Many dawns apart
...and we're back for this year's last summer episode of Weekly Apart. To set the mood for the upcoming fall season we're inviting you to take a walk down memory lane all the way to the humble beginnings of Dawn Apart in 2021. Back then the game still was tentatively titled Farpoint until we became aware there was a (pretty good) VR shooter out there that went by the same name.
Today we want to compare the early prototypes and concept art with the current state of the game as it is right now. We're still have a long way to go but sometimes it's good to take a breath and look back to where it all started and how far we've come:)
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Tldr: watch this YouTube video for side by side comparisons (we know people love these) - and while you're at it please don't hesitate to leave a follow so we can keep you posted with more videos of visual progress in the months ahead.
In the summer of 2021 the first conveyor was placed on the surface of the then still unnamed planet. As you can see in the screenshot above those were literally quite dark times. All you could do back then was place conveyors belts and some drills on this rugged square of alien land and hope the best before the prototype eventually crashed. But our core idea - build huge factories in an extraterrestrial, isometric voxel world - lived on.
Before we actually were able to build our own assembly lines and factories we envisioned in various voxel dioramas the look and feel of the type of buildings and machines we would like to see in our game. Back then it was decided to focus on the ability to build vertically and include options to create your own factory halls with multiple floors and access points.
Inspired by games like MGS 3 or Ghost of Tsushima, we also decided early on to add to the atmosphere of the planet (by now named Aurora) by including movign grass, plants and trees that are not just simply there but affected by forces like wind, fire or player actions (above you can see an early iteration) To increase the interactivity of our world even more, we also added a grid-based terraforming system that allows you to dramatically change the surface of Aurora.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Another early focus was to refine one of the core elements of any automation game: conveyor belts. So to get your resources from point A to point B in the most logical and satisfying way, in early 2023 we added conveyor dragging mechanics that are 'intelligent' and dynamic while still highly versatile and sandbox-y. As you can see in the video above, when dragged, conveyors automatically adjust to the terrain below or objects in their way, including going over or under other conveyor belts.
Finally, around the same time, we began testing a destruction physics system which takes in upcoming damage of an object and figures out how exactly it should fracture. So for example, when a space marine riddles an It'ak hood with bullets, each projectile will create rays with a given force and trace through the object decreasing its force based on the physical type of the voxel it hits (you can read more about it in this Reddit post).
These were just a few of the many milestones we reached in the last two years (you can read more about these and other additions to the game in this very series of dev blog posts). Looking back it is amazing to see how much the game has changed when you compare a build from a few a months ago with the game that we showed off in our exclusive Discord preview streams. Of course there is still plenty more to develop, conceptualize and implement, so make sure to check again next week when we can hopefully show off more new exciting stuff!
Today we want to compare the early prototypes and concept art with the current state of the game as it is right now. We're still have a long way to go but sometimes it's good to take a breath and look back to where it all started and how far we've come:)
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Tldr: watch this YouTube video for side by side comparisons (we know people love these) - and while you're at it please don't hesitate to leave a follow so we can keep you posted with more videos of visual progress in the months ahead.
In the summer of 2021 the first conveyor was placed on the surface of the then still unnamed planet. As you can see in the screenshot above those were literally quite dark times. All you could do back then was place conveyors belts and some drills on this rugged square of alien land and hope the best before the prototype eventually crashed. But our core idea - build huge factories in an extraterrestrial, isometric voxel world - lived on.
Before we actually were able to build our own assembly lines and factories we envisioned in various voxel dioramas the look and feel of the type of buildings and machines we would like to see in our game. Back then it was decided to focus on the ability to build vertically and include options to create your own factory halls with multiple floors and access points.
Inspired by games like MGS 3 or Ghost of Tsushima, we also decided early on to add to the atmosphere of the planet (by now named Aurora) by including movign grass, plants and trees that are not just simply there but affected by forces like wind, fire or player actions (above you can see an early iteration) To increase the interactivity of our world even more, we also added a grid-based terraforming system that allows you to dramatically change the surface of Aurora.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Another early focus was to refine one of the core elements of any automation game: conveyor belts. So to get your resources from point A to point B in the most logical and satisfying way, in early 2023 we added conveyor dragging mechanics that are 'intelligent' and dynamic while still highly versatile and sandbox-y. As you can see in the video above, when dragged, conveyors automatically adjust to the terrain below or objects in their way, including going over or under other conveyor belts.
Finally, around the same time, we began testing a destruction physics system which takes in upcoming damage of an object and figures out how exactly it should fracture. So for example, when a space marine riddles an It'ak hood with bullets, each projectile will create rays with a given force and trace through the object decreasing its force based on the physical type of the voxel it hits (you can read more about it in this Reddit post).
These were just a few of the many milestones we reached in the last two years (you can read more about these and other additions to the game in this very series of dev blog posts). Looking back it is amazing to see how much the game has changed when you compare a build from a few a months ago with the game that we showed off in our exclusive Discord preview streams. Of course there is still plenty more to develop, conceptualize and implement, so make sure to check again next week when we can hopefully show off more new exciting stuff!