Project Existence - Multiplayer Sandbox News

Hi all,

When we launched the Project Existence Testing Environment (lovingly known as PETE) in 2020, it was designed not so much as a game for visitors to play, but a proving grounds to test and/or break potential features that might make their way into our upcoming massively multiplayer game. We appreciate those who participated in our game development experiment. We had valuable playtests, hit important milestones and enjoyed welcoming you into PETE's snowy expanse these last three years.

That said, it was time to bid PETE adieu. As of today, its server has been permanently shut down, a milestone unto itself. The team have now shifted full focus toward the development of our forthcoming game, more details of which we'll be sharing later this summer.

It's exciting times, and we hope you'll stick around and continue on this journey with us. We think you'll enjoy what we have in store. Until then, keep track of the latest via our Discord channel and Twitter.


-Arctic Theory

Hi all!

We recently concluded a milestone playtest in our newly renamed Project Existence Testing Environment (PETE). It was a twelve-hour test, with participants establishing outposts, gathering resources and working together to rebuild a monument. This was essentially the same goal as the previous three playtests, though with substantial adjustments to the time it takes to accomplish the main goal to reflect a more standard gameplay experience. We also made UI improvements, performed some bug fixes and included the addition of rocks as a new resource.

Below is an infographic breakdown of the aftermath of the playtest:



We hope to add new features and functions as we schedule future playtests, with a goal of continually increasing the number of participants for each.

If you'd like to participate, or know anyone who'd be interested in helping us lay the foundation for our upcoming MMO, we'd love to see you on Discord. You can also follow us on Twitter for frequent updates.

For those that joined in, thank you so much for your help. We genuinely appreciate it. If you're new, we hope to see you in the snow very soon!

- Arctic Theory

This latest update introduces a new resource, more outpost units and multiple improvements to UI.

Participate in today's playtest by hopping in and playing through the tutorial mission, we'd love to hear your feedback!

Feedback Form Bug Reports

UPDATE: The servers will be live at 2pm GMT, or two hours later than originally announced! Sorry for the inconvenience.

Hey all!

On April 5th (Wednesday) beginning at 1pm GMT, Arctic Theory will begin a 12 hour playtest period in the Project Existence Testing Environment (PETE), with server resets scheduled for 4pm GMT and 8pm GMT.

This is a big milestone for us!

We welcome and encourage anyone who wishes to participate to join in and see what we've been up to. The overall goal is to establish outposts, gather and process resources and work together to rebuild a monument. For those that have joined previous playtests, the gameplay might seem familiar, but there are some new features to check out, as well as old and improved ones we'd love feedback on. For those jumping in for the first time, be prepared to see some placeholder objects and to run into a bug here or there. It's all a part of the process. It'll still be fun!

Some of the new stuff we're testing includes a new resource (it's not just trees!), new buildings (currently in box and sphere form), a new scanner feature and some UI upgrades. If you join after the monument has already been built, no worries. The server resets mentioned above will refresh everything so you can participate from the start.

If you haven't already, join the Project Existence Discord for updates. We happily accept feedback there as well.

We hope to see you there!

- Arctic Theory

Hi all!

Once again, members of the Arctic Theory team jumped into the Project Existence Testing Environment late last week for a new playtest adventure. We have a brief update below.

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MARCH 16, 2023 PLAYEST

GOAL / DESCRIPTION

Just as last week, this playtest was designed with an emphasis on player experience, focused on the group endeavor of rebuilding a satellite dish (a "monument") in the game world.

Utilizing feedback from the last playtest and most of the same participants, we wanted to see how they would react to changes made based off of said feedback. Most importantly, we wanted to gauge if players felt more like they were contributing to a common goal as a cooperative group, or if there was still a slight disconnect in that experience.

RESULTS

As last time, the playtest was largely well-received, with participants having a stronger sense of what to do. We also had a small handful of new players that were able to get a grasp on the experience faster, though it inarguably helped to have the previous playtest group to lean on. It will be interesting having a fully new group of participants jump in for future playtests to offer fresh insights on how intuitive tasks and collaborative opportunities are.

Speaking of, you can get updates on when we'll be holding future Playtests on the Project Existence Discord. We'd love to have enough new folks jump in to walk them through an experience with a fresh set of eyes. Don't be a stranger, ping us there any time and let us know you want to play!

Finally, here is a short snippet of in-game video with one of our players exploring the wilderness in search of a promising spot to begin harvesting wood for the satellite dish project:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

ANALYTICS

Below is a bit of data collected from the most recent playtest:



TEAM RETROSPECTIVE / GAMEPLAY FEEDBACK

After the playtest we shared a questionnaire featuring a number of topics, including whether or not players understood the main objective, the building of an outpost, harvesting, how to send resources to the monument, ease of controlling the character, whether they felt they contributed to a shared goal with other players and finally, if they were enticed to play future builds.

It was valuable and mostly positive data, but we're aware there is still work to be done.



OUTRO

Our next playtest will occur on 5/4/23 at 1:15 GMT. Again, those interested are more than welcome to join us and participate.

We have a few goals for this next playtest, including:

- Adding a new resource (iron) via the rocks scattered around the world
- Adding factory units that transform raw resources into materials to use for monument construction
- Adding the ability to remove buildings
- Adding a power system for outposts (will be detailed in next Dev Blog)
- Adding ability to join other player's outpost in addition to your established outpost
- Showing founder and joined members in outpost UI
- Adding a decay function to buildings that are outside of an outpost area (after outpost is destroyed)
- Iterating on the intro, and adjusting tone
- General UI polish, bug fixes

Keep an eye out for our next update. As always, we appreciate your contributions, and hope you'll join us on our game development adventure!

- Arctic Theory