AETHUS News

Hello again, Pioneers!

Welcome to the April Development Diary for AETHUS!

I know, I missed the dev diary for March, again, my bad!
Things have been incredibly busy preparing for the next Playtest, which is scheduled for early May - there will be a full 2/3 of the game playable from start to finish, so if you're keen to take a sneak-peek, head over to the Discord where sign-ups will be happening in the very near future!

I also have a big announcement coming up that should mean a lot more getting shared with you over the coming months, but we're not quite ready to talk about it yet... It won't be too long, though!



[h2]Intro Animatic[/h2]
If you've played the demo of the game, you've probably noticed the click-to-progress text-scrawl at the start before you get into the game - it's always just been a placeholder to set some context for the characters and story, but it's always bugged me because it looks a bit rubbish! Well...

Presenting the Intro Animatic!


This is just one (unanimated!) shot from the brand new fully-voiced-over and very fancy Animatic which will feature as the new intro to the game, giving you a good dose of world context as well as story, character and narrative setup as you start the game!

The new Intro Animatic will feature in the upcoming playtest as well as appearing as a standalone cinematic trailer in the coming months, so once again, get involved if you'd like a sneak-peek!

[h2]Prospecting[/h2]
Prospecting is a system you'll unlock partway through the game, which allows you to collect and then Prospect valuable geodes that you can find when out mining in the world!


Via a minigame, you'll use the Prospecting Bench's laser to chip away at the geodes you load into it, to uncover whatever's hidden inside - this could be high quality ore, gems, or even special collectible items...


Unlock Upgrades and find items through exploration that can improve your Prospecting abilities as you advance through the game, to make sure that you always end up with the maximum yield from your finds!


[h2]Graphics Settings[/h2]
Providing a diverse set of game settings for you all is important to me, so that you can tailor the experience of the game to your preference - that goes for gameplay settings as demonstrated in previous dev diaries, but also for graphics settings!


I've recently added support for a bunch of new settings related to Image Scaling/Anti-Aliasing, including the following technologies:

• FXAA/TAA/MSAA/TSR
  
• NVIDIA DLSS/DLAA
  
• NVIDIA Image Scaling
  

In addition, you can increase and decrease the resolution scaling of the game manually when using one of the Built-In AA technologies or NVIDIA Image Scaling on 'Custom' Mode.

Finally, I have also added support for DLSS Frame Generation, including 4x FrameGen for those with the supported newer cards.

Are there any other graphics settings or technologies you'd like to see implemented? Leave a comment below! 👇

[h2]May Playtest[/h2]
As mentioned at the start of the dev diary, the next playtest for AETHUS will begin in early May.
Signups will go live on the Discord next week, so if you're keen to see the post-demo areas of the game, join us over there for a chance at advanced playtesting!

The last playtest was a huge success and made for excellent feedback and changes to the game, and I'm very confident that this will be the same - another step closer to release!

That's it for this development diary!

Until next time,
Alex (and Apollo)

Hello again, Pioneers!

Welcome to the February Development Diary for AETHUS!

You may have noticed there wasn't a January Development Diary - apologies for that, but there just wasn't that much of interest to show at the start of the year while lots happens in the background and just general work on the game continues!

We're back now though, and have a couple of things to share!



[h2]New Key Art[/h2]

You may have already noticed from the cover image of this post, but AETHUS now has new key art!

As we ramp up towards launch this year, I wanted new key art and Steam capsules (which are also already live, check them out!) which better represent the themes of the game and try to make it clear what type of game this is - a survival-crafter, all about exploration, mystery and discovery!

I hope you love the new art as much as I do, I'd love to hear your thoughts, either on Discord or in the comments!

[h2]The Magma Rifts[/h2]

Here's the final biome of the game, at the border of the very mantle of Aethus itself... the Magma Rifts.

What's that weird floating crystal? What kind of resources await you here? What kind of mysteries lie in wait?... All will be revealed!

[h2]Loading Times[/h2]
A small but important one - you'll be coming and going from the caverns and underground of Aethus very frequently, and it's important that your time isn't wasted while doing so.

To that end, I've recently been optimising the level loading/unloading and related functionality to make sure that this process is as quick as possible, getting you out of black-screen-fades more swiftly and back to doing what you do best - gathering resources and building your Outpost!

So far, after a first optimisation pass, I've managed to improve loading times by 25-30% over previous (e.g. in the Demo).

There's always more work to be done, but from playtesting I've already noticed a big difference!

That's it for this development diary!

Next month may well have some very exciting news to share, that's been a long time in the making...

Until next time,
Alex (and Apollo)

Hello again, Pioneers!

Welcome to the December Development Diary for AETHUS!

Happy holiday season to you, but particularly I want to wish you a Merry Christmas, from my Outpost to yours!



This month has been a busy one, with a lot of exciting things going on behind the scenes that I can't talk about or show yet, but I wanted to give you a couple of updates on some small things to tide you over this festive season!



[h2]The Lost World[/h2]

This is a real advance sneak-peek as I'm still working on fully defining the final(?) visual style for this biome, but here's a shot from one sub-zone within the second biome of the game - the Lost World. Maybe this one should have been in the October dev diary... Spooky! 👻

[h2]Quality of Life Continues[/h2]

Whenever I get the chance, I love to add new quality of life (QOL) features to the game to make it as rewarding and friction-free as possible to play.

This was just one example of a recent one, a great suggestion from one of the playtesting crew - resources that are used in refining for a selected facility (or required for a specific interaction, like repairing a door) are now highlighted in your inventory!

[h2]Rich Presence[/h2]

Just a cool little thing I added this month - Steam Rich Presence support, so now when you play the game your friends will be able to keep track of your progress through the world!

That's it for this development diary!

I just want to thank everyone - playtesters, wishlisters, followers and supporters, big and small, for all your amazing help and support during 2024. It's been incredible to see the game grow and improve every day, and I can't wait to get it into your hands in 2025.

Have a restful and joyful holiday season, stay safe! See you next year.

Until next time,
Alex (and Apollo)

Hello again, Pioneers!

Welcome to the November Development Diary for AETHUS!

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate. This month, I have an update on the ongoing Closed Playtest and some exciting development updates!



The November Closed Playtest is due to finish on Monday, and the response has been superb - feedback is overwhelmingly positive for this large chunk of the game, with many excellent suggestions for improvements and quality of life features submitted by playtesters, who've been enjoying the game a lot this month.

I want to thank everyone who's been helping with the playtest and providing feedback, with a special shout-out to Yugubugu, star playtester who's been practically running QA for the game this last month, putting over 70 hours into the playtest so far!

There will be future opportunities for playtesting, so keep an eye here, on the socials, or ideally the Discord to be the first to know!



[h2]Themes and Customization[/h2]

While exploring the underground world of Aethus, you will eventually discover and collect Themes that you can use to customize the constructions within, and the habitats of, your Outpost.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Themed after the Big Five megacorporations of the AETHUS lore, you can quickly and easily select items for theming, and even select a Habitat to instantly theme everything within it!

Mix and match themes to find your perfect combination, as almost everything you construct can be themed individually!

What kind of themes would you like to see in the game? Leave a comment below!

[h2]Automation[/h2]
AETHUS isn't a factory or automation game, but I definitely want you to feel the satisfaction of 'graduating' from needing to mine and gather certain basic resources early on, to automating these processes so you can focus on the deeper, cooler resources!


To that end, one way you'll automate your resource gathering is by reactivating old automated mining drills that you find within the underground!

• Different drills harvest different resources, in different areas.
  
• Find or craft drill bits to fix a drill and get it working again!
  
• Find or craft a Cargo Drone to enable automatic delivery of resources from the drill to special facilities within your Outpost!
  

That's it for this development diary - as always, thanks for your support. See you next month for the final dev diary of 2024!

Until next time,
Alex (and Apollo)

Hello, Pioneers!

Happy Samhain (Halloween) and welcome to the October Development Diary for AETHUS.

As the nights draw in and the weather gets colder here in Scotland, progress continues apace as we approach an exciting milestone - a new closed playtest of the post-demo area of the game!

If you're interested in participating and have some time to devote to doing so (and providing feedback!), please do sign up - instructions on how to do so are just past the main development updates for the month.

Finally, a big topic for discussion - the future release plans for the game next year! I'm really interested in hearing your thoughts about the options. Check it out at the end of the Diary!



[h2]User Interface Pass[/h2]
A large pass on the UI for the game has just been completed which has reworked or updated most of the user interfaces across the game, including some post-demo features which previously had placeholders.

Various post-demo features will be revealed in future development diaries, starting with the Planetary Market this month (see below) but for now, check out these before/after shots of two of the game UIs that have received attention this month!

The Build UI has been reworked for clarity, readability and centralisation of important info!

The Upgrades UI hasn't been shown before, but here's how it looked before vs now!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on these changes!

[h2]Planetary Exchange Network - the Market[/h2]
The ARC Planetary Exchange Network, or the 'Market', is one of the game features you'll quickly gain access to in the game.


The Market allows you to sell the resources you gather for ARC Credits, which you can use to purchase construction blueprints, crafting plans, and Upgrades for both your Mining Suit and Roland!

As you make purchases from the corporation, you'll level up in the ARC Resource Acquisition Partnership Program (RAPP) - as you do so, you'll unlock rewards like new blueprints and plans to purchase, gifts, and more!


If you're short on credits, don't worry - exploring the world will provide you with many of the blueprints and plans you can purchase on the Market! Oh, and you'll never be out of pocket - if you discover a plan or blueprint you've already purchased, you'll be reimbursed the credits!

This is just one of the small quality-of-life features I'm prioritising in the game.
You should never be penalised for exploring!



I'm happy to say that development is proceeding well and I'm about ready to accept a new wave of playtesters for the next closed playtest of AETHUS!

This playtest will include the full extent of the post-demo area of the first biome in the game, the Outer Caverns, and span between 4-6 hours of gameplay in total.
You can sign up for playtesting here.

The form requires an email signup, but I promise it won't be used for anything except contacting you for this one specific playtest, and if you decide to join the Discord then please feel free to leave this empty as long as you provide your username so I can contact you!


In the spirit of transparency and open development (a big change from my AAA days!) I wanted to get your opinions on how AETHUS should be released.

Before I say anything else - my goal will always be to release the most high-quality and bug-free experience possible, regardless of what release plan I go for.

With that said, I had originally planned to go straight to a full, 1.0 release. For a couple of reasons, I'm now also considering the option of an Early Access release.
This is by no means decided, and I'm really keen to hear your thoughts and opinions.

[h3]Why Early Access?[/h3]
Primarily, an EA release would allow me to bring in some income (I am self-funded, no publisher, and Apollo needs to eat!) and allow you access to the game earlier at a lower price point. With money coming in, this would actually increase the budget of the game and allow me headroom to spend funds on making the game even better - higher fidelity, more content, etc.

[h3]What would it look like?[/h3]
The plan would be to release into Early Access with 2/3 of the biomes in the game, which effectively also means 2/3 of the total game content.

The target for launching into early access would be Q2 2025.
The EA period would likely only last for ~6mo and, aside from small patches and hotfixes, would likely only contain one large content update - the final biome of the game, new systems, constructions, items, etc. and the conclusion of the story.

Whether an EA or 1.0 release plan is what I go with in the end, quality is top priority, and EA would not be an excuse or justification for releasing a more buggy or lower quality game! Nor would there be any difference in the end product, the length of the game at 1.0 will be the same regardless of EA or not.

[h3]Let me hear your thoughts![/h3]
Would you rather have the chance to play the game and support me earlier, at a lower price point, or would you rather wait a bit longer and get everything all at once? Naturally, if going the EA route, I would also be continuing to build the game with your feedback at heart, but the vision is strong, the story and world are planned out, and the high-level plans aren't likely to change.

So, all that said, I want to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment, or join the discussion on Discord and let's chat about it. It'd be great to see you there.

That's it for this development diary - as always, thanks for your support.

Until next time,
Alex (and Apollo)