building are divided into generalists and specialists. Only specialist crew members can operate in a specialist crew slot.
Crew are the means by which building efficiency is determined, with the mix of generalists and specialists required to fully maximise a building's potential.
Most buildings throughout the game will have a varying number of crew slots for either: generalists, specialists, or both. As buildings advance, they require more specialists for operation, pushing you to improve the cloning process to meet demand and reap the benefits of maximised building efficiency.
You will also be able to unlock better performance upgrades in the tech tree and build additional modules to augment and improve the functionality of some of your buildings.
Buildings also have an integrity scale which through a number of factors can drop to the point of being inoperable and even being destroyed. Damaged and destroyed buildings can be repaired to return their functionality.
Most structures must be built in lit areas of your base and if your Light Towers lose power or get turned off, the buildings left in the dark will no longer be functional. The only buildings that you are able to build in the darkness are the Light Towers and Outposts, which will make the expansion of your base a challenging experience.
Next time on Surviving the Abyss:
In the next developer blog, we’ll be discussing Crew Management. We hope to see you there!
Finally, whether you celebrate the holidays or not, we will wish you an amazing close to the year and hope that the next one will be fantastic. We will still continue to add developer blogs here, but it would be criminal of us not to thank you for your interest and wish you well!
Best wishes,
Surviving the Abyss Development Team & Paradox Arc
Today's topic is buildings, their functions and efficiency, and the octagonal grid system in Surviving the Abyss.
[h2]Octagonal Building Grid[/h2]
While deciding on which system of building grids we use may seem like a mundane one at first glance, it is an important consideration during the design stages of the project. Building restrictions, levels of freedom, and catering to playstyles and building styles are all important aspects we have to consider as it is - literally - the very foundation of the game that you will be experiencing. We initially explored 3 types: Square Grid, Hex Grid, and Gridless.
Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. We knew we wanted a complex tunnel system in the game, so it was quickly decided that the ‘gridless’ option was a non-starter. The hex grid seemed like the obvious choice but during playtests and reviews of this system, we found it lacked the granularity we desired for the tunnel and building systems.
In the end, we opted for a fourth option. We utilised a square grid with the additional caveat of allowing buildings to connect at 45-degree angles, and for tunnels to be constructed at 45-degree angles. This is essentially an ‘octagon grid’, and provides quite a unique building experience.
[h2]Building Design[/h2]
There are a number of aesthetic and technical challenges involved with designing the architecture for an underwater setting in a city builder game. All of the buildings must follow strict technical guidelines, such as tunnel door placement rules, in order to be functional in the game; these limitations served as our canvas for each building design. We spent many hours balancing the various aspects of our chosen design language with the aim of exemplifying as much as possible from the Brutalist and Nautical themes of the cold-war era, whilst sprinkling in some ‘mad scientist’ design language as well.
Being in a dark underwater setting, visibility is an important factor, so buildings needed to have some way to be easily seen and recognised. To that end, we decided that the windows would be large and glowing, and many would have various other glowing elements to aid with visibility. This design decision pushed the aesthetic farther from realism and more into sci-fi, but not so far as to be a typical sci-fi design language. This, coupled with dark materials and darker lighting, helps ground the visuals in a dark sci-fi tone that we feel fits the setting.
[h2]Categories[/h2]
There are a wide variety of different buildings and structures that you can build in Surviving the Abyss, with many more to be added during the course of development. There are 8 categories in the building menu, all of which are responsible for different gameplay systems:
Resources
Structures for gathering, extracting, and stockpiling resources.
Exploration
Structures that provide you with tools to expand your base and inform you about resources and objects in the darkness.
Power
All the buildings related to power and power management for your base.
Life Support
Oxygen production, food production, and hospital structures.
Population
Buildings to house your crew and keep them entertained in the vast darkness.
Research
Research labs, and a variety of modules you can attach to them. Used to increase your ‘Research Data per Day.’
Genetics
The purpose of your mission. Genetics buildings allow you to harvest genetic material and create genome sequences to clone humans.
[h2]Building Performance and Efficiency[/h2]
The majority of buildings will need a constant supply of power, and for crewed buildings, a supply of clean oxygen. They will need to be physically connected to oxygen-producing buildings with the use of tunnels, and have a connection to power-producing buildings utilising power lines.
Many buildings require a number of crew to operate. Crew slots in a building are divided into generalists and specialists. Only specialist crew members can operate in a specialist crew slot.
Crew are the means by which building efficiency is determined, with the mix of generalists and specialists required to fully maximise a building's potential.
Most buildings throughout the game will have a varying number of crew slots for either: generalists, specialists, or both. As buildings advance, they require more specialists for operation, pushing you to improve the cloning process to meet demand and reap the benefits of maximised building efficiency.
You will also be able to unlock better performance upgrades in the tech tree and build additional modules to augment and improve the functionality of some of your buildings.
Buildings also have an integrity scale which through a number of factors can drop to the point of being inoperable and even being destroyed. Damaged and destroyed buildings can be repaired to return their functionality.
Most structures must be built in lit areas of your base and if your Light Towers lose power or get turned off, the buildings left in the dark will no longer be functional. The only buildings that you are able to build in the darkness are the Light Towers and Outposts, which will make the expansion of your base a challenging experience.
Next time on Surviving the Abyss:
In the next developer blog, we’ll be discussing Crew Management. We hope to see you there!
Finally, whether you celebrate the holidays or not, we will wish you an amazing close to the year and hope that the next one will be fantastic. We will still continue to add developer blogs here, but it would be criminal of us not to thank you for your interest and wish you well!
Best wishes,
Surviving the Abyss Development Team & Paradox Arc