Dawn Apart News

Welcome Pioneers to another, somewhat different installment of Weekly Apart, the series that brings you a week's worth of Dawn Apart related news straight into your Steam feed! Actually a more aptly titled name for today's post would be Oceans Apart, as our two co-founders/head developers hopped into a spacecraft, traversed the Atlantic and landed on a distant planet called San Francisco, the home of the annual Game Developers Conference.

Before we share some of their impressions in this, well, travel blog (next week we're going back to hardcore game dev stuff - promise!) we would like you to (again, we know) ask you to urge your fellow humans to wishlist Dawn Apart and follow, comment, and like our stuff on our various social media channels. Aurora is a giant planet with lots of resources and we're going to need more mercenaries and fortune hunters to build factories and deal with the It'ak when our Space Colony officially opens shop next year.



So while development for Dawn Apart took a quick break for this week, our explosive duo TNT (Thilo and Tony) roamed the holy halls of the Moscone Center to listen to inspiring talks, meet with executives in dimly lit hotel lobbies to discuss shady business deals (nothing to share yet) and try to pocket as much free stuff as possible. Here are some their personal highlights from the show floors and seminar rooms:

[h3]Thilo, Founder of IT&W Games[/h3]

Favorite talk: "I attended a Game Design Workshop where I got in touch with some game core loop frameworks I haven’t known yet. We created a table-top game called Quiet Quitting - your goal as a player was to get rid of Pizza delivery orders by shoving them to your co-workers and end up with zero.
Other than that I’m running from one overcrowded hotel lobby to another having meetings.”

Favorite hands-on demo: “Loved the alt.ctrl.GDC exhibition - alternative controller hardware - where Tony and I played a game as a space crew, shooting with funny controllers and fixing a spaceship with real hammers.”



Favorite wow/aha moment: “It would have made more sense for Tony and I if we would not have spent so much money on my ticket, as I’m barely able to attend sessions due to these meetings. I learned that big studios, investors and publishers don’t have tickets for GDC and just hang out in these lobbies to meet people.
Also the real technical and interesting sessions are recorded and can be watched after the show.”

Favorite freebie: “I got a T-shirt from the Unreal booth. Yay!”

Favorite encounter: “While collecting my badge on the day before the GDC opened, I got to meet super nice people from Brazil and we showed our games to each other. The cool thing about this industry is that everyone is not only a producer but also a consumer at the same time. Everyone is rooting for each other.”

[h3]Tony, Lead Developer and Co-Founder of IT&W Games[/h3]

Favorite talk: "I’ve been to so many different talks this week spanning almost every game dev topic and I would say my favorite was hearing one of the founders of Blizzard, Allen Adham, give his “first public talk on the subject” about the game design principles they have used to steer development since The Lost Vikings. I’ve been playing Blizzard games almost my entire life and still play WOW (Dragonflight was actually great) and SC2 every once in a while so I felt a lot of nostalgia sitting in on that one.



The other speakers have been doing a great job as well. Xalavier Nelson Jr., who somehow maxed charisma and still had about a hundred points left over, gave a really engaging talk on custom tools. My notebook is full of notes, and although it got soaked in the craziest rainstorm Frisco has seen in at least 4 days, I can make out some names on the wavy pages. Matt Blair had a great one on using their unique cloning mechanic in The Last Clockwinder to create testing tools. Mikhail Akopyan talked about Deep Rock Galactic (ROCK AND STONE!) and how their production pipeline evolved from Early Access well into post launch seasonal content. And Grace Curtis taught me how to use TikTok. Can’t name everyone, but those were some of the ones that stood out.

Favorite hands-on demo: "There were some really amazing games at GDC. I got to try out a few different headsets like the PSVR2 and some of Pico’s newer hardware. I’m a VR freak so it was awesome getting to see how much new stuff is out there. I mean new headsets sure, but also so many developers are working on amazing VR games. It was almost shocking how many booths had VR demos. I’ve gotta agree with Thilo though that the creativity on display at the alternative controllers areas was just awe inspiring."



I’ll plug a game that actually ended up winning something at the Indie Games Festival (btw literally how robbed was Neon White?). The Case of the Golden Idol is a pixel art detective game in the same vein as The Return of the Obra Dinn. I was so excited to see it there and even more excited that other people are digging it as well. I can also tell you with certainty that Thilo’s favorite was not The Callisto Protocol, nor this swiveling VR chair thing. He did however steal my record on this hang gliding game mere moments after I had just claimed the daily fastest time…"

Favorite wow/aha moment: "Meeting with developers of games that I actually know and love to play. It really brings this cool new perspective on the games that you play where you hear about the different struggles they had during development and the solutions they came up with. It’s all really open and collaborative. Plus it’s just great being able to say thanks to the people that spend so much time making something for others to enjoy."

Favorite freebie: "Unreal went all out and was giving out beer and fresh cookies, and after I picked up a copper cup, along with its Moscow Mule contents, I was feeling pretty good. I would say my favorite freebie came from the Red Nexus Games Inc. booth where I talked to the developers of the awesome Peglin, which is a cross between Peggle and Slay the Spire. I think it’s such a great game and they were giving out pins to fans that had played the game before and it’s honestly super cute. So shout out to them!"

Favorite encounter: "There really isn’t any one encounter, but just being among peers that also are spending their life making the same sort of art is amazing. For me it’s a real dream come true to be someone who is working in the space. I ran into Johnny of Turbo Makes Games fame, or more accurately cornered him as he was trying to leave a talk, just to say hi and thanks for making content for anyone wanting to learn Unity DOTS. I spoke with one of the people making The Wandering Village and got a chance to talk to him about working on the game and tell him that it’s absolutely beautiful. I saw Gavin from Two Star Games who made Choo Choo Charles playing some of the wacky controller games and did the ol’ glance at him over and over until he gets up and fades into the crowd like an Ezio Auditore type. Just super fun overall."



So there you have it. Let's hope that Thilo and Tony will make it back from their exploration mission in one piece and bring back fresh ideas, helpful business contacts and (maybe) alien artifacts that grant mysterious powers. All of course in the service of moving closer to reaching our next milestone: Getting a demo into the hands of players to check out Dawn Apart. Oh and if you are at GDC as well or have been in the past, let us know about your personal highlights in the comments. See you next week!

Happy Friday and get ready for another issue of Weekly Apart - the blog series that keeps you up to date on the latest and greatest from Dawn Apart. This week we're super excited to announce that we have found and hired a composer to score our little factory and space colony sim and share the first track he has produced for our soundtrack!

But before we dive into the soundscapes of Aurora, as always here is the reminder to check out our socials and leave a like, comment or follow (last week we gained our 100th follower on YouTube, which is one small step for our channel but could be the beginning of a giant leap for all automation and base building game fans;) Oh, and by the way, one half of our four man team will be at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next week to network, attend lectures and overall have a good time. So if you happen to be there as well and want to say hi, let us know (ideally by joining our Discord, where we'll be sharing some impressions from GDC).

[h3]Colony Music[/h3]
When we first came up with the idea of creating a crossbreed between an automation game and a colony sim that takes place on a distant planet, we knew that having an epic soundtrack would be an absolute must. Setting foot on an alien world and encountering (possibly hostile) lifeforms, starting a colony and building huge factories just requires a certain type of soundtrack that effortlessly moves from restrained to bombastic and optimistic to threatening. Our goal is to not merely underscoring in-Game events but to create a musical backdrop that stays with players even after they have finished playing the game (our biggest inspiration in that regard would be Howard Mostrum's amazing soundtrack for the game Planetary Annihilation)

We're happy to announce that we have found a super-talented and versatile up-and-coming composer to do exactly that. Abel Lifschutz is a classical trained composer and pianist based in Seattle, Washington, who has a bachelor's degree in film scoring and creates music for all kinds of visual media. He also writes concert music, which is a big deal for us since we are planning on having the whole soundtrack recorded by a symphonic orchestra. Without further ado check out his first (electronically created, for now) track for the Dawn Apart soundtrack:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Incredible range[/h3]
You can also check out his demo reel below to get an impression of the wide range of themes and emotions Abel can convey through his music and what general direction you can expect from the full Dawn Apart soundtrack. Overall, having such a skilled musician on board is another piece of the puzzle on our way to create a great game and we can't wait to share our first demo which will likely include more of his pieces.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

So enjoy the music, let us know in the comments what you think, and share some of your favorite game OSTs. On a side note please make sure to check out our latest episode of #MachineMondays which features, err, a sleeping machine that is very important for maintaining a space colony:) See you next week!

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As we slide into the weekend, it's time to share another Weekly Apart, our hebdomadal (yes, I looked it up, it's just a fancy word for weekly) series of community posts in which we keep you up-to-date on all things Dawn Apart. This time we want to give you a quick overview of the game's evolving lore - which is not required reading and will be purely optional for the game in its final form. To be clear: Our main focus is on creating an awesome "build giant factories and manage colonies on a distant planet" experience and not bore our player with endless scrolls of backstory.

However, if you want to learn more about why you have been sent to the planet Aurora and mine resources for an interstellar Megacorp. and what awaits you there, you may want to keep on reading - or join our Discord server where you can find an extensive timeline of things that happened in the galaxy leading up to the events of Dawn Apart - and yes you can even vote on and shape certain aspect of the game's universe.



[h3]The Pioneer Program[/h3]
The premise of Dawn Apart is that you have been sent to Aurora by the Kobayashi-Schwarz Corporation (or KS in short), a leading producer and processor of Lucrum 115, the galaxy's most versatile and precious metal. KS in its current form is the result of centuries of mergers, acquisitions, and downright hostile takeovers among representatives of the Schwarzes on the one hand, an old mining family and the diversified holding group founded by super-gifted 8-year old Junichiro Kobayashi on the other. Junichiro's grandson Goro Kobayashi ultimately emerges victorious in a succession battle and immediately sets his eyes on the prize: Extracting as much Lucrum as possible from the galaxy.

Welcome Pioneer to the eleventh episode of our blog series from now on and for all eternity called Weekly Apart. Yes, the community of our Discord server has spoken and honestly the name has grown on us since last week. Today's post is all about the creation and refinement of our user interface. While far from being completed we're fully aware that a UI can really make or break a colony/building sim - and by delivering an intuitive and clean experience we're making sure the former is the case for Dawn Apart.

Before we dive into the nitty gritty of hotkeys, buttons, and submenus, we would like to once more encourage you to follow us on the social media channel(s) of your choice. There is really cool stuff to discover from trade commercials for in-game machines to videos of stuff getting blown to smithereens and even more goofy content like Pioneer Luke getting hit by a floor tile (help us turn this into a meme!). Seriously, make sure to like any video, say hi or ask questions in the comments, we'll make sure to respond to everyone.)



[h3]6 Principles of a good UI [/h3]

While we're not exactly veterans when it comes to game development, we're lucky to have extensive knowledge and experience in conceptualizing and designing sharp and snappy UIs. In fact, our developer in charge has come up with his own set of principles when it comes to creating great UIs, namely Feeling, Looks, Understanding, Fastness, Forgiveness and Iteration (or FLUFFI according to an online acronym generator:))

So let's go through each principle: First and foremost, the UI has to feel right. This includes clicking and hovering sounds but also intuitive controls that are clear from the get go. Here, reinventing the wheel is certainly not our goal. Being fans of base building games ourselves, we of course respect and adapt certain established practices. Secondly, it has to obviously look great. That’s why, while we are creating the UI wireframes in house, once we have it fine-tuned, we'll most likely hand it over to an established graphics artist to reskin it. Then there is the motto of "seeing is understanding": Everything you see must immediately make sense and intuitively lead you to your intended goal - fast, which is the fourth pillar. Finally, you have to iterate until all those elements fall into one cohesive place.



[h3]Everything at a glance [/h3]

So how is this philosophy applied to Dawn Apart? While there is not enough space here for a deep dive, let's focus on the five key areas that will fill the edges of the screen as illustrated by a screenshot of WIP fireframe above. In the upper left corner an event list will keep you up to date. Think of it as a news hub that informs you about the next estimated landing time of the dropship, new available upgrades for your research tree or developments in your colony like employee of the month awards or unfortunate lethal workplace accidents. On the upper middle section of the edge of the screen is arguably the most important UI element gameplay-wise, namely the Lucrum meter, which determines your sphere of influence granted by the precious resource and an energy counter which measures your current consumption of electricity.

On the upper right corner, no surprises here, are buttons to pause or speed up the game. The main controls will be located on the lower left edge of the screen, namely construction, terraforming, bulldozing and a level view navigation that enables you to switch between different heights when building vertically. Finally, the lower right side of screen gives you a closer look at the stats of individual pioneers (among other things their health, their loadout, their loyalty to the almighty Kobayashi-Schwarz Corporation and the next time they have to go to the can) as well as machines (tier level, energy consumption, crafting recipes).

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
While we are still tweaking the UI and making constant changes please be assured there definitely won't be any Clippy-like mascot offering help and annoying the crap out of you:). We can’t wait to share the final result, but to make sure that the UI ultimately adheres to the principles mentioned above, we need beta testers. If you are interested in checking out early builds and putting our UI really to the test, make sure to join our Discord server (calls for testers will be put out soon). And if you have recommendations for best (or worst)-case examples or general thoughts about UIs in base building games, let us know in the comments. Until then see you next week!

Welcome Pioneers to a new edition of ‘Weekly Apart’ (tbh not sure about the name we're just throwing it out there - let us know what you think in the comments:). As always we give you a development update of our little (or rather sprawling and very ambitious) space colony sim/ automation game called Dawn Apart. Since we talked about fire in last week's post, we're opting for a holistic approach and today want to share some details about our water system.

Before we dive deeper into the water reserves of Aurora, we again want to salute you for having made Dawn Apart into one of the more sought-after upcoming games on Steam. It's still a long interstellar journey to the EA launch next year, but just three months after the announcement we're already among the 650 most wishlisted games and broke the barrier of 3,000 Steam followers, as depicted in this (admittedly self-congratulatory) YouTube shorts video! Please continue supporting Dawn Apart by spreading the word and following us on our socials!



[h3]Beneath the surface[/h3]

So yes, water has been detected on the surface of Aurora, making the planet hospitable for colonists and the indigenous 'alien' population (and also exploitable and profitable for the Kobayashi-Schwarz Corporation). As you can see in the screenshot above, we have added bodies of water to our world generation pipeline which completely changes the feel of the planet and opens up a wealth of new gameplay possibilities.

Per default water automatically appears at a certain depth in the planet's terrain - essentially like ground water. With terraforming being a big part of the gameplay mechanics, you can reveal water below the ground and hide/eliminate it through landfills.

[h3]The way of the water[/h3]

While we just began dipping our toes into water systems, we still want to experiment with large scale simulated water (Noita is a huge influence ngl) and add flora/fauna to the water’s ecosystem, but we have begun discussing on how to integrate water organically into Dawn Apart's gameplay loop of managing and colony and extracting resources. In last week's water-themed survey on our Discord server (please join here, just today we grew to 500 members!) we actually received a lot of helpful input from the community on how we should or should not tackle water in the game.



The community agreed that water shouldn't be there just for cosmetic reasons but to have functions such as a cooling mechanism for machines and factories or putting out fires. Also building on or around water masses should come with a cost - landfilling, for example, could be a costly measure that players must gauge. We're going to take all of those suggestions into account when we refine water-related gameplay in the upcoming weeks and months.

That being said, just adding this first iteration of water to the map was kind of a big deal in how much variety it has added to the planet's surface. We're focusing on gameplay aspects in the first quarter of this year but in the spring will definitely give Aurora a much needed facelift and add tons of new fauna and flora in time for the release of our first demo. Until then make sure to check out the latest episode of our #MachineMondays series, stay hydrated and see you next week!

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