KickStarter Exoplanet: First Contact - a space western action-RPG - now available on Early Access

[Grokalibre]

They said the game is also inspired by (real) Fallout games and quest design should reflect that.
That is main reason I backed :D
I am a sucker for (real) Fallout name dropping :D

My penis is Fallout-flavored.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[HoboForEternity]

Looks like wackier risen

 

[toro]

Looks bad. Like really bad.

On the other hand the game has potential and it might work with an astronomic quantity of polish.

 

[anus_pounder]

This looks awful.

 

[Ivan]

I am a sucker

FTFY

 

[Barnabas]

Yeah this looks bland. Maybe it'd be good as a mobile game

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Anyone else play this? Picked it up, it's still in EA and pretty rough but I had fun playing it.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

There's an updated development roadmap(trello board), has a bunch of developer comments
https://trello.com/b/GbGSH1KR/exoplanet-first-contact-early-access-development-roadmap

looks like it's being made by rooskies

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Anyone else play this? Picked it up, it's still in EA and pretty rough but I had fun playing it.

Same.

 

[ArchAngel]

There's an updated development roadmap(trello board), has a bunch of developer comments
https://trello.com/b/GbGSH1KR/exoplanet-first-contact-early-access-development-roadmap

looks like it's being made by rooskies

This is the new Grimoire. By the time it releases it will represent classic gaming of previous age.

 

[Abu Antar]

DEV BLOG #2
19 JUL @ 3:43PM - BIJOU

Hey! Here is our Dev Blog #2 to share some news about Exoplanet’s development and its progress. If you missed our first report, you can find it here.

I want to remind you that this is a sneak peek at some things we are working on at the moment, that’s why your feedback is very important. Don’t hesitate to let us know what you like or don’t like whether it’s a concept art or an asset.

DEV BLOG

Let’s start with something you can already see in-game (partly). Big Hat’s new appearance was added in the previous update.

As you can see there are a few options for his appearance, and he’s probably gonna change it through the story a bit (he actually lacks his big hat at the moment, for example).

We are also working on a new Old Outcast appearance. He’ll become a healer though and will guide our hero through the tutorial. He also will become an important person for the story arc in Anomaly Lake area.

Spoiler

As you may know, we are also working on new rocks. Despite the fact we've
created a set of rocks instead of the old ones from demo version and managed to significantly improve the appearance of the game to the release, these assets are yet flawed and have a lot of problems to deal with.

It is probably important to mention that the new rocks are inspired by Shadow of the Colossus[www.google.com]. Lead environment artist of this project actually helped us a lot by sharing his piece of advice and experience, so we are using the same technique. So, a little sneak peek of what should be the result:

At the moment all new whiteboxes are ready (60 pieces), we are already using them for the new tutorial level but, of course, they are not yet final.

Some tasks are not that big but yet important. Exoplanet lacks a great deal of simple assets and of course we are trying to fix that. Last time I showed you a concept art of downhome utensil for abori dwellings in Outcast camp: dirty jars, buckets etc. Now the assets are ready though they yet need some polishing.

Another simple assets we need are sources of light: some of them are primitive (torches) but modern lamps are also presented.

These assets are also ready but since our lighting model could use an upgrade (we are developing Exoplanet on our own custom built engine if you don’t know) it will take some time to see the real impact of these sources of light on environment and other assets.

We do like interactive objects, so there will be levers and buttons in Exoplanet. Perhaps, some of them will be hidden and could lead you to a great treasure. Or a great danger—you’ll never know.

And of course we are still working on vegetation assets. At the moment we are experimenting with small grass.

Of course, I can show and tell you even more of our work but let’s call it a day. Feel free to share your feedback and ideas or ask questions.

Follow our latest updates on social networks:

• DISCORD[discord.me]
  
• FACEBOOK[www.facebook.com]
  
• TWITTER
  
• VKONTAKTE[vk.com]

As usual, we recommend to start a new game.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/531660/announcements/detail/1591382041200176110

BUILD 0.36
New quests, a brand new mechanic and improvements for the world design.

Hey, folks! Another update is released. There are improvements for the world design, new quests, a brand new mechanic and, of course, some bug fixes and optimizations.

ROADMAP


Roadmap was updated.

I'd like to remind you that now you can vote for tasks you like. Voting system will help us to get your feedback about which features you’d like to see as soon as possible, so please, take some time to vote for tasks you’re fond of. You can do that by clicking cards and using ‘Vote’ button on the right. You can also ‘Watch’ any card to get updates on your mail.

If you never heard about our roadmap before, you can learn more here.

Spoiler

CHANGELOG

means community choice, alterations made with your feedback.

WORLD

• improved a cave occupied by scalphunters in Windscream Canyon
  
• gates with crushing device in Outcast Camp replaced with defensive barricade

• added Outcast Farmer's farm around E.D.E.N. generator
• improved roads near Outcast Camp
  
• added locked doors and chests with loot throughout the world

ENVIRONMENT

• added new appearance for Old Outcast, he's Herbalist now
• added violet material for E.D.E.N. Generator sphere
• old beds replaced with new ones with linens and sleeping bags

QUESTS

• added new quest Tools for Herbalist
• added new quest Ragpicker's Store Heist

MECHANICS

This update brings new mechanic to the game. Lockpicking. We were working on this feature for a long time, and now proud to share it with you. Keep in mind, though, that this is probably not the final iteration, so your feedback will be really important.

What do we have at the moment? There are two types of locks in the world of Exoplanet: mechanic and digital. You need a key to open a mechanic lock or a code to open a digital one. But since Jack is not very law-abiding guy, other methods also could come in handy, ain’t it? And all you have to do is to find the right type of lockpicks.

How does it work? Every lock has ‘health’ and every lockpick can damage it for certain amount. Lockpicks breaks during the process. When lock’s health disappears, it unlocks. Locks could be pretty simple but you can also find complex ones with more health, so it is wise to get as many lockpicks as you can find.

We also have some plans for padlocks. So far they are usually no more than a decorative element but we would like to add a possibility of breaking them with an accurate shot.

Anyway, let us know what you think and do not hesitate to share your thoughts with us.

ANIMATIONS

• added new walking and running animations for Jack (no weapons)

ENGINE

• fixed a bug with audio playback: random sounds no longer play instead of intended ones
  
• minor bug fixes and optimization

BUG / CRASH REPORTS


If you are experienced a crash or found a bug, let us know via special crash reporter tool. It shows up when the game crashes but you can also send a report in-game with F1 button.

Keep in mind, that crash reporter makes an in-game screenshot when you press F1 so you might want to be sure that the visual problem you’re referring to will be captured. Enter your email and a short description of a bug or describe last actions before the crash.

You can also let us know about your problem on technical support forum or via Discord channel.

KNOWN ISSUES / SOLUTIONS


If there's no sound after the game's loading, try to alt-tab to Windows and then go back to the game.

If you're stuck / hero doesn't move, F5 (quick save) and F9 (quick load) can help you in such matters.

If you have a weak PC or a laptop (especially the ones with Intel integrated graphics), we highly recommend to launch Exoplanet from its folder, not via Steam.

Keep in mind that integrated graphic cards are not supported despite the fact that we do our best to make it possible. At the moment, there's a chance you can run the game but your performance probably won't be good enough to enjoy Exoplanet.

If you have BitDefender antivirus and can't launch the game, please unblock Exoplanet's .exe.

Follow our latest updates on social networks:

• DISCORD
• FACEBOOK
• TWITTER
• VKONTAKTE

As usual, we recommend to start a new game.

 

[Life of the Party]

December:

DEV BLOG #3

Important announcements and a few sneak peeks of an upcoming update.

Hey folks! I know you’re waiting for a usual content update before holidays since there were no releases since September but here I am with another dev blog.

Don’t be sad, I’ll make it worth your while with important announcements and a few sneak peeks of a really big upcoming update.

WORLD OF PLAYERS WEBSITE AND FORUM

World of Players is a bunch of fan sites and forums for popular role-playing games and series like Gothic, Neverwinter, The Witcher, Mass Effect and many others with the audience of old-school hardcore gamers. It’s pretty popular in Europe, especially in Germany. Simply put, it’s a perfect place to build up your own community with passionate players who fell in love with the game.

We are happy to announce that we just launched Exoplanet’s website and forums on World of Players:

► ► ► WWW.WORLDOFEXOPLANET.COM

We are also working on the official website but if you want to learn more about the game and what we are trying to create, World of Exoplanet can provide you with a great deal of information right away.

The website and its forums are available in English, German and Russian. So feel free to join and create discussions, to share your feedback with us and to ask questions—we will do our best to answer them.

Also, we will be raffling of a few Exoplanet's keys on Christmas day within World of Players forum.

Spoiler

DEV BLOG

As I have said many times before, we are not satisfied with the starting area and intending to create a new location with a brand new tutorial. And today I am going to show you some results because this dev blog is about our work in progress in this area.

I have already shown you this picture above. It’s a screenshot with overpaint: the shattered moon, plants and the distant rock are not real.

These were the very first steps towards creating a new area. We were going to create it in a simple way, based on existing assets with a tad of new ones. Well, everything is different now.

We've created a set of 60 pieces brand new rocks inspired by Shadow of the Colossus remake for PS4 with some help from the lead environment artist of this project (you can learn more about it in our previous dev blog), a lot of new grass, improved the engine with new tools and features and completely reworked the original idea of the location.

Please, keep in mind that all the images below are a work in progress. These screenshots were made in world editor without proper post effects, some assets and textures are not final (including rocks) and there are a bunch of placeholders.

The new location is 0.25km², it’s a godforsaken place confined between the desert and rocks with an old aboriginal cemetery and an abandoned mine.

Here you can meet abori people, small groups of Outcasts and Scalphunters fighting each other to control the area.

There’s something more in this upcoming update that meets the eye. And not just visually. The thing is, the already existing locations of Anomaly Lake and Windscream Canyon are made with old rocks assets, which means we should rework or abandon them. But don’t worry about it, I will explain everything and will tell about our plans with or after the release.

Well, that’s it for now. I hope you liked this preview, so please share you thoughts here in comments or within World of Exoplanet forums.

IN THE END

Exoplanet: First Contact is available on Steam Winter Sale with 10% off. Keep in mind, that this is probably the biggest discount the game will get until the full release, so if you want to try it, you might want to do that now to get bonuses from The Winter Sale like trading cards to create unique badges. Keep in mind, that the game is pretty rough around the edges in the beginning but it's going to change pretty soon.

There’s just one last thing I have to say. If you really enjoyed reading and these sneak peeks from the new location, don’t forget to click a ‘thumbs up’ button, it’s the best way to tell that you care. Thank you very much for all your patience and support, it means a great deal to us. And, like the song says, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

yeap it's still alive
https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/531660/view/2205020323682180591

JOIN PRIVATE TESTING
We are looking for experienced players to test the brand new level of the game


Hey, folks. There have been no updates for a long time but it is time to break the silence and make an important announcement.

As you know we are working hard on the brand new starting location and testing a great deal of new features and other things at the moment. Many of them are already implemented and some are still work in progress to be added in a few months. This is a huge step forward but it definitely needs some testing before the release. Thus, we feel the necessity to share our progress with you and to show you what we’ve managed to achieve so far. It’s time to raise the curtain.

Here’s the deal: we are going to make a private testing for those who're keen to try the new version of Exoplanet. Once the testing is done, we will analyze players’ feedback and decide if we are ready to make it open for everyone or if it needs more work before that.



We cherish all the feedback from our community, so your opinion is very important and will help us to improve the game to create a more flawless experience for everyone. So if you want to join testing, there's a small instruction at the end of the article.

Spoiler

Meanwhile I am going to tell you more about the new location called The Edge. Please, keep in mind that all presented images and GIFs are work in progress: there are some placeholders and bugs, of course, and still a lot of testing going on.

Visual-wise, The Edge is mostly ready. There are a lot of visual upgrades, and we really crave to get your opinion about these changes.

One of the most important things was creating a brand new set of rocks for the game (60 pieces). They used to be brown like the old ones but we’ve decided to change their color to blue, and the whole world feels different now. We’ve also made a set of various big and small stones for middle and small scale.



The next big thing was adding HDR support to the Sahara engine. This way we can achieve a more contrast picture with realistic lighting and detalization.



Now caves, for example, are truly dark, though they appear in classic brown-ish colors if there is a source of light available.



Another change is a brand new day and night system. The old one was basic while the new one is very flexible and allows us to add new weather effects and effects for different times of day. Now we can easily change the sky’s color and brightness of the sun, add clouds, fog and much more. Thus, you can finally experience dusk and dawn in the game. They are a work in progress but I reckon we’ll finish them in time. Day and night were also upgraded.



We made huge progress with new grass but still experimenting with its colors, changing it from withered to lush green, and vice versa.



There are also some experiments going on with color correction. Not to mention a great amount of work on textures.



Level design in the new area was significantly improved, it is a true open world now. There are no more flaws like long open world-ish passages as it is in some places of the current Steam build. Thus, despite the fact that The Edge is pretty small compared to both Anomaly Lake and Windscream Canyon, its 0,25km² feels pretty big for a starting area where you can learn the basics of the game without us holding your hand, get acquainted with the world, its laws and lore.



There will be a bunch of quests on the release, all of them are new and much more to follow with the next updates. They can be a bit rough around the edges but we will polish them once we gather enough feedback from you.

The main story is ready, and we have started to implement it into the game. We are also working on an intro cinematic and a new intro cutscene.



Gameplay-wise, the game also gets new mechanics. The hero can jump to cliffs and pull himself up, so there are more options to explore the world.

There are some new interactive objects in the world like capstans and winches, and both the hero and NPCs can use them.

We are also ready to show you the very first iteration of modular weapons. It takes time to implement such a big feature in one take, so you can’t craft or disassemble them so far but it increases the diversity of arms on the whole.

A small but notable thing is a new crosshair for guns and we are going to add more of them for different weapons.



Another thing to mention is our work with cameras. We used a standard third person camera for everything, but now we are adding more options to improve cutscenes. So far it is pretty basic, just some in-game cameras shooting from different angles but we are working on camera movement options as well.

We finally replaced the old bugs with the new insects. As you may know, we were planning to make five different types of them. So far we’ve managed to add maggots and workers. All of them have brand new animations and behaviors created with our new AI system. Warriors are on the way but we probably won't manage to finish them in time because our animator is on sick leave due to COVID-19.

There are a lot of other assets added to the game like new human clothes, some animal skeletons, different types of lamps, a set of rails and a trolley in a mine and much more.

Of course, there are some updates in sound design. All humanoid NPCs, for example, now have various sounds to play when being hit. As for music, we are working on an adaptive soundtrack which changes in response to specific events or places in the game. The old tracks can’t be used anymore, so there’s a lot to do yet. Anyway, we’ve created a few new tunes for The Edge to experiment with them.

There are other changes, of course, and a lot to tell, as we are working hard to bring even more content for the release but it would be much better to see it for yourself. Thus, if you are looking for new experience in the world of Exoplanet and really want to make the game better, join our private testing.



HOW TO JOIN PRIVATE TESTING

Obviously, you have to own Exoplanet: First Contact in your library because we are going to add the new build to a separate beta branch on Steam. This way the old build will be available yet as the main build while you can get access to the new one with a few clicks.

Also, we are looking for those who have already played the game thoroughly, know about its strengths and weaknesses and can tell the difference between the old and new versions.



If you meet these requirements, next thing to do is to join our Discord and PM me or tag me there with @bijou. I will contact you to share more information about the testing.

What do we need? Any feedback you can provide about the new build. Probably, we are going to create a survey and place a link to it at the end of the build. Also, you will get access to a closed section in Discord to discuss changes, to ask questions, to share anything you want to, and, of course, to report any issues and rough edges.

We will begin the private testing as soon as we finish a few important things. If the build is stable, we will probably make an open testing later for everyone who owns Exoplanet.

In the end, I'd like to thank you for your patience and support. That's really important for us. Stay safe.

 

[HoboForEternity]

looks piranha byte-y (as in the low budget janky look) but don't know if it gonna have the strength of PB games like great level and satisfying progression

 

[ERYFKRAD]

It might, these dudes are very upfront about the Gothic influence.

 

[JDR13]

This game is going to be bad-ass when it's released in 2026.

Serious though, I backed this game about 5-6 years ago. It's been in development for what seems like forever.

 

[JarlFrank]

Another game where you have to play a fixed male character

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Another game where you have to play a fixed male character

Worked for Gothic, didn't it, you heathen.

 

[HoboForEternity]

because broken people are the best characters

 

[rusty_shackleford]

because broken people are the best characters

he's not broken, he fixes himself

 

[JarlFrank]

I want character creation and playable female chars

The only ones where a fixed character works are games where that character's backstory actually matters (PST, Disco Elysium).

Well, or Gothic. Gothic was fine.

 

[Drowed]

As long as I can distribute my stats at the beginning of the game, or at least direct the character's evolution with the next levels, I really don't care that much.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I want character creation and playable female chars

The only ones where a fixed character works are games where that character's backstory actually matters (PST, Disco Elysium).

Well, or Gothic. Gothic was fine.

And the Witchers!