Surviving the Abyss News

Greetings Overseer!

Today we will be discussing the population & cloning systems in Surviving the Abyss.

[h2]Crew members[/h2]
You begin with a crew of 12. These workers are just enough to set up a base of operations and begin establishing the power, oxygen, and food production infrastructure.

In the early stages of the game, the only way to get more crew is to complete the goals set out by the command station above the surface, a number of these objectives result in a new group of crew members being sent down to aid the mission.

As the base expands, you will quickly find yourself having to juggle the crew between different roles to keep the power on and the oxygen flowing. To continue expanding the base, and grow your crew you must turn to the task at hand. Human cloning.



[h2]Cloning[/h2]
Human cloning is a fledgling scientific field, fraught with danger and failure. This experimental process requires DNA from various forms of wildlife to be fused with that of humans.

First, however, you are tasked with locating and capturing a variety of rare wildlife for use in the cloning system.

[h3]Aquatic Life[/h3]
The genetic material required for cloning can be found in great abundance on the seafloor. The highly adapted species of the deep sea are perfect specimens for our experimentation.

Habitats are located throughout the map, they vary in rarity from Abundant, Uncommon, Common, and Rare. Habitats are distributed throughout the different biomes in Surviving the Abyss, and the player will need to locate many to fuel the cloning process.

Once discovered, habitats can be used as a source of Power, Food, or Genetic Material, depending on the type of building constructed on it. In this blog we’re concerned with cloning; a Fauna Trap will begin to capture genetic samples from the species within the habitat.

[h3]The Cloning Process[/h3]
With genetic material harvested, the next step in the puzzle is combining them into a sequence, which can be used to produce clones.

Each genetic sample has 4 properties:

• Type: What type of crew this genome produces, Generalist, Scientist, Engineer.
  
• Potency: The chance of a clone being produced.
  
• Uses: The number of clones this genome can produce.
  
• Mutation: Affects the lifespan of the clones produced. A higher mutation rate reduces the lifespan of the clones produced.
  

The genome effects stack, so the genetic sequence you produce has an overall Potency, number of Uses, and Mutation level.

[h2]Crew Vitals[/h2]
[h3]Health[/h3]
Crew members' physical health needs to be a top priority in the research facility. Injured crew cannot work, so the efficiency of your base depends on your crew’s health.
[h3]Hunger & Food Quality[/h3]
There are two types of meals, high and low quality. Higher-quality food will be harder to produce, but more beneficial to your crew. Eating only low-quality food will eventually lead to your crew becoming malnourished and at greater risk of becoming incapacitated or dying.
[h3]Oxygen & Air Quality[/h3]
Your crew must be provided with a consistent supply of clean oxygen. Lack of oxygen will cause the crew to suffocate and low-quality oxygen will negatively impact their health.
[h3]Recreation[/h3]
Everyone needs some rest and a distraction from their daily routine. Providing your crew with some recreational activities will ensure their stable and healthy mental state.
[h3]Housing & Employment[/h3]
Providing crew with a place to sleep, and a job that fits their specialist type will keep them happier and healthier.
[h3]Light[/h3]
When buildings fall into darkness, the crew inside will become distressed. Do NOT let this happen!

[h3]Crew Relations[/h3]
Your responsibility as Overseer means providing as much as possible for your crew to ensure they can work efficiently, and happily. Your ever-expanding roster of crewmates requires consistently increasing amounts of clean oxygen, quality food, living quarters, and recreational facilities all within lit areas to maintain their health and contentment. However, in the desolate depths, can the cost of providing be reconciled with the cost of progress?

The crew relations bar allows you to measure your performance, from the perspective of the crew. This is influenced by a myriad of factors, from the completion of milestones in the journey to perfect cloning to the decisions made in settling disputes and requests. Your choices are scrutinised by those who live under them, and your crew will have little trouble letting their feelings be known.

Should relations with the crew fall low enough, they may offer an ultimatum - meet their demands or prepare for a revolt. A successful mutiny will see you removed as Overseer, having failed in your mission. It is imperative that this does not happen, so a careful balance is required while overseeing your mission on the seabed!

That's all from us for this week's developer blog, but be sure to come back same time next week for more deep-dives into the mechanics of Surviving the Abyss, and be sure to wishlist on Steam ready for our Early Access release!



Next time on Surviving the Abyss:
In the next developer blog, we’ll be discussing Buildings & Grids. Sea you there...

Greetings Overseer!

This week we will discuss the light, dark, and exploration in Surviving the Abyss.

In the deep ocean, no light is present, and darkness rules.



Lighting our way through the darkness is an integral theme of Surviving the Abyss. The darkness acts as a fog of war, obscuring most useful information about the surrounding areas as well as prohibiting you from building and gathering resources there.

The map extends far beyond the starting area and spans multiple biomes. There is much to discover, which brings us to the exploration tools and strategies within Surviving the Abyss.

There are several ways to navigate and explore. There's short-range exploration, which will allow you to explore your immediate surrounding area, and long-range exploration which will enable you to set up additional bases in new biomes to expand from.

[h2]Short Range Exploration[/h2]
The most direct way to reveal what is hidden in the darkness is by building ‘light towers’ which will illuminate the surrounding area in a small radius. Light towers can only be built within a small distance from another lit area, so their construction is more suited to short-range exploration. Light towers are also resource-intensive and their power consumption means they can be a costly investment in the early game.



Blindly trying to light the darkness with no indication of what lies beyond may be too costly. The Sonar Tower can help you see in other ways through the dark. You can scan your surrounding area to pinpoint areas of interest and the best direction for the expansion of your base. You can choose to scan for fuels, resources, habitats, and points of interest.



[h2]Long-Range Exploration[/h2]
With the research facility established, and local areas explored, attention will soon turn to longer-range exploration.

You will be able to send out exploration submarines to points of interest further from your base. However, long-distance exploration will require a number of crew to operate the submarine, along with fuel and food to keep them sustained on their journey. Additionally, not all expeditions are guaranteed to be successful, and you might risk losing your crew and resources if you don't prepare for the voyage well enough.

Once the exploration sub reaches its destination, it drops a flare that will illuminate the area for a short period of time, which you can use to set up an Outpost.



[h2]Outposts & Docks[/h2]
Outposts help the player establish a new base of operations, separated from the central hub. They include a light tower and produce a small amount of oxygen and power from which you can start building. To allow crew members to move to the new outpost, a dock building is required.



The crew will be automatically transported as required between 2 docks buildings. This allows you to separate your tunnel networks and move crew over long distances to new outposts.

Next time on Surviving the Abyss:
In the next developer blog, we’ll be discussing Population, Crew Vitals & Cloning.

Welcome to our new weekly developer blog! We hope you're just as excited as we are about Surviving the Abyss!

Last week, we introduced Surviving the Abyss. Today we’re going to talk a little bit more about the premise, setting, and basic building blocks of the game. We’ll cover the game’s systems in more detail in future developer blogs regularly between now and the Steam Early Access release on January 17, give us a follow and you'll be notified of new dev blogs!

[h2]Premise[/h2]
At the height of the Cold War, scientific progress was booming. Since the discovery of DNA and its structure, many governments have attempted to experiment with this newfound knowledge. Human cloning was the next frontier in the field. However, due to public outcry, this research was to be continued in secret, deep below the ocean where new, undocumented genetic material can be found.
This is where you come in, Overseer. You will be in charge of a new cloning and research facility. No one can know of its existence, but the project is of the utmost importance.

The role of Overseer comes with the responsibility of leading an ever-growing population of the crew, all working to realise the goal of human cloning and genetic editing through the capturing of rare deep-sea wildlife, discovery of resources, and expansion of infrastructure. However, heavy is the head that wears the crown; your judgment and decisions will be felt by the crew operating under your command, while you remain in the safety of the central hub’s tower.



As many leaders learn, a grip on power is rarely as tight as it may seem. The Overseer must provide for the crew and settle their moral dilemmas, having to reconcile their personal ethics with the reality of the situation on the research base, while being careful not to turn the crew against them.

[h2]Why an underwater city builder?[/h2]
Our team here at Rocket Flair are incredibly excited to be working on a title set in the deep-sea. There’s more than a few wannabe marine biologists on the team, and it’s a very interesting challenge to bring the city-building genre under the waves.

The setting, being deep below the ocean, has influenced our game design, art, and audio immensely. From the pitch-black darkness that surrounds the base to the critical management of breathable air and need for tunnels, the ocean floor setting has had a powerful influence on the game's direction.



[h2]The beginning[/h2]
Your primary mission is to carry out genetic experiments deep below the ocean’s surface, away from the prying eyes of the public and other nations. But before research can begin in earnest, the overseer must establish necessary survival infrastructure.

The game starts within a dimly lit area, where you are provided a small supply of the basic building materials and fuel to power the generators. Beyond this meagre supply, you are forced to explore the landscape outside the safety of your central hub; into the dark, unknown.

When the infrastructure has been established and the basic necessities of the crew have been met, the overseer is then tasked with building up the research facility through the missions given from above the surface. But operating in the deep sea is no simple feat, and you will need to maintain the perfect balance between completing your objectives and surviving.



[h2]Surviving in the Abyss[/h2]
Humans were never meant to live underwater, and Surviving the Abyss will have players persevering through the most unforgiving environment on Earth - the deep ocean. You will need to find a way to survive without natural sunlight and a lack of oxygen, along with the threats that may be lurking in the darkness.

Oxygen, Power, and Food will need to be in a steady supply to maintain the health of your crew and keep the base of operations running smoothly.

The ocean is the darkest place on Earth, so to find the necessary resources to expand your base and explore the environment, you will need to light up your surroundings by building resource-intensive light towers, which can put an immense strain on your power systems as you expand.

Additionally, your crew’s movement through the environment is limited. The crushing pressure and lack of oxygen forces the crew to stay inside, limiting their movement to a network of player-constructed tunnels and submarines.



Air and Food Quality will have a direct impact on the health of your crew. Overloading your oxygen networks with industrial buildings can cause dangerous pollutants to enter the network. Lower quality food can be manufactured en masse, but will harm the crew over time. Sourcing better food sources can put further pressure on the power grid, however, so there is a balance to be maintained.

These survival elements will challenge players, as they try to complete their mission and realise the full potential of their scientific endeavour.

[h2]Next time on Surviving the Abyss:[/h2]
In the next developer blog, we’ll be discussing some of the most unique and important aspects of Surviving the Abyss; the Light, Dark & Exploration.

Paradox Interactive has unveiled a new addition to its 'Surviving' series of bad-situation management sims, and this one is a little more sinister than its predecessors. Surviving the Abyss puts players in charge of a research lab at the bottom of the sea, where they'll have to build and maintain facilities while managing the needs of its inhabitants...
Read more.

Good day, everyone!

Welcome to the world-first reveal and announcement of the upcoming game being published through Paradox Arc!

Surviving the Abyss sets you in the depths of the ocean where you take on the role of Overseer of a deep sea research facility during the height of an alternate Cold War-era history. Survive the crushing depths, the horrors lurking in the darkness, expand your facility, and keep your team safe and sane as they conduct their research!

Watch the trailer right here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Developed by Rocket Flair Studios and published by Paradox Arc, Surviving the Abyss will be coming to Steam Early Access in January, 2023!

Wishlist now and be the first to survive the abyss.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1254320/Surviving_the_Abyss/