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Artificial Extinction 2 News

Gearing Up for the Demo – A Behind-the-Scenes Update

Dev Update – Artificial Extinction 2 Progress Report
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Hi everyone,

Just wanted to take a moment to share what I’ve been working on with Artificial Extinction 2. As a solo developer, I’ve been putting in some seriously long days — building, testing, refining — doing everything I can to make sure this game is something truly worth your time.

Here’s a quick look at what’s been happening behind the scenes:

- Completed the full tutorial — streamlined, clear, and fully playable
- Finalized a complete campaign level for the upcoming demo!
- Refined the Test Range to allow players to experiment freely
- Added unlockable demo-exclusive modes: Nightmare, FPS-only, and RTS-only
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Localization & Global Players
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One of the biggest efforts lately has been localizing the game into 10 languages, including:

French, German, Spanish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, and Ukrainian

Every UI element, tutorial prompt, and menu item is being carefully translated to make sure players around the world can jump in and enjoy the experience on day one — and it's all being done by hand, with care.

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Demo Leaderboards
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The upcoming demo will include Steam Leaderboards, allowing players to compare their performance and survival time with others. Whether you're trying to beat your friends or climb the global rankings, there's plenty of opportunity for some friendly competition.

We're also exploring the idea of running small leaderboard contests (such as "High Score of the Month") — with fun rewards like Steam gift cards. More on that soon!

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What’s Coming Up
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- A private Steam Playtest which will be invite-only to gather early feedback
- Final tweaks, polish, and balancing of the demo
- Preparing the official demo build for Steam Next Fest

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Thank You
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Thanks so much for your support, your wishlists, and your encouragement. It’s what keeps me going through the long hours and late nights. I’m incredibly excited to share this game with you, and I can’t wait to see what you think.

More updates soon. Stay tuned.

– Chris
Developer of Artificial Extinction 2
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Check Out This Game Footage!

WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN!?

Let's just dive right in. I don't want to spoil too much, but I owe you guys for sticking with me this whole time.

This footage is 100% in-game showcasing the real time Free Camera control, First Person Shooter and the Battle Camera mode that showcases the ongoing action!

I've put together some game footage of the Test Range as well as a brief intro to the game mechanics. AE2 expands on the concept of a hybrid First Person Shooter & Tower Defence by adding Real Time Strategy mechanics. Check it out:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
There's an entire Tech Tree and Resource System I don't show in the footage but I'll share that in a future update.

The community is keeping me on track and helping make critical decisions in the game theory. To succeed in AE2, you're going to need good strategy as well as brute force.

Good games are a balance of challenge and fun. My goal is to make AE2 a blast!

DEVELOPMENT IS RESUMING!

First, I would like to apologize for the silence. I'm sorry. Being a solo dev is a tough path. After 2 years of full time work, I burnt myself out. I started to lose faith in my game. I felt that I wasn't going to be able to reach my goal of what I was trying to build. I didn't want to even look at my game any more. I quit.

I carried along with life and family. 18 months went by. It came to a point where I had to decide my presence on Steam. I finally logged back into Discord to apologize to the community, expecting a negative reception, I received nothing but encouragement and understanding.



I decided to play the game with a fresh set of eyes, and I enjoyed it. I've been looking for some good games on Steam lately and bought a handful of titles. I thought they were all boring and not challenging, they sucked. I don't want to follow a narrow path shooting everything. I want tough battles that require smart planning to win and I want AAA looking action.

New Testers on Discord I shared the current build with liked the game. My concept is solid. Plan from above, fight on the ground. Build to gather resources, setup your defenses, adapt to the battlefield and get in the fight!



So, I have decided that I want to keep developing the game. It's current build has all the levels and story complete. But there's a lot of bug squashing, polishing, testing, user experience, menu functionality and optimization work. It's a heavy game for most computers to run at the moment.

Thank you for your patience and I appreciate everyone who has the game on their Wishlist, that's extremely encouraging.
[h2]I'm back to work![/h2]


Day 754 of Solo-Developing AND Still Sane!

I believe it's possible for one person to make a great game. It's been a dream of mine for a long time and that's my mission!

This video focuses on Free Camera mode and Time Dilation. Why restrict the camera to isometric view when I have such AAA characters and environments? Now you can take full control of the camera and look at the battlefield from any position you want.

Time Dilation allows you to slow down time to your advantage when the fight isn't going your way. Use the extra time to make changes to your strategy or work on your equipment.

I've made a video of a recent attempt of a tough level, hope you check it out!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

"Battle Camera" Feature - Early Test Footage With Dev Commentary

The Battle Camera


Check out the Alpha Version under development showcasing a cinematic mode. Toggle in and out of this mode any time to get a better view of the action.

In this video, I narrate some of the features and explain some unique concepts of AE2. Toggle between Top-Down and First Person Shooter in real-time. Strategize and build from above and join the fight on the ground!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]