1. Endzone 2
  2. News

Endzone 2 News

Survivors! Time To Play

Survivors!

Time has come for you to take a deep dive into the very-first publicly available demo for Endzone 2. The last months have been exhausting and exciting at the same time. Still, making our little demo baby available for everyone to play feels incredibly fantastic. We hope you'll enjoy your time with the Endzone 2 Demo.🌱



Before you get started, we'd like to give you a piece of advice for life (aka the Demo). So, please read carefully.

[h2]General Info & Differences [Endzone 1] [Endzone 2][/h2]
  • Zones: In Endzone - A World Apart, you played on one vast map where you could build a global settlement. But in Endzone 2, the world expands as you uncover different zones, each offering exclusive resources to plunder. Manage multiple settlements and unlock a vast amount of possibilities.
  • New Settler Behavior: We've tackled and refactored settler paths and job distribution issues from the ground up. Embrace the new and improved system, now more comprehensible and balanced, supporting thriving settlements with thousands of inhabitants.
  • Vehicles: Your wish for vehicles back in Endzone - A World Apart has been heard! Now, you can freely choose your starting location by moving your settlement bus. As the game progresses, you'll have the opportunity to construct additional vehicles, perfect for establishing trade routes or venturing into the treacherous badlands.
  • Expedition System Overhaul: Exciting changes! The updated expeditions system introduces detailed ruins waiting to be explored by directly controlling and guiding your explorers. They consist of less text and more action! Uncover clues, unlock secrets, and discover valuable loot on your journeys.
  • New Graphics: Our rendering system has undergone a complete overhaul, bringing you a more detailed and visually stunning environment. The animations have received a makeover too, resulting in breathtaking graphics that will immerse you like never before.

[h2]Endzone 2 Demo Hard Facts[/h2]
  • Genre: Colony Sim, Survival City-Builder, Strategy
  • Achievements: YES! Complete the Demo and get the “DEMOlished” Achievement to unlock an exclusive in-game item available at the game's Early Access release.
  • Languages: English, German, French, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Korean
  • Game Modes: Tutorial or Endless Game (but we HIGHLY recommend playing the Tutorial!)
  • Expected Playtime: Tutorial 2 - 3 hours and endless mode is endless my friends!
  • Save/Load Functionality: Yes
  • Controller Support: No
  • Transfer demo save game to Early Access: No


[h2]What to expect in the demo[/h2]
You start your journey with the Endzone bus, explore abandoned ruins through interactive expeditions to find the right spot to establish your first settlement. The map is divided into three sectors by rivers, each with unique resources. In the demo, you can freely explore the first sector, build settlements, and face disasters like droughts, toxic rain and sandstorms. Also, establishing transportation routes between your settlements adds strategic depth.

On a side note: the difficulty setting during the Tutorial is a bit toned-down to make it a bit more comfortable and less stressful (but just a bit though).

[h2]Known Issues & Fluff[/h2]
Even though we updated the demo the last days, some of you might notice that the settlements miss some fluff feel less busy/bustling. We are still heavily working on the visuals and atmosphere regarding our settlers, to make their daily lives look more plausible & interesting. Please be aware that a lot of these systems did not fully make it into the demo version. We might potentially update it as soon as possible but please be aware that especially animations and settler visuals are not final.

[h2]We Want You![/h2]
Just as with Endzone - A World Apart, we want to develop Endzone 2 together with you - its community. Publishing this demo is meant as our first step and preview into the upcoming Early Access version of the game. We have created an easy way for you to leave or post feedback directly from within the game. Additionally you can also reach us on Discord, Steam or with our dedicated feedback form!

Feedback Form: https://form.asana.com/?k=KyMLfw3gfCkIEyVPz3m3KA&d=1192678870065366
Bugs Form: https://form.asana.com/?k=uPWxYt_u8JsfagkF1rUUfw&d=1192678870065366

We want to hear your thoughts! Please report any bug or feedback via in-game reporting Tool. Press F2 and describe how the bug occurred or pick the Feedback tag and tell us how we can improve Endzone 2. Please don't write support inquiries via email, use our in-game reporting tool.

[h2]Streaming Info[/h2]
Feel free to livestream the Endzone 2 demo on your channels or create content for YouTube. We love checking your content, and hearing your thoughts - keep it coming.

But, before you do, here's a quick advice: Please turn off “sharpen” in the options menu. We noticed some viewers experienced a low bit rate. A workaround is to turn off sharpening. You find it in Options>Graphics>Render Quality.

[h2]What's to come?[/h2]
There are still several things we're already working on and some others we'd definitely want to tackle before Early Access release (e.g. settler behavior, fluff). Deeply tied to this is the proper visualization of settlers to convey a more realistic feeling of what is happening in your settlements. We'd like you to be able to watch the settlers at work and that they behave and move sensibly in the settlement. This is still an important point for us until the EA launch.



At the same time, also because you can now establish several settlements at the same time, it was important for us to decouple the production of goods from the direct actions of the settlers. On the one hand, to balance out the management complexity of several settlements and, on the other, to avoid having incomprehensible production cycles, as the rather random-looking settler paths were difficult to follow.

We don't want to spoil too much, there's gonna be a Roadmap closer to Early Access release, but some additional info can be dropped here. Amongst others, all known issues that will be reported until then will get tackled, of course.

Here's a quick sneak peek at our list:

  • All sectors are available and can be played; which means much bigger maps
  • More buildings with their corresponding upgrades
  • Additional Technologies for the Tech Tree
  • More Fluff to improve the settlement's activity
  • Updated visualizations for settlers
  • New resources that have been hidden in the demo
  • More options to be able to alter play sessions to your likings
  • Difficulty options
  • More vehicles to drive
  • New expedition types
  • More post-apocalyptic ruins to explore

These are just a few things worth mentioning.

[h2]Help us grow a cosmetic tree for you[/h2]
As you might know, developing a video game is all in one; lots of fun, stressful, time consuming but fulfilling and a dream coming true once your game gets released.

Let's keep on point: during development some things get approved while others get scrapped - even though they'd be cool to have. Cosmetic items are usually a good contender for scrapped items. We've found one of those items In our drawer, and thought we could help it grow together with you.



As you might know, the demo has its own achievements. One of them is called Demolished!, and unlike it's name, achieving it causes the cosmetic tree item to grow. The more players achieve it until the end of Steam Next Fest, the more beautiful it'll be once Endzone 2 gets released into Early Access.

Let's go and Demolish! the demo to make this tree grow. You can check this Twitter post for regular updates.



Now, we don't want to make this tl;dr - time to get into Endzone 2. If you liked playing the demo and haven't already wishlisted the game, please do so. It's very much appreciated!

Thank you from the teams @ Gentlymad Studios & Assemble Entertainment

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2817790/Endzone_2_Demo?snr=1_7_15__13



https://store.steampowered.com/app/2144640/Endzone_2/

[h3]As Discord is our main platform for feedback and discussion within the community, we highly recommend joining us and sharing your feedback there.[/h3]



In Case You Missed It

Fellow survivors,

We wanted to say a quick thank you for all the feedback we've already received through all those fantastic livestreams, videos, and on Discord - and there's more to come. We can't wait to push the demo live tomorrow @ 11am CET / 2am PDT. Mark your calendars!

As for today, we have a special treat for our German speaking community: As for today, we have a special treat for our German-speaking community: the beloved and veteran Twitch streamer Gronkh will explore the Endzone 2 demo for the very first time. Make sure to tune in: https://www.twitch.tv/gronkh





Here's a quick & dirty highlights list - just in case you missed some of the big beats these last days:

[h3]English[/h3]

Raptor: https://youtu.be/Psc322k0wRs?si=o5oJXCobmYYShUZQ
Splattercatgaming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQWFoRww-sg
Wanderbots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6w3n4fjmUs
Nivarias: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjzxa_34J0E
Charlie Pryor: https://youtu.be/5vumAwqryk0?si=6_fd5bf0O6bSc-_I

[h3]German[/h3]

MauriceWeber: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2162629554
Hirnsturz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZJbT4RcSeM
RangerArea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2VeXJag46s
Edopeh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_0KmjPMWSc

[h3]French[/h3]

Dan Field: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCvhbCNxQ38
Koinsky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSSXnXEUht8

[h3]Russian[/h3]

Play At Home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH3ISkp-lbc

[h3]Portuguese[/h3]

MRSAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08x6BgcvcNg




https://store.steampowered.com/app/2144640/Endzone_2/

[h3]As Discord is our main platform for feedback and discussion within the community, we highly recommend joining us and sharing your feedback there.[/h3]



Keep an eye out for the demo previews

Fellow Survivors!

The very-first public demo for Endzone 2 is just around the corner. To help you pass the time until June 7, you should definitely check out Twitch for some exclusive livestreams as well as YouTube for those premiere gameplay videos these coming days.

We'll drop some additional info about the demo and what to expect on June 7. Until then, go and check out those fantastic creators and checkout the Endzone 2 demo.

Stay safe, everyone! Now go and check them out.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/2144640/Endzone_2/

Developer Blog Post - Production Chains



- I can totally understand that you don't want to traverse the entire settlement to gather the resources you need for your work, but constructing your toolmaker right beside our residential area? It's all loud and dirty here now. I don't like living like this.. -



We briefly discussed how production chains work in a past Devlog. Let's dive deeper in this topic now. In Endzone 2, we focus on giving each resource a significant role in the game. Early game resources remain important as you progressively unlock and need new ones. The reason lies in how they are interconnected throughout the game. While wood is primarily crucial for constructing buildings early on, it becomes less important in that regard once a settlement has a stable base. This is why wood is a component in nearly every production chain, ensuring that collecting it still feels essential.



Let’s break this down further with an example:

The Woodcutter only needs a nearby environmental resource, which naturally is a lush forest. As long as trees are present, a Woodcutter can produce wood, which can then be used to construct new buildings.



For a very basic early game building, this level of complexity is more than enough. But let's move a bit further down the progression. Soon, we will need a Coalmaker, as coal is a frequently used resource in many production chains, like protective clothing, iron smelting and many more. The Coalmaker requires wood to function. So, besides its construction costs, wood becomes a resource that is continuously consumed to produce coal.



Let's take a look at their UI in the game to explain this further:



Comparing the UIs of these buildings, which are placed next to each other, reveals a few things:
  • The Woodcutter produces about four times as much wood as the Coalmaker produces coal in the same amount of time, even if the full workforce is employed.
  • The Coalmaker is connected to a road network, which boosts its efficiency; we'll get to that in a moment.
  • The required resource is now wood, which has a small green "+" icon that I will explain shortly.

This demonstrates that wood is a highly essential resource, even for basic production chains. Naturally, we will need a lot of wood, but we don't want to continuously spam the Woodcutter building. We can increase the efficiency of each building by fulfilling a few criteria. The graphic below shows factors that impact efficiency.



As you can see, there are numerous ways to increase the efficiency of a single building. Most of these methods check the building's radius to see if certain criteria are met within this area. To boost the Coalmaker's efficiency, we should place it next to the Woodcutter. Both buildings should also be near storage facilities, such as the Town Center or a Material Depot, and have nearby housing of the economic type. The final step is to connect the buildings and the Town Center with a road network. This setup can boost the Coalmaker's efficiency up to 150%. Of course, the Woodcutter would only add up to 130% as there is no base resource from another building it could profit from.





Now that we have covered the basic functionality, let's look at a more complex example:



To produce copper, a vast number of different steps need to be fulfilled. As you can see, wood is part of four different substeps in the chain, highlighting its importance even in a late-game scenario where maintaining a constant supply is crucial.

The screenshot below shows how such a production chain could be placed if enough space is available. Note however, that this particular zone did not even have proper resource slots for iron or even copper, so 2 mines are still missing here to even make it function. This particular case would require to construct mines on a different zone that has copper and iron available and transfer them via Trading Routes.





To summarize the key points:
  • Buildings can exceed 100% efficiency if certain criteria are met.
  • These criteria usually involve placing buildings of the same production chain close to each other.
  • Road networks and storage buildings, as well as housing of the same settlement branch, also increase efficiency.
  • Early game resources remain important for the production of late-game resources.
  • Space is limited. Adjust the placement of your buildings based on which resource is needed the most.


Additionally:
  • Houses from different settlement branches do not like being near production buildings that pollute the air, such as a Coalmaker or a Copper Smelter.
  • Space is not only limited, but different ground types might restrict your building plans further. Remember that fertile soil and swamp areas are required for some buildings to be placed.




[h2]Don't forget:

A free Demo for Endzone 2 will be available starting June 7![/h2]



[h3]You call yourself a true city-builder enthusiast? Tell us what this production chain is for in the comments![/h3]





https://store.steampowered.com/app/2144640/Endzone_2/

[h3]As Discord is our main platform for feedback and discussion within the community, we highly recommend joining us and sharing your feedback there.[/h3]



Demo is coming soon!

Survivors!

Today, we're happy to announce that the official demo for Endzone 2 is about to happen soon! Be prepared to experience the highly anticipated sequel to Endzone - A World Apart with the very first publicly available demo on June 7.

The demo includes the sandbox mode as well as a comprehensive tutorial. Oh, before we forget, you can also unlock an exclusive in-game achievement in the demo to upgrade a cosmetic item available at the game's Early Access release. We'll keep you posted about this, for sure!

Here's a little treat for you:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Stay tuned for more infos closer to the demo's release and event start.