[p]After quitting my job at a major studio and spending
three years developing this indie project — including
two major updates in the past six months — our game is finally launching its
Early Access (EA) version on
Steam on November 20! 🎉[/p][p]You can now
download the demo and
add the game to your wishlist on Steam. We’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions — thank you all so much for your support![/p][p]
XenoHaven Steam Store Page:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]In today’s
dev log, I want to share more about our team’s
indie game development journey.
You can
click the link to watch the latest dev log video, or
keep reading for the written version below.[/p][p][/p][p]Back when the game’s
core framework was still taking shape, our team was full of
wild ideas — but it was hard to merge all those concepts into one cohesive vision. As the project matured, we realized we needed a
unifying world concept to tie everything together.[/p][p]That’s when we came up with a theme that could justify anything —
the alien world.[/p][p]From there, the story naturally took shape: a
human survivor crash-lands on a
chaotic alien planet, where
invasive extraterrestrial species, unable to return home for unknown reasons, must
coexist and take root alongside humankind.[/p][p]These alien beings became what we now call
Demonlings — creatures that players can
form contracts with, train, and evolve throughout their journey.[/p][p]
![]()
[/p][p]To bring this vision to life, we
fully dedicated ourselves to developing the
Demonling system.[/p][p]In the game’s
main storyline, we finally explain the
origins of the Demonlings, while also designing a
comprehensive growth system that integrates
genetic engineering,
colony management, and more.[/p][p]I’ve also gone into detail about this system’s design and evolution in our
previous dev log video.[/p][p]
![]()
[/p][p]As the
Demonling system became more refined, a tricky problem emerged — once the Demonlings were fully developed, their stats grew so powerful that
the main character’s combat role became almost irrelevant. It felt like the Demonlings could handle everything, leaving the player with little sense of presence or impact.[/p][p]To solve this, we needed to introduce a gameplay system that would make
player combat feel exciting and rewarding again, while also
reducing late-game stat inflation.[/p][p]And that’s how the
Dungeon update was born.[/p][p]
![]()
[/p][p]During the development of these two major versions, the
most challenging problems weren’t actually about new systems or mechanics, but about
refining the behavior and animations of the Demonlings and NPCs.[/p][p]For example, in the early stages, when a Demonling picked up or ate something, all it did was show a progress bar above its head. Now, they finally have
unique animations for these actions. The main reason it took so long is that our
animation system wasn’t fully built out, which is exactly what we’re focusing on improving right now.[/p][p]Another challenge is that
Demonlings can perform many different tasks, which makes their
AI behavior tree quite complex. As a result, they can sometimes get stuck, repeat actions, or fail to complete tasks as expected. While this issue can’t be fixed overnight, we’ll
continue to refine and optimize their AI over time.[/p][p]
![]()
[/p][p]Recently, besides fixing bugs and optimizing the Demonlings to prepare for the upcoming EA launch, we’ve also started working on
post-launch content—a major update tentatively titled
“World Variables.”[/p][p]This update is still in the early development phase, but here’s what you can look forward to: certain villages will now
trigger unique world events, and there will be
new dungeon bosses for players to challenge.[/p][p]At the same time, this version will also feature a
revamped weapon system, introducing a new
weapon modification mechanic that ties into dungeon loot drops—allowing players to craft and customize even more powerful gear.[/p][p]
![]()
[/p][p]That’s all for this week’s dev log! 🌍[/p][p]Our game
“Alien Homeland” will officially launch its
Early Access version on November 20th!We’d really appreciate it if you could
add the game to your Steam wishlist and support us — it means a lot to our small team.[/p][p]Thank you all so much, and we’ll see you in the
next dev log! 👋[/p][p][/p][h3]
Join in our community to get the latest information![/h3][p]💬
Discord: https://discord.gg/p8jHhK7QH2[/p][p][/p]