Research Facility

Our game doesn't have much content yet, and while animations for many bipedal races are coming soon with the finished rig, it's not yet late to think and refine the what gameplay is going to be like. 

TLDR version:

New playable level ideas
> Gives an exploration goal to the player.
> Desert around and canyon are playable areas with common loot and resources, and little danger.
> Strive to go deeper into the Rift, but gotta prepare for challenge to not die all the time if you want to get more stuff and unlock more species/skills/weapons/cosmetics/technology.
> Sell and research what you found there, and purchase new structures to  do even more content and unlock even more stuff. All-familiar gameplay loop!

One Research Facility instead of multiple villages
> Central hub for players (including multiplayer servers) and NPCs, all busy with all kinds of preparations for the  trips into the Rift.
> Better detail of ONE populated area, rather than poorly made multiple villages. But gotta think of everything: even how to make a common toilet room work for creatures of many sizes and types.
> Simulate a situation of living in a scientific alien multi-species colony.
> Progressing through the game grants more buildings and NPCs, so your base grows and expands.
> NPC can have schedules and some degree of simulation, potential romance/companion options later on.
> Player housing in shape of prebuilt luxurious hi-tech apartments carved into the mountain. We don't have a building system planned, but this should give that feel of home.
> All this will require lots of design work, but structures/gear/machinery use same style for everything (akin to it all being made by same company, from teacups to shield generators), which should be easier than making many villages and different cultures.

Planar Rift - places to explore
> System of interconnected dungeon-like rooms
> Except it's not a dungeon, each room is weird and unique, open spaces, oceans and floating islands, anything can happen.
> Rooms are NOT procedural, while a bit maze-like, layout and sequence of them can be memorized for optimal runs. It's not rogue-like.
> Loot is awaiting you there, gotta bring it back to sell & research.
> The deeper you go the harder & rewarding it gets (enemies & environment)
> New rooms released with new updates, moddable.
> Take full advantage of game's survival system, throwing in harsh conditions that need to be counter-acted with clever strategy, careful preparation, researched technology, or playing as species who are more resilient to some of them.

Some other mechanics...
> Start as a youngling of starting species, grow up, unlock more species.
> Each journey into the Rift and around the canyon is an adventure, full of deadly dangers.
> If you die you lose loot you found, but you can grab it back if you (or others) find the body.
> Weapons, clothes, and upgrades stay with you always - you need to research them to unlock permanently, across multiple online servers and local game

There is much more to outline, but for now it should be enough, and with that concept art you'll also have an approximate visual idea how I picture it all. Let me know what you think on Discord or here in the comments!

Detailed explanation version:

I assume you read the TLDR version first, then, if you feel like it - you can read this part! If not, well, at least watch the video I linked down there, its quite educational ;}

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Up to this point I've only been talking about systems that the game will have (most already implemented), about it's overarching design goal of simulating the life of your character, but I haven't talked much about what exactly will you be doing in it, aside from travelling from level to level, exploring, learning about the world and unlocking all sorts of things like new customizations, weapons, species, crafting, etc...

What you will be doing could really be anything: taking the systems into context we (and modders) can create an infinite possibilities of worlds with its own story and gameplay. But of course, that's just dodging an answer, we need to settle down on something... Something good.

I believe that any game needs to have a good gameplay mechanic to be truly engaging. Good story is nice to have of course, but linear story-driven games are basically movies where you are occasionally distracted by the need to press some buttons in form of filler content. Games have to be about interactions!

So as you know from videos that I made previously, main game idea is about giving player and ability to experiment with their in-game character; interact with the world in many possible ways. All of the systems I talked about before are designed to achieve exactly that: various elemental effects (such as temperature and pressure), simulated internal body processes, items and entities responding to environment (such as an apple becoming baked if it is exposed to any heat, not just when it is put in oven), eating (or inserting through other orifices) any item and experiencing the consequences, even the variety of social actions - It's all to encourage experimentation. 

There is a good video about that specific design approach in videogames; the author talks about systemic games, where experimentation is the key of the user experience, with a ton of examples that I just can't include here because it would be even longer to read/write.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnpAAX9CkIc 

However our game's design is offering quite a unique twist on all that, because sadly no one, as far as I know, goes into such organic details of a scaly, furry, or feathery body... if you know what I mean. 

Now, with all those systems implemented, just like in the video linked above, a question arises "What's next?". It's easy to screw it up even for big developers, as demonstrated, by failing to provide interesting and engaging playgrounds to experiment freely.

What is going to force your character to sleep and recover after an injury under rain? And in order to not get a hypothermia you'd have to improvise a heat source whether it is a campfire and shelter, or maybe even warmth of your companion, embracing each other in the cold.

What is going to force/encourage your character to go hunt for food and finding water? Diving into water and resisting the pressure in the depths? Crafting special gear to survive in vacuum... or in lava? Adapting your creature to cold by growing longer fur or feathers? Getting a relationship and mate?

Those are the kind of questions I have to keep asking myself day after day, look for fun and engaging solutions with which anyone can easily connect.

The new idea of "Research Facility" playable level is giving such opportunity, it gives a goal that will provide plenty of reasons to journey through the vast amount of dangerous, unstable, unpredictable mini-worlds, go down every plane of existence and ascend back, bringing valuable materials and mysterious artifacts, gaining new Knowledge in the process, that in turn will help to go deeper every time without dying horribly! 

Its a gameplay loop that keeps testing you and your ability to survive in new conditions, throwing mechanical challenges at you the further you go into the Rift. 

And in the end, it's all about the journey... Starting with learning the basics, packing the gear, preparing provisions and venturing into unknown, seeking shelter in a cold rain, seeking shade in the hot day, and trying to not get eaten along the way.

Don't forget to let me know what you think about all that on our Discord server or in the comments below. Thanks for reading!