Hello folks!
We continue to tell you more about the world of the game and now we’d like to pay more attention to the planet K’Tharsis. In the previous post dedicated to the setting we deepened a bit into the history of the planet, and this time we want to share how exactly it was discovered and why it has such a motley population.
K’Tharsis would remain a wild planet forever but for captain Brennigan who had to make an emergency landing on an unfriendly looking planet. A precious mineral called antigravium brought fabulous riches to the captain, but he hardly managed to use them. Very soon the poor guy was found tortured to death in his new villa. And the news about antigravium Klondike spread across the galaxy with the speed of light.
K’Tharsis became the most desired aim of adventurers of all kinds including criminals and outcasts. Right after them the planet was invaded by corporations, and the biggest of them was called Terraform. To get antigravium these people never hesitated to resort to violence, having no mercy both for people and for kvargo — native population of the planet.
Kvargo was a great race that once degraded after the cataclysm. They were quite controversial about people who came to their planet. Some part of them believed that if they possessed human technologies, they could restore the greatness of the past. Others suspected that people from the stars would bring only suffering, so they had to go back home.
Nobody knows how far this confrontation could go. But suddenly the war in the galaxy makes most of the corporations go home — the planet becomes cut off from civilized worlds. Besides, the antigravium has almost come to an end, so most corporations leave the planet without any remorse.
That’s why one of the biggest dangers is the inhabitants of K’Tharsis who used to live according to the laws of the frontier. And that’s why you have to keep your eyes open. But you can find an approach to any of the factions if you are attentive enough.
At the moment in the game you can see only a small part of K’Tharsis history — it’s not very easy to show such a considerable lore through the exploration of the world. But we work on it step by step adding more and more elements revealing the history of K’Tharsis. And what would you like to know about K’Tharsis? Write in comments and make sure to drop by our Discord to discuss the game and just chat!
See you on K’Tharsis, friends!
Hello friends!
While the final touches are being made in update 0.73, we would like to introduce you to two new enemies! Previously, we filled the desert and the Edge with the few mobs that were completed. Due to this, the uniqueness of the species might not have been as apparent. However, now that we have more models, we can distribute them according to habitat zones, making the fauna of K’Tarsis look much more logical. Here’s what we can tell you about the behaviors and characteristics of the two new animals.
You can encounter this mob both in the desert and in the savanna, and it will take some effort to deal with them!
The dog is a pack animal, very agile, fast, and maneuverable. Due to the peculiarities of its body structure — especially its long jointed legs — animating it was a real challenge. And now the dog can run, chase prey in accelerated mode, jump on its victim, sniff around, and much more. By the way, the short front paws, with which the animals operate quite well, deserve special attention.
By the way, the dog impresses not only with its quite eerie abrupt movements but also sounds very menacing!
Due to the speed of the dogs, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to keep them at a distance for long, so for now, dodging in a jump will be very helpful in fighting them. However, as the combat system is further developed, new, more interesting possibilities will appear.
Remember the chubby lizards clumsily rolling from side to side? Now they will be replaced by a completely new mob — fast, agile, and ominous.
Crucases will still inhabit predominantly dark, damp places — there’s plenty of them in dungeons, for example. But they have adapted to the desert just fine, though they tend to stay in the shadow of rocks. These animals are very mobile — they jump a considerable distance and strike with their long front clawed paws. They can also loop, skillfully dodging bullets. The bite of a crucas is poisonous, so it’s better to avoid it if possible — or at least stock up on something that can restore health.
The sounds that the crucas makes are particularly impressive in the dark. However, even in the light of day, this mob will make you flinch from surprise! By the way, in the future, we plan to add a long-range attack to the crucas, an acid spit that will need to be dodged. It will also be wise to stay alert when exploring tombs or caves — these animals thrive there in abundance!
That’s all bout new mobs! We hope they will impress you when you meet them on the wastness of K’Tharsis, Share your impressions in comments and make sure to drop by our Discord!
Hey friends!
Today we would like to explore another complex topic that significantly enriches the world of Exoplanet — NPC daily routines.
We were inspired to give characters daily activities by Gothic, one of the first games to create a world where many characters have minor daily tasks. These tasks correspond to the roles of NPCs on The Edge — guards secure their locations, patrols monitor the territory, and traders scavenge for scraps. At first glance, it may seem simple, but in reality, there are many nuances in designing daily activities that we will discuss further.
Before realizing the need to develop a separate subsystem to handle NPC daily routines, we used quest logic. However, this approach led to many problems — we had to manually consider whether a character is alive or not, whether they are in combat, or if they have moved to another location to participate in a more important quest.
To avoid numerous errors and unnecessary actions, it was decided to develop daily routines within the framework of our artificial intelligence system — the NPC behavior tree. It is a part of the AI responsible for decision-making. Its logic runs several times per second, constantly determining which branch of actions to execute for the NPCs. Based on the results of the evaluation, requests are generated for them, which are handled by another part of the AI.
To avoid numerous errors and unnecessary actions, we decided to develop daily routines within our game engine’s editor called “Sahara Engine.” This way, it could have access to all game data, simplifying the control of NPC daily routines. Now, we can quickly, easily, and conveniently set time intervals for specific actions, define their priorities, and determine the rules for execution. Thus, the game checks the in-game time first and then the character starts performing the assigned action accordingly. For example, in the morning, abori can scavenge for scrap, talk during the day, and sleep at night.
By having a unified system, checking the state of characters became much easier, and the number of overlooked situations and bugs in the game significantly decreased. It also became much easier to handle situations where NPC activities were interrupted for various reasons – thanks to the new system, the character simply resumes their task from the beginning. Moreover, the performed task is not a repetitive chain of actions – there are specific branches for each time of day. Therefore, even if the routine is interrupted, the immersion in the game remains intact as the character’s behavior always corresponds to the time of day.
Regular tasks are automatically assigned the lowest priority. The system first checks various aspects, such as whether the character is alive, engaged in a quest, or involved in a conversation with Jack, and only then sends them to perform the task.
By the way, assigning daily tasks also has its own rules and system. Each character is planned to have 2-4 different actions based on their occupation and habits, corresponding to their profession. Some characters have hobbies — for example, growing plants. The behavior of other characters may hint at their dark past. For instance, the Hermit trembles in sleep, haunted by nightmares of the past.
Behavior of significant characters:
We wanted to create several distinct characters with complex, diverse, and interesting tasks. Their selection was based on their backstory, characteristics, and the timing of their encounter with Jack. Here are a few interesting examples:
Rusty Nails is the first NPC Jack encounters, marking the beginning of his interaction with the Abori race. Therefore, we added as many details to this character as possible. Rusty scavenges for valuables in the trash, attempts to break open a safe, claiming its mechanism is too complex to crack, and goes to sleep at night.
Garry is the owner of an abandoned mine and a broken hoverbike. He roams around Lucky Hole town, converses with the trader Vaga, and occasionally indulges in drinking and causing a ruckus. Sometimes you need to search around the town to find him. By the way, in the daily routine logic, it is taken into account whether Jack completed the quest “Fixing Garry’s Old Hoverbike”. In that case, Garry’s garage will be open, and he will periodically go inside to tinker with the mechanisms.
Mad Miner is one of the most mysterious characters. By his actions you can see, for example, how he threatens old posters of bounty hunters with his fist. A funny fact — to our surprise, the crazy Abori recently started undertaking tasks that nobody assigned to him! He switched from targeting wanted posters to a group of renegade Abori, initially getting himself killed in an attempt to provoke them and then learning to escape. Recently, he started to annoy a nearby grazing cabarog too! We have not yet found the reason for this change, considering it another mystery of K’Tharsis.
Behavior of ordinary NPCs:
Ordinary inhabitants of the world receive simple tasks that correspond to their occupation. However, this guard not only guards the gate but also takes care of watermelons. I wonder what will happen if Jack dares to touch his harvest.
Stranger always performs the same action. After appearing in the game, he can be found sitting near a cliff edge. However, he has a specific goal — why else would he invite Jack to sit with him?
Behavior of animals:
Currently, animals simply wander around their spawn points, but in the future we plan to add more routines to them.
We still have a lot of work ahead of us in assigning routine tasks to characters, and as always, your feedback is crucial. Please share your thoughts on character routines in the comments, and be sure to join our Discord to ask questions, share your impressions, or find out about upcoming updates from the devblog!
Greetings, space cowboys!
Today, we’d like to talk to you about one of the most essential aspects of space western — the combat system. It’s quite an extensive and complex topic, but we’re steadily approaching the final version. Today we’ll tell you how we’ve improved the impact effects for both melee and ranged and share our plans on diversifying fights with a new system of perks.
We want to make character reactions to damage visually impressive and appealing. Therefore, we dedicate a lot of time to achieving believable combat visuals.
In previous updates, we introduced hit animations for different body parts. Now we want to enhance character reactions to damage and associated negative effects. To create the right impression, we have replaced some animations and continue refining the “status effects” system. We are also gradually increasing the importance of stamina, allowing you to have better control over your fights.
Fights in our game are not just about strikes; they involve clever combinations and sometimes even dirty tricks. To help you create a unique fighting style, we have developed a special perks system for your character, Jack. Do you want to increase damage resistance with Iron Skin? Rain a hail of bullets on your opponent? Or knock them out with a cunning kick? The choice is yours!
By the way, if you have anything to say about our perk system, feel free to comment or join our Discord – we really appreciate your feedback!
It’s great when characters have proper reactions during combat, but they’re not enough for a complete picture. That’s why we have made melee hit registration much more accurate and added visually striking effects.
We have transferred blood decals to PBR (Physically Based Rendering) — now, when characters are hit, drops of blood proportionate to the inflicted damage will fall to the ground. Blood will also appear on the ground during bleeding effects.
Melee combat animations have undergone significant improvements. The backswing is accelerated, followed by a deceleration for telegraphing the upcoming blow, the blow itself is accelerated, giving you time to react, dodge, or parry. Dynamic changes in animation speed will make strikes look more powerful, enhancing the impact sensation, while improved minor details will add authenticity.
As for the sounds, they correspond to the materials involved in each impact. A metal pipe to wood, a wooden stick to glass, an antigravium shard to stone, and so on – each pair has its own character to make the environment more tangible. At the same time, the sounds of flesh impacts have become crisper and more powerful.
We have also corrected the swing timings for all of our melee weapons – now every related sound is synchronized with the character’s actions.
To add depth to battles, we have implemented a system of levels for all enemies — both animals and humanoids. Their level will determine their damage, speed, stamina, and other parameters. You can only see an enemy’s level after scanning, so don’t forget to do that before engaging in battle!
By the way, humanoid enemies will have the same abilities as the player. They will correspond to one of the four combat skill archetypes: a melee fighter with a focus on agility or strength, a gunner, or a sniper. This will make battles more unpredictable — the enemy’s strength and fighting style will depend on both their level and skill progression.
We have also paid attention to Jack’s shooting animations. His stance now closely resembles that of a cowboy, adding a touch of authenticity. Instead of holding the pistol like a regular police officer, Jack now shoots playfully, extending his arm, while still hitting the mark perfectly!
These are just a few of the combat system changes awaiting you in the next update. They already significantly improve impact and, we hope, add much needed realism. Please let us know how you like them – your feedback will greatly help us understand how successful we’ve been in enhancing the immersion in the game. And be sure to check out our Discord for all the latest development news!
Hello friends!
You have asked us if there would be an option to create your own character. In this article we’d like to explain why we can’t give such an option to the players and why we made such decisions.
Of course, it’s great to be able to create a character based entirely on your own preferences – to define his appearance parameters, like in Skyrim, or even choose a backstory, like in Mass Effect. And many players will feel a strong attachment to such a custom character.However, fully predefined characters also have many advantages – remember Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2 or Geralt from the Withcer. So what can be said about our hero?
When thinking about what our main character would be like, we considered many factors, such as the technical and production complexity of implementing full-scale character customization. And by designing a predetermined character, we wanted to achieve certain creative goals, which we’ll talk about next.
A fully customizable character means always a massive amount of work. Just giving players the ability to change the gender of a character, for example, would require creating a lot more assets and adapting each of them to additional animations!
One more serious challenge could be dialogues and NPCs’ reactions. Another major challenge could have been writing the dialogues and reactions of the NPCs. Having one predefined main character allowed us to focus on authenticity and make the dialogues better, fuller, and more interesting rather then make them suitable for all possible gender and origin variations.
Without a doubt, it would be possible to create a minimum variant of customization and allow players to edit the appearance of the protagonist at least in the minor details. We do not exclude the possibility to at least partially implement such an option, although we are not ready to promise anything in advance. However, creating a predetermined character seemed to us a more attractive option. Let’s see what advantages this solution brought and what customization options we were able to provide to the players.
We gave Jack the appearance of a dashing cowboy and a certain kind of personality. He was given the persona of a caustic and cynical adventurer with a dark past, details of which emerge as the story progresses.
However, you can make Jack look at many things from a different angle. By choosing different lines of behavior in dialogues and quests, he can act as a more altruistic individual or act as a complete egoist. Therefore, despite the predetermined past, ultimately it is up to you to decide what your space cowboy’s moral profile will be during the course of his adventures on the planet K’Tharsis.
In addition to the moral image, you can also create a unique clothing style for the main character by finding different outfit options. With enough experimentation, you are sure to create an image that suits you both in characteristics and in terms of visual aesthetics.
Thanks to the fact that Jack’s appearance and backstory are predetermined, we were able to use this both in the cinematics at the beginning of the game and in the cutscenes. In addition, as mentioned earlier, we were able to make a more vivid and personalized reaction of NPCs – characters can comment on the appearance and actions of Jack, sometimes, in fact, giving him completely unflattering characteristics. Jack’s own reactions, by the way, are also more conveniently prescribed based on his specific personality.
We’re working hard to finish the current game as quickly as possible, but of course we’re making plans for the future. Of course, we would like to keep expanding the world of Exoplanet, making it bigger, richer and more diverse, linking individual stories into a chain leading to global events.
This means that the protagonists of the new stories told in the future may encounter the protagonists of the previous ones!
We would like to give players as much freedom as possible in creating the character they like, so we created the archetype system, which we told you about earlier. In a nutshell, it is a system that allows you to choose the starting skills corresponding to a certain class – warrior, thief or diplomat – which will allow you to influence your approach to gameplay. However, if you are not satisfied with any of them, you can form a set of skills yourself. By the way, on Edge you can find a teacher for raising any skill – so don’t worry about making the wrong choice!
That’s how Jack Sharp came to be – a hero with a particular story and appearance, but the freedom of moral choice and archetype to deal with problems on K’Tarsis. And what characters from RPGs do you remember? How important to you is the ability to customise a character? Share your opinion in the comments, and be sure to drop by our Discord!
Hello friends!
As you know we work hard for our game to become as convincing as possible, that’s why we’ve put a lot of effort into adding one of the most important features — total mortality.
This mechanic is a real challenge for us because if any character can die, there will be so many scenarios that it will be impossible to control them! Besides, in our game there are quite a number of spectacular cutscenes. If a character dies and then appears in one of the videos, the logic of the narrative will be broken. It put even more difficulties into the search of the solution and even made us think of giving up this feature.
And yet we wanted our players to have an opportunity to considerably influence the storyline. That’s why we’ve made a serious research on how mortality looks in other games. For example, if you kill an important character in Divinity 2, there will be a note on his body. It will help you go on with the quest. In Morrowind the game suggests using your latest save to proceed. After analysing all the approaches we developed a flexible hybrid system considering the death of every character — almost all the events in our game are interconnected, and the death of one NPC can influence some quests.
There are three variants of dealing with mortality. The first one relates to the death of a very important character. In this variant we think about the alternative ways of the storyline — for example, if the Herbalist dies, Jack can find his apprentice anyway. With this method we make sure that the players don’t lose big chains of events even if one link was lost. Of course, it’s a hard and expensive variant demanding a lot of work, and we can’t use it everywhere. But it helps to replenish the content and the quests don’t feel empty — that’s why we use it with significant characters.
In case the killed character isn’t that important, the logic just excludes them from the rest of the quests — so if you kill local bullies of the Edge, Pimples and Knuckles, nobody mentions them and you won’t have to intimidate these guys to stop them from harming the locals.
And finally, the third variant — the one we use really carefully to keep the immersiveness — is natural restrictions. You can undoubtedly attack any character — for example, a strong or a powerful one. But it’s highly believable that such NPCs will have tough armour or loyal guards. A mercenary or a professional fighter will be mighty and skillful. So you will have to reach quite a high level to challenge them. In that case the restrictions are pretty natural but you can always try!
So we tried to introduce soft restrictions and made sure there is a lot of various and interesting content in the game and the logic of the quests isn’t broken. But we still advise you to decide carefully — every character has their history and even a couple of secrets to share if you come to the agreement!
By the way, we’re still testing different branches of quests, so don’t hesitate to inform us about any mistakes in the comments and in our Discord so that we could correct it for the next build. And don’t forget to drop by our devblog where we share the latest news!
And what do you think about mortality in the games? Share your thoughts in the comments and add your game into the wishlist!
Have a nice adventure on K’Tharsis, space cowboys!
Hello friends!
While we’re working on the next build, we’re excited to share some details about our roleplay approaches in the game and how we’re implementing them.
You may know about the three pillars of a roleplay system: killing, stealing and talking. All of them are performed in our game. Let’s have a look at how you can solve problems and do quests using them!
As a space western Exoplanet has a variety of weapons — and don’t hesitate to give them a try! Force is the most popular way of solving problems on K’Tharsis. And to give them a more cowboy look in future updates we’re planning to add new animations!
K’Tharsis is a cruel planet, so sometimes it may be much easier to intimidate NPCs, and if it doesn’t work — be ready to face consequences! Some quests lead you to places where negotiations are not an option, so the choice is either stealth kill or plain aggression. And of course, from time to time you’ll have to pick sides — so be careful and make sure you understand what expects you when you choose who you want to fight!
Not everyone will do as you please and give you what you want. And if you say that it’s not the reason to grab your gun — you’re right. You can always use the system of stealing instead! So feel free to sneak among your enemies, take what you need, even from their pockets, and vanish into the vastness of K’Tharsian savannahs! By the way, we’ve improved our stealth mechanics — in the next update Jack will be able to hide in high grass!
This way may come surprisingly effective! If you earn the trust of locals, you may discover more secrets of the planet, learn how to get to some stashes or just find out something new about K’Tharsis dramatic history.
Of course, you hardly ever play using only one style, and our system is designed in a way to reward flexible players by providing the richest experience. In the dialogues there are options for showing your knowledge of science or survival, being convincing and eloquent or even being intimidating enough for bloodthirsty Scalphunters. And if you feel that you’ve made the wrong choice picking up skills in the beginning of the game, don’t worry — there are a lot of options to learn what you want. Even A.N.N.A can help you there!
So don’t hesitate to try different styles of roleplay and share what you think — we still have a lot of work to do and your feedback will help us make it much better! To follow the changes, join our Discord channel, leave feedback, subscribe to our page on Steam and—the main thing—add the game to your wishlist!
Hello, friends!
We hope your year started really well — and we’re excited to tell you all about the new update. This year we’re planning to show more progress in the improvement of the game — we’ve analyzed the experience of the previous year and expect to considerably speed up the process of development. And now let’s see what improvements and changes await us in the update 0.72!
Important reminder: with 0.72 all the saves from 0.71 might be broken, that’s why we made an additional branch on Steam for those who still want to play 0.71. Right click on the game in your library, Properties, go to Betas tab and then choose update_071, no password required. This way you can continue your previous game if you want to.
We keep working on the fighting system and have added a knockdown animation into the game. Now Jack as well as NPCs will find themselves lying on the ground if they get some serious damage — for example, from a shotgun or a rifle. The same effect is caused by kabarogs’ attack — now you have one more reason not to let them come near you!
If you touch an anomaly you’ll also be knocked down — and it will be completely unlucky if the enemy is somewhere near.
There was a lot of feedback that Jack’s running animation doesn’t look so well. We’ve made one more step to fixing it so don’t hesitate to tell us how you like a new variant!
We go on refining the quests so they would be not only interesting and diverse, but would tell players more about different aspects of life on planet K’Tharsis. That’s why, for example, we’ve changed the quest “Find Curious” a bit — now there is a new area for exploring. What do you think this place is and what is it telling about?
The bottom of the trench under the mining town has become much more interesting to explore. Now there’s the difference of heights and pieces of land — and, of course, alien bugs who were the fastest to appreciate the new landscape!
The Hermit’s zone has also changed — we’ve renewed the sanctuary of the sky demons, Now it significantly differs from other sacred places of abori, demonstrating the difference between cultures. The sanctuary reminds of the times when a lot of spaceships used to land on K’Tharsis. Nevertheless, this version is not final, so feel free to tell us what you think!
There is a new event in the game! Now you can see the fight of two patrols — Sculphunters and Outcasts — in Lucky Hole! You can join one of the groups or wait until they finish their showdown or just wait until they finish each other!
Already existing quests have also improved. So, for example, Rusty is ready to teach Jack not only to fry meat — there are more recipes and more treats at the end of the quest. The quest about searching his friend has become more complicated and controversial. All the dialogues with Rusty were rewritten and have become more dynamic and easy to read, and the prize for completing the quest is much more valuable and will influence the opportunities in the game.
Jack will have more opportunities to interact with the gang of Dusty Devils. And our character will have to be much more attentive — we’ve remade the place of the ambush a bit and it’s become more dangerous!
The interface of the game keeps changing. We’ve made new stylish context icons which appear when you have to open the door, talk to an NPC or, for example, crawl through the crevice. We’ve also simplified the system of loot, shortening it to one button “take all” — so give us feedback if it’s really more convenient.
The interaction with objects has also significantly simplified. Now when you bring the mouse to the object, the information about all possible interactions appears. This system is not final, so write in the comments how clear the tips are and if you can see them well enough.
We keep working on speeding up the game – and now the processes of loading a new gamу or the previous save have really improved. Thanks to reducing unnecessary processes, the loading will become 30% faster. But make sure to inform us if that’s not so!
That’s all for now. Hope you’ll like our update — and we’ll try to delight you with new improvements. Thanks for your support! Don’t hesitate to leave your feedback in the comments or in our Discord — and see you!
Hello, friends!
Our new update is right here for the Steam Winter Sale! But before telling you about it, we want to thank you for being so active and supportive. Thanks to your prompt feedback we managed to correct a lot of bugs and flaws and also planned future improvements. We hope build 0.71 will make your gaming experience much better.
FOR THOSE WHO STILL PLAYING BUILD 0.70
Important reminder: with 0.71 all the saves from 0.70 might be broken, that’s why we made an additional branch on Steam for those who still want to play 0.70. Right click on the game in your library, Properties, go to Betas tab and then choose update_070, no password required. This way you can continue your previous game if you want to.
First of all, according to your requests, we’ve improved the system of stealth. Earlier Jack could only crouch in this regime, and now he won’t have to hide his weapon — you can attack your enemy from stealth, shooting him in the back or hit him with a melee weapon if you feel confident.
One more important change is interaction with objects. We’ve added the system of suggestive focus which doesn’t require accurate pointing at the interactive object with a cursor, but highlights it when you approach. So collecting loot — especially small — is a much more enjoyable and much easier process now.
Tutorial has also considerably changed — some players complained that A.N.N.A is too intrusive — often takes the control from players and literally leads them by the hand. We made the tutorial shorter and more dynamic, and part of the dialogues is moved to the background now. Besides, now AI is mostly introduced by a golden icon in the top right corner, where you can also see tips on the character control. The icon can change colours depending on the mood — angry A.N.N.A turns red and the contented one becomes green. We’re planning even more changes for the tutorial in the future.
You’ve also informed us that it’s not that convenient to finish the enemies with the R key — and sometimes you can accidentally kill those you didn’t mean to. So we’ve changed it to the key X which used to hide the UI of the game for screenshots. Now you can hide the UI with Ctrl + F10.
We’ve added thirteen new quests in our Major Update and managed to fix or rework each of them thanks to your feedback. Want to catch Eric Craven? Punish a couple of vandals? Deal with Outcasts’ problems? Now nothing should stop you from this, but don’t hesitate to inform us if there’s an issue.
We’ve also fixed some bugs in our location and added some new species of mushrooms — ghostly, bitter and miner’s meat. The bitter and the miner’s meat are edible, and the variants of using the ghostly mushroom will appear in the game later — but if you’re too curious to wait, find everything out in our #devblog in Discord!
We’ve managed to work with graphics and now many assets look way more natural, and the textures of small objects have improved. And we’ve also fixed the display of Jack’s first weapon — the stick. Now it looks more like a club which is credible enough to dare attack mobs with it.
The best is for last — we’ve made a new trailer! Regretfully, we didn’t have much time, so if you have favourite moments from the game that are worth showing — feel free to tell us.
That’s all for now. Make sure to add Exoplanet: First Contact to your wishlist, or better yet, try to play it — now you have a great opportunity to get the game at a discount and play it on holidays! And we wish you a Merry Christmas and promise to go on delighting you with new content!
Hello, friends!
The Major Update 0.70 is already here and we’re waiting impatiently for your reviews. This is the biggest update in the entire history of the game, we have added a lot of absolutely different content, that’s why your feedback will be extremely useful. Don’t hesitate to inform us about bugs, we’ll try to fix them as fast as we can. You can do it in our Discord — we read all the comments attentively and are always willing to talk to players. Join in!
We have already told you a lot about some big changes in separate articles (you can find all the links below), but there are more of them. That’s why we’ll gladly tell you about everything you can see in the new version of the game. Are you ready?
First of all, we’ve finally added a proper cinematic introducing the character and telling about an unfortunate deal which led him to losing his ship and ending up on a far and unwelcome planet. By the way, the cinematic is also our first step to a full voiceover. Every character there has a voice, so make sure to leave your feedback — maybe we should use these actors for the full game.
We have considerably improved the combat system. Added new combos both for the protagonist and his enemies, a possibility to block strikes, did some work on the hit system and melee combat. Don’t forget to watch your stamina!
A lot of new animations were also created — for example, the reaction of NPC changes depending on which part of the body was hit with a bullet. Jack also reacts now. If the character gets considerable damage, he will need time to recover.
One more important innovation is NPCs reacting to the character’s actions. Have you taken something that is not yours? Prepare to face the consequences! It can be a remark, a fine or even aggression — depends on your luck. This is the very first iteration of the system which we are going to improve gradually to make the world as immersive as possible.
Want Jack to be unique? It’s possible now. In the beginning of the game you can choose an archetype or create your own one to make your character perfect for your playstyle.
We’ve also fixed a lot of problems which significantly influenced gaming experience. Thanks to the new technical changes, Jack far less often falls through the textures or gets stuck in crevices, and also can’t pick objects through the walls.
We’ve never put so much content into the game at once — now Jack can finish the story on The Edge. Every quest can be solved in several ways, and don’t forget that every choice has its consequences!
Besides, some quests were redesigned and got new alternative ways of solving them. Also there are real descriptions in the glossary instead of placeholders. We will keep improving them though.
As we started talking about the glossary, another important change is redesigning every screen in the game to create an integral interface which will underline the setting of the game and also be very convenient and informative for the player. In future it will also allow us to add gamepad support. Feel free to share your opinion about it to improve its design and to fix everything that doesn’t work well.
IMPROVED LEVEL DESIGN AND NEW PLACES
The Edge has considerably changed in several months. We have remade Outcasts’ outpost, Scalphunters’ camp, Hermit’s and Eric Craven’s zones, significantly improved the beginning of the game and the abandoned ship, and also put a lot of improvements into other places to make exploring interesting.
The Paths of Ancient appeared in the game — a huge dungeon with quests and secrets that keeps mysteries of ancient abori.
The look of the game has also considerably changed thanks to multiple targeted changes, we have shown the progress of Exoplanet within a year in detail in the recent post.
First of all, we’ve added a lot of new textures, improved rocks and the skyline. A big update happened to water: we’ve transferred it to PBR and added caustics — now the light refracts on its surface creating intricate patterns.
We’ve also managed to create the effect of wet shores and add small puddles to The Edge which helped to make the area more visually interesting. We’ve also added new assets to add details to the world — for example, lianas.
A very important element of the new update is a new enemy — varlynx (earlier known as «alpha»). This is a dangerous beast, but there are only young species on The Edge, so Jack has a chance to win this fight.
The next thing worth mentioning is our work with light and colour correction. We did some work with the surface of the savannah and the desert. On different types of the ground you can see particles reflecting light at different angles. It’s especially well-seen on the sand — nights in the desert have become much more atmospheric.
There are new effects in the game now — vignettes and bloom. They are optional and can be turned off in the menu.
We have also added facial animations as a test to prepare the game for the voiceover. Please, share your impressions to help us improve it.
SOUND
The final thing worth mentioning is the work with the sound. A plenty of effects were added or remade and their positioning was improved.
And of course, new music was added to the game. It is written by Adam Skorupa, who worked on The Witcher series, EVE Online, Call of Juarez, Painkiller and Ash of Gods. We’ve spreaded the tracks over the key zones of The Edge to improve their atmosphere and emphasise every faction’s originality.
Hope you’ll like the update! Make sure to share your feedback in our Discord, ask questions, suggest your ideas — we’ll answer each of you.
Have a nice game, space cowboys!