CryoFall Dev.Blog #18 - Farming

Added on 26 April 2017 by Lurler.

Greetings! Today we'd like to share with you another update on our fruitful work on Cryofall!

This time we'd like to talk about Farming. The poll we've conducted some time ago showed us a clear interest in the activity so it made sense adding it sooner than later. Although it was a bit more difficult than we initially anticipated. But more importantly it's finally done!

Let's see... first of all, we added all the necessary parts: you have soil (or "farming plots"), you have seeds, watering cans, plants themselves, fertilizers and so on.

You'll be able to make your own seeds from the harvest and then increase the yield and growth speed with mineral or organic fertilizers (produced from any extra organics that you have). And we're now discussing the looks of a dedicated crafting station for farming, where you will be able to work not only with plants but with animals as well (this is a feature we will be working on in the future). So, things are definitely going well and we can't wait for you guys to try it all out.

Just as a small taste of all that, here are some of the items that are already in the game:

Of course, we should mention our previous article about character skills. As this system is already up and running, farming has some dedicated skills as well. So, you'll be able to increase your productivity even more, harvest more, and plant even more by becoming a true "salt of the earth".

What we're liking the most about the farming system so far is that it's just as versatile as most of the mechanics in the game: it can save you from starvation, or it can be used for trading to make some good money, especially if you offer your products in a city where people are too busy to make their own food. And of course it can simply be a hobby for anyone tired of exploring new lands and fighting vicious monsters.

So, that was all we wanted to share with you today! Leave your comments and tells us what you think of Farming in CryoFall so far!

PS - we also have a section on the forums where we post additional info about the development that isn't big enough to post as complete blogposts, so make sure to join! :)

CryoFall Dev.Blog #17 - Character Skills

Added on 7 April 2017 by Lurler.

Greetings friends!

Sorry for no updates last week! But today we'd like to finally share some details on our skills system that we've mentioned in our last dev. blog entry.

Anyway, let's take a look at what we have!

On the picture above you can see that there are two main parts to the Skills menu - the one on the left shows all of your currently discovered skills as well as their level progress, and the one on the right shows all the detailed info on a currently selected skill and its possible effects.

"Wait, what's a skill discovery?" - you might ask. That's a very cool feature we've been working on - it will add a lot of fun in the game. See for yourself: just like in real life, skills are learned - it means that you will have to do something related to, say, mining in order to actually acquire the skill. As soon as you get enough experience in doing something, the skill will appear in the Skills menu and you'll be able to track its progress. This will also help new players as they won't be overwhelmed by dozens of skills at once. Instead, they will be discovering new skills as they play. It should give a good incentive to explore and try new things in the game.

And yes, the more you engage in certain activities, the better your character gets at it - in addition to the level bonuses every few levels each skill also gives you a special perk with a unique effect. It might be a yield-increasing perk or a special perk adding a chance to drop something rare, like a gem while mining and so on.

Obviously the list of skills you see above isn't exhaustive, we plan to add at least a dozen more as we add more features into the game. For example, currently we are working on farming mechanics. That feature will get its own skill as well.

What's even cooler about the skill system - it's totally expandable and moddable, same as everything else in the game! The players will be able to easily add their own skills with any custom effects.

We hope that you'll like this system as much as we do!

And as always, make sure to visit our forums or leave your impression in the comments!

CryoFall Dev.Blog #16 - Buildings!

Added on 24 March 2017 by Lurler.

Greetings friends!

Today we'd like to share another small update about the progress with CryoFall development!

After our first Closed Test we've received some feedback regarding the construction menu in the game. Obviously it was never meant to be a permanent solution, but it was something that clearly needed improvement. So, we decided to completely redesign it and implement a few nice things in the process.

You can see the result of this change below:

First of all, you can now find all the buildings easier with our categories tabs in the upper part of the screen. We are still not decided on a particular logic behind this separation, but it can be changed in minutes, so we will gather more feedback during the next test! Oh, and you can also use the search feature to find a particular building if you don't remember where exactly it is located.

Secondly, you can see that we've added tips about each construction - what they are needed for and what resources you will need to build them. This should make it easier to plan your expansion ahead and understand what each new building does.

Well, that's more or less it for the building menu! Very simple and hopefully - convenient!

Finally, I'd like to mention that at the moment we're working on the skills menu and the character skill system in general! If everything goes well we will be able to share more details next week!

I hope you found this interesting! Make sure to join our forums and follow us on Twitter and like our Facebook page!

CryoFall Dev.Blog #15 - Oil Industry

Added on 20 March 2017 by Lurler.

Hey there, friends!

As you might have noticed we didn't post any updates on the CryoFall progress for quite some time now. That's mainly because we were focusing on the release of "Pariahs' Bane" - a brand new expansion for VoidExpanse, with new storyline, quests, items, ships and mechanics! If you haven't checked it out yet, don't forget to do so! ;)

 

But as the expansion is now live we're finally back to our work on CryoFall at full force! And of course, we already have something interesting to show and tell you about!

We've completed another important technological milestone in the game: oil processing.

This production will allow players to get the oh so needed oil, used in various advanced recipes, granting access to further technological advancements like gasoline, plastic, etc.

So, how does the oil production cycle work? Well, first of all you will need to find an oil seep on the map. This particular resource deposit will be quite rare, so players will have to control it to get the oil. Hopefully it might serve as a points of conflict between different groups of players who may want to control this resource or alternatively a trade hub for oil-related products if a powerful group of players establishes a trade center around a large enough oil field.

When the oil seep is found, you will need to construct an oil pump atop it, in order to get some crude oil out of the seep. This process won't be too fast as well, so that controlling the territory around the pump during the process would actually be important.

When the oil is extracted, players will need to deliver it to the oil refinery to finally get some good crafting products out of the resource. Of course one can simply build a refinery close to the pump, but this might not always be possible… or logical.

Another option is to build the whole settlement around the Oil seep, which will of course lead to many consequences, both positive (trade?) and negative (raids?). We certainly can't wait to see how it will turn out :)

Now, that's about sums up this week's topic. But that's just one of the many things we're currently working on. We will share more information on the upcoming second closed test and new additions to the game in the coming weeks.

Follow our blog and forum to be the first to know more! :)

VoidExpanse: Pariahs' Bane is Live!

Added on 7 March 2017 by Lurler.

Great news Void Explorers!

"Pariahs’ Bane" Expansion for VoidExpanse is now live! You can purchase it on Steam or directly in our Store right now for $4.99!

In this expansion you will face a new threat to the sector - a group of renegades know as Pariahs, led by the infamous Shank Twice. Pariahs are in the habit of asking favors no one can't refuse, and you might become one of those unfortunates. Dive into a brand-new storyline involving pirates, sabotage and gang wars. Join the merciless crew of the Pariahs and see where this all leads.

  • Completely new storyline that is about twice as long as any given storyline in the original game. This storyline runs in parallel to the original game, so you are completely free to choose what to do first.
  • New playable faction - Pariahs with their own star system, unique station, characters, quests and everything.
  • More unexpected encounters, references, humor and quirky characters!
  • New ships, new items, new stuff in general. And speaking of ships - we heard you and we added our first capital ship to the game!
  • New music from the same great composer who created tracks for the original game!
  • And more!

 

Please find more information about the Expansion, including a detailed list of changes on our forums!

Want to support our team directly? Purchase the game in our Store right now to receive your copy as well as an additional Steam key!

Are you a member of the press or a youtuber? Feel free to get in touch with us to receive your press copy of the game.

VoidExpanse: Pariahs' Bane

Added on 1 March 2017 by Lurler.

VoidExplorers, the time has come!

Today we’d like to officially announce that an Expansion Pack “Pariahs’ Bane” for VoidExpanse is ready for release and will be coming to our store and Steam on the 7th of March at the price of 4.99$ (with regional prices on Steam adjusted accordingly).

“Pariahs’ bane” expansion introduces a new playable faction, Pariahs, to the world of the VoidExpanse. Pirates, guns for hire and scum of the Void all came to respect and fear Pariahs, as they carved their way to power under the leadership of ruthless Shank Twice. Something is brewing within the faction and you will have the opportunity to find out what’s going on in a stand-alone storyline!

Some of the key features include:

  • Brand new faction storyline exceeding even the original game in length.
  • New playable renegade faction - Pariahs.
  • All new faction ships, ship equipment and items.
  • Quirky new characters to interact with and receive quests from.
  • New soundrack for both exploration and combat.
  • You asked for it - you got it! New capital ship is waiting for you! Unparalleled firepower, unique ship-computer with all new voice and more!

With the release of the expansion the original VoidExpanse game will get a massive update as well! The update is absolutely free for anyone who owns VoidExpanse.

Key additions in the update include:

  • The long-awaited crafting system - players can now use their mined ore to create components
  • Station management - players can install better defences on any station
  • New character skills and class - the Industrialist
  • Visual, UI and networking improvements
  • And much more!

Please find more information about the Expansion and the update, including a detailed list of changes on our forums!

Can't wait to give it a try? Prepurchase the game in our Store right now to receive your copy the second it is released as well as an additional Steam key!

Are you a member of the press or a youtuber? Feel free to get in touch with us to receive your press copy of the game.

Short status update

Added on 17 February 2017 by Lurler.

Greetings, friends!

It’s been some time since we've last given you an update on our progress, but worry not - we are working as hard as always behind the scenes :)

 

First of all it would probably be a good idea to say that we are working on something big for VoidExpanse. In fact we've beed working on that for more than half a year now. This will be our biggest update since we have released VoidExpanse two years ago! I don't want to get into too much details here as we will have a dedicated post with all the information later. But what I want to say is that the update will be a two part thing: we will release a huge update for the core game, but we will also release a separate paid expansion (or DLC if you prefer to call it that) that will include a completely new storyline (among other things), which is in fact about twice as long as the vanilla ones.

What this expansion is about? Here's a little hint: a lot of you guys asked for the possibility of becoming a pirate… Well, it's not exactly that, but hopefully you will like it! So wait for the future updates and don't forget to check our blog. If VoidExpanse is something you are interested in you will certrainly find this expansion to your liking!

 


Now, to the news about our newest game, CryoFall. Since our first closed test in January the team have done an incredible amount of work to move the game forward. Currently we are working on the sound system. We want to make it as flexible as possible and to encompass all modern technologies and tricks that can be reasonable put in! Hopefully when the system is finished we can make a detailed post and describe how everything works on the inside. With the sound system in place we can make the immersion much better. Especially considering the fact that it has multiple settings allowing us to make different objects sound differently depending on the situation and their interactions.

Our goal is the same as before - continue working on the game for the time being and then launch another closed or semi-open test.

I guess that would be it for now. We will have more news in the coming weeks. Right now there is just not much that I can show as most of the work happens on the "internals" of the game.

CryoFall Dev.Blog #14 - Closed Test Report

Added on 24 January 2017 by Lurler.

Greetings friends!

The main news this week is that we have just concluded our first closed test of CryoFall!

As you can imagine - everything went great and we are happy to report on it here!

First off, we'd like to thank all of the testers who were able to take part in the test. We are fascinated by the amount of positive feedback and useful suggestions you've shared with us both in the game and on the forums.

Another important point is that you guys confirmed that we are on the right track. This gives us confidence to continue more or less in the same direction we've been moving up to now.

So, what's next?

We plan to run another test in a few more months and by that time we expect to finish implementing all basic gameplay elements that weren't part of this first test. That would include basic sound and music systems, other gameplay mechanics (such as farming), basic PvP mechanics such as weapons, property ownership (e.g. doors with code locks), proper mob AI and in-game creatures in general and more. By that point we expect to have a fairly solid alpha.

As usual, we will announce the date in its due time, here in the blog. If you'd like to be notified please follow us here, on twitter or join the forums!

Anyway, thank you guys for your continued support! It may sound cheesy but we are really happy to see you guys as part of our community :)

CryoFall Dev.Blog #13 - World Editor

Added on 17 January 2017 by Lurler.

Greetings!

This blog post should be primarily our progress report, but we decided to include some information about our world editor for CryoFall, so let's start with that!

As you can see on the image it has quite a number of different editing tools. Everything is quite convenient and easy to use.

If you are curious the tools are (left to right):

  • Selector tool (select objects, see their info, etc.)
  • Terrain tool (edit the actual terrain)
  • Object placement tool (allows to place objects into the world)
  • Slopes tool (allows to add slopes between different levels of terrain)
  • Zone editor tool (allows to specify zones, like forest, monster spawns, loot spawn, etc.)
  • Map configuration tool (resize, etc.)
  • Macro tool (island generation, etc.)
  • World management tool (save, load, etc.)

Editor will be included in the modding tools later, and by the way, the editor itself as a whole is just a mod for the game! This goes to show just how much you can do with modding! We are anticipating really great things from the community with such powerful modding tools and unlimited creativity that you guys have! :)

Now onto the progress report!

In these last couple of weeks we focused primarily on the last few gameplay mechanics that are necessary to launch the closed test. Some of these include: adding new monsters, finalizing zone definitions (forest, minerals, mob spawns, etc.), player respawning after death, improved construction menu, hunger and thirst systems and more. Essentially we are tightening everything up for the test. If everything goes well we should be able to launch the test in just one week! Let's hope it's the case :)

In the mean time join us on the forums, we are constantly posting interesting screenshots and information about our curent tasks there, so if you are following the project you might find this interesting!

Oh, and if you haven't added your application to take part in the closed alpha test you still have time left - you can do that here!

Dinocide is now in Korean

Added on 28 December 2016 by Lurler.

Greetings, friends!

Today we have wonderful news for all the Korean players of Dinocide.

Thanks to great help from Dollpin who generously provided Korean translation for the game (and the Steam page) Dinocide now has one more language! Now you can save the day (and main character's girlfriend) from the monsters of prehistoric age in total of 14 languages!

We are really happy to see the game become accessible to more people of different cultures!

CryoFall Dev.Blog #12 - Progress report

Added on 27 December 2016 by Lurler.

Friends, it's time for our next update on CryoFall development.

Things are looking good as we've completed tons of things, including first prototype of character customization menu, added more items and what's really important - implemented more of inner mechanics that are necessary for the upcoming features.

In the image above you might have also noticed other small changes such as grass, rocks on the ground as well as a couple new items. In reality there are a ton of new things.

Though, as you can imagine there's still a lot to do, but we're still striving to make our first closed test as soon as we can!

Stay tuned and join us on the forums! :)

New Dinocide update - v1.4.6

Added on 21 December 2016 by Lurler.

Greetings!

Just a short update this time. We have just released a new version of Dinocide (v1.4.6). It mainly addresses a few issues that some players experienced.

To be specific:

  • Fixed issue with high CPU usage on some underwater levels that made the game unplayable to a small number of players.
  • Fixed gravity underwater when you complete a level or kill a boss. Now you won't fall down as if the water had disappeared.
  • A few other fixes that improved performance and stability (e.g. improved all underwater creatures AI processing, etc.)

Try it out if you haven't yet completed the game!

CryoFall Dev.Blog #11 - Medical System

Added on 12 December 2016 by Lurler.

Greetings, friends!

It's been quite a while actually. But we are finally done with the world editor for CryoFall and that means we can go back to adding gameplay content.

Today we want to share with you our most recent addition - the medical system for CryoFall.

As you know all the characters (and players) in CryoFall can get damage from multiple sources, and of course, you will need to tend to your wounds somehow. This is where this medical system will come in handy.

There are a number of items that the players can find or produce. These items can have a wide range of different effects and degree of potency.

As you can see above these are some of the medical items you can find in the game. First is "herbal remedy", it is a very simple recipe that most of the players will be able to acquire early on in the game. Then there is the bandage that can help you stop the bleeding and restore a small amout of health. And finally there are medkits and stimpacks. These are fairly advanced medical items that are much more effective, but require rare components to produce.

What are these medical components? Well, let's take a look at some of the basic ones. These four items are used to craft the "herbal remedy". Two kinds of medical herbs, a special kind of mushrooms and a tree bark. Not exactly a pinnacle of science but with this you will be able to produce a fairly effective medical item that will surely come in handy during the early game.

Later we plan to expand the medical system with more items and crafting recipes as well as advanced character effects (effects system is still in development). A simple example could be the "overdose" on stimpacks. While they can save you in a pinch they aren't exactly good for your body and if overused could lead to sudden death.

Anyway, I hope this was an interesting overview and I can't wait for you guys to try it in the game directly! We are working really hard to make this happen as soon as possible!

In the mean time, make sure to subscribe for our news, and join us on the forums for the discussion about the project!

New Dinocide update!

Added on 5 December 2016 by Lurler.

Good news for the fans of Dinocide!

We decided to make a few small improvements and adjustments to the game. So, the new update is now out! The update primarily focuses on fixes and balance adjustments.

Firstly it addresses a few small issues that might occur under certain circumstances, now these are all resolved. So the game should be perfectly stable.

And the second and more important change - we went back and tweaked the difficulty a bit to help these players that struggle on some levels. The difficulty curve should now be a bit more smooth compared to before.

Overall, I think this update improves the enjoyment of the game quite a bit!

CryoFall - Poll Results

Added on 22 November 2016 by Lurler.

Greetings!

Today we want to sum up the results of the CryoFall poll we recently conducted. There were surprisingly large number of replies in total. Honestly, we didn't anticipate such great interest. So, thank you everyone for your participation!

Now, here we want to show you some of the more interesting questions in the infographics below. The questions go along with small commentary from us, basically how we interpret these results. Naturally we conducted a much more thorough analysis than we were able to include in the infographics, but it should still give you a general idea of how we see the results.

Anyway, here it is:

You can open it in the full resolution by clicking this link.

If you have any comments - join our forums!

Subscribe
Log in to subscribe to our newsletters.