Devlog #1 | 2021 recap: development news
Hello everyone,
Exogate Initiative continues to move forward. Sharing your passion for science fiction is fantastic. So many people are fascinated by futuristic technologies and how they would serve humanity, and creating a fictional realm about it through Exogate Initiative is a bit like bringing this idea to life.
Since 2021 will be soon behind us, it’s time to talk a bit with you about the progress we’ve made with the game.
[h3]The team[/h3]
3 years ago, Creative Director Maxime Millet started working on his own on Exogate Initiative. He imagined the whole concept with the help of freelancers.
Earlier this year, 3 additional people – employees – joined the project:
The game has strongly taken shape and gained stability thanks to our team cohesion, which allowed us to release a demo!
From left to right: Maxime, Téo, Aude & Chloé
[h3]The demo[/h3]
First off, we needed to have a clear idea of the content we wanted to add and put forward in the demo while giving the player a glimpse of the scope of the game. We only showed around 5% of the game and tried to make it a smooth and intuitive experience.
Once we were happy with the mechanisms and the design consistency and playtested the demo internally, we were ready to share this experience publicly.
[h3]What about Steam?[/h3]
The Steam page is live since this Summer. At the time, the game was still very early with the graphics and gameplay, but significant progress was already made compared to the first prototype.
The demo is out on Itch.io right now, Steam demo will come later. We proceed this way because before we share it with Steam, which is the place where most potential players gather, we wanted to make sure that our first public version is polished enough. And we found it easier to collect feedback on various aspects of the game on Itch.io.
One of the other reasons is that we are in the middle of discussions that will play an important role in the future of the game and the studio as well – not in a bad way but choices have to be made to guarantee a stable and peaceful development as well as enough resources to keep it working since one of our main objectives is to give a long life to Exogate Initiative.
[h3]Time to talk about the full-game progress[/h3]
The game is big. Once we have implemented something, adjustments are made all the time. For example, the doors’ design has known many changes because of the other room objects aspects around. We regularly test the game to see the changes needed.
The equipment for all the rooms is in progress. We aim for a minimum of 60 objects for a minimum of 9 rooms to build, from advanced research tools such as samples analyzer or alien data storage to objects for relaxing moments like a yoga carpet.
We added 2 other classes to the Initiative: the Medic and the Engineer! They’ll be very helpful with healing people when a mission goes wrong or crafting specific suits for planets with equipment requirements. There are 6 classes in total and we're currently designing a new one right now, do you have an idea of which one it could be?
Regarding the missions, more than a hundred missions will be available in the game, with various encounters and outcomes as well. These interactive missions can be challenging since if you don’t think twice about your decision, it will have consequences on the Gaters’ physical and mental health – e.g. coming back stressed or injured, and you’ll need to fix that once back to the base!
[h3]The main challenges[/h3]
Marketing is always a pain for small teams. Targeting players is not an easy task but we hope sci-fi lovers and base-building & management games players will fall in love with the mechanisms, the references and this narrative touch that'll make some of your sci-fi dreams come true.
Also… We have tons of ideas for the game! We want to keep them organized and focus on all the top-priority implementations. Maybe some of these concept ideas won’t be implemented at all or will come way later, but what we know for certain is that we want to give Exogate Initiative a long life.
_________________________________
We appreciate all the support around the game so far, there’s still plenty to do but your encouragement boosts our motivation to go on the development.
Thank you and stay safe!
The Xeno Bits team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1681060/Exogate_Initiative/
Exogate Initiative continues to move forward. Sharing your passion for science fiction is fantastic. So many people are fascinated by futuristic technologies and how they would serve humanity, and creating a fictional realm about it through Exogate Initiative is a bit like bringing this idea to life.
Since 2021 will be soon behind us, it’s time to talk a bit with you about the progress we’ve made with the game.
[h3]The team[/h3]
3 years ago, Creative Director Maxime Millet started working on his own on Exogate Initiative. He imagined the whole concept with the help of freelancers.
Earlier this year, 3 additional people – employees – joined the project:
- Téo Quitellic, Unity Developer
- Aude Legrand, 3D Artist
- Chloé Matz, Communication & Community Manager
The game has strongly taken shape and gained stability thanks to our team cohesion, which allowed us to release a demo!
From left to right: Maxime, Téo, Aude & Chloé[h3]The demo[/h3]
First off, we needed to have a clear idea of the content we wanted to add and put forward in the demo while giving the player a glimpse of the scope of the game. We only showed around 5% of the game and tried to make it a smooth and intuitive experience.
Once we were happy with the mechanisms and the design consistency and playtested the demo internally, we were ready to share this experience publicly.
[h3]What about Steam?[/h3]
The Steam page is live since this Summer. At the time, the game was still very early with the graphics and gameplay, but significant progress was already made compared to the first prototype.
The demo is out on Itch.io right now, Steam demo will come later. We proceed this way because before we share it with Steam, which is the place where most potential players gather, we wanted to make sure that our first public version is polished enough. And we found it easier to collect feedback on various aspects of the game on Itch.io.
One of the other reasons is that we are in the middle of discussions that will play an important role in the future of the game and the studio as well – not in a bad way but choices have to be made to guarantee a stable and peaceful development as well as enough resources to keep it working since one of our main objectives is to give a long life to Exogate Initiative.
[h3]Time to talk about the full-game progress[/h3]
The game is big. Once we have implemented something, adjustments are made all the time. For example, the doors’ design has known many changes because of the other room objects aspects around. We regularly test the game to see the changes needed.
The equipment for all the rooms is in progress. We aim for a minimum of 60 objects for a minimum of 9 rooms to build, from advanced research tools such as samples analyzer or alien data storage to objects for relaxing moments like a yoga carpet.
We added 2 other classes to the Initiative: the Medic and the Engineer! They’ll be very helpful with healing people when a mission goes wrong or crafting specific suits for planets with equipment requirements. There are 6 classes in total and we're currently designing a new one right now, do you have an idea of which one it could be?
Regarding the missions, more than a hundred missions will be available in the game, with various encounters and outcomes as well. These interactive missions can be challenging since if you don’t think twice about your decision, it will have consequences on the Gaters’ physical and mental health – e.g. coming back stressed or injured, and you’ll need to fix that once back to the base!
[h3]The main challenges[/h3]
Marketing is always a pain for small teams. Targeting players is not an easy task but we hope sci-fi lovers and base-building & management games players will fall in love with the mechanisms, the references and this narrative touch that'll make some of your sci-fi dreams come true.
Also… We have tons of ideas for the game! We want to keep them organized and focus on all the top-priority implementations. Maybe some of these concept ideas won’t be implemented at all or will come way later, but what we know for certain is that we want to give Exogate Initiative a long life.
_________________________________
We appreciate all the support around the game so far, there’s still plenty to do but your encouragement boosts our motivation to go on the development.
Thank you and stay safe!
The Xeno Bits team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1681060/Exogate_Initiative/